Cosleeping And Crawling Baby

[Aliyahsmommy]

My son is 7 months old and crawling and we cosleep. I have no issues during the night because I am right there with him. During nap times though I am having safety issues.

How do you keep baby from crawling off the bed?

This has now happened twice...once he fell in between the bed and mesh safety rail but was okay since he didn't hit the floor, and then today he went off the other side of the bed and hit the floor and of course that worries me because he could have been injured.

He sometimes cries when he wakes, but if he doesn't cry like today then I have no way of knowing he is awake unless I hear him. Even if i do hear him, I worry about getting there in time as he has become quite quick.

I do not think there is room in our room to sidecar the crib, but even if there was he could still crawl out of the crib and onto our bed and off the other side.

Help??

[goldenwillow]

We just ended up putting our bed on the floor to relive our minds of the fear of falling. Good luck to you!

[saoirse2007]

We have the matress and boxspring on the floor too. Dh taught our lo's how to back down off the bed as soon as they learned to crawl. Maybe you could put a baby gate at the door as well. My littlest one is 11 mos now and unlike ds she stays on the bed and cries out for me

[dakotablue]

I second the backing down training. Its something my grandmother insists on 'as soon as a child can teach them to go safely down the stair, off furniture and swim' So our couches have only one way off, this seems to work for DS most of the time.

We're working on the stairs part...swimming eh not so much yet.

We currently have a sidecar crib so when DS wakes up he has to crawl over me to get out. So far no issues, but then again I usually wake up, either on my own or with fingers in my mouth.

during naps I am just chilling and reading in bed while he sleeps.

[midnightmommy]

Yup! It took me just a little while and DD was turning around and backing off of the bed. Then we installed a new gate at the top of the stairs.

Our house is small and DD almost always cries when she wakes up alone. For awhile though I used to put a baby monitor on and at the first stir my husband or I would run to get her. It's nerve wracking, but doesn't seem to last long. They also seem to figure out pretty quickly that the bed ends, and they should not try to just crawl off. Then teaching them to turn around helps a lot.

[aikigypsy]

Mattress on the floor. DD is 2.5 and still rolls off sometimes.

[Turquesa]

We use this.

At nap time, I can just nurse DS to sleep. When he's awake, he has the freedom to crawl off and find Mommy.

Two drawbacks are that first, it's only available with commercial characters , and second, I believe it has a warning about not letting babies sleep on it.

But my Mommy Gut tells me that he's safe on it as long as I'm checking on him frequently....just like a crib, come to think of it.

[IndigoKoi]

Originally Posted by Turquesa

We use this.

At nap time, I can just nurse DS to sleep. When he's awake, he has the freedom to crawl off and find Mommy.

Two drawbacks are that first, it's only available with commercial characters , and second, I believe it has a warning about not letting babies sleep on it.

But my Mommy Gut tells me that he's safe on it as long as I'm checking on him frequently....just like a crib, come to think of it.

Here's a very similar kind of kid sofa that folds out to a sleeping position, without the commercial characters. We have the green one for my son. Doesn't sleep on it, but he loves to sit on it and eat his snacks or whatever else.

http://www.amazon.com/PKolino-Little...9&sr=8-2-spell

[mkksmom]

We moved our mattress to the floor too. I had a mesh rail on the side, but she likes to go down by my knees sometimes. I sleep much better with the mattress on the floor. We have been working on feet first for a while now, and she still doesn't do it. *sigh* She'll get it eventually.

[Asiago]

We co-sleep also but for naps during the day he either is in the sling/carrier, or the jogger stroller. I have the stroller in the house now for naps. I am really into wearing him for walks and for a while couldn't figure out why we ever got a jogger stroller but now I find it extremely useful to place him in once he nurses to sleep for naps. It's easy enough to slip him into it once he's asleep, it fully reclines, then I fasten the hip harness without him waking up.

[TnMsMama]

New member and this is EXACTLY why I joined this site. My daughter sleeps with us and while we're there, sleeping, she's fine, but for naps I have to just sit there with her - she's very much what my mother calls an "arm-baby" - wants to be held all the time (10 months old) so nap time is really my only time to get stuff done.

I'd love to be able to leave her alone for naps but she's fallen off 3 times already.

I know DH won't go for the bed on the floor thing, his back aches constantly from his job (very physical) and he wouldn't be able to get out of bed in the morning.

We have a drop side crib that I used with my older son, and she loves to play in it, but, according to her, it's SO not for sleeping.

Any suggestions welcomed!

[liliaceae]

Mattress on floor. Video monitor.

[wrenb]

We have a fabric fourth wall for our sidecarred crib. I tie it up when DS naps in the crib, and it gives me the security of a conventional crib. Otherwise I'd definitely focus on teaching him to get down safely. We're wrking on that anyway.

[Mom2M]

Originally Posted by wrenb

We have a fabric fourth wall for our sidecarred crib. I tie it up when DS naps in the crib, and it gives me the security of a conventional crib. Otherwise I'd definitely focus on teaching him to get down safely. We're wrking on that anyway.

How did you make that? I have the same problem now and make piles of pillows all around in a wall but soon she will get over that, I'm sure.
We cannot put our mattress on the floor and it would be so much harder to have a rail there that would not be removable, especially overnight.

[Mom2M]

Originally Posted by IndigoKoi

Here's a very similar kind of kid sofa that folds out to a sleeping position, without the commercial characters. We have the green one for my son. Doesn't sleep on it, but he loves to sit on it and eat his snacks or whatever else.

http://www.amazon.com/PKolino-Little...9&sr=8-2-spell

That is so cute!

[wrenb]

Originally Posted by Mom2M

How did you make that? I have the same problem now and make piles of pillows all around in a wall but soon she will get over that, I'm sure.
We cannot put our mattress on the floor and it would be so much harder to have a rail there that would not be removable, especially overnight.

The fourth wall is a piece of sturdy fabric (like Osnaburg, ours was some white stuff we found in our fabric stash) with a dowel run through the top. We folded the top over like a quickie curtain to make a pocket for the dowel. With a smaller baby you can do without the dowel, but after a while we found we needed something that wouldn't sag in the middle.

There are 3 ties on each end that fasten to the crib posts. The top tie is tied over the top as well as the side of the crib so that it can't slip off. If your crib doesn't have decorative molding you may be able to just tie to the top rail.

At night I untie the top ties and stash the whole thing between the mattresses. It works really well for us.

[Mom2M]

Originally Posted by wrenb

The fourth wall is a piece of sturdy fabric (like Osnaburg, ours was some white stuff we found in our fabric stash) with a dowel run through the top. We folded the top over like a quickie curtain to make a pocket for the dowel. With a smaller baby you can do without the dowel, but after a while we found we needed something that wouldn't sag in the middle.

There are 3 ties on each end that fasten to the crib posts. The top tie is tied over the top as well as the side of the crib so that it can't slip off. If your crib doesn't have decorative molding you may be able to just tie to the top rail.

At night I untie the top ties and stash the whole thing between the mattresses. It works really well for us.

Thank you! It sounds like that would really work for us because it would be so easy to roll down.

[Bebe's Mom]

I put a pallet on the floor for naps. When she wakes up, she sits up and cries or just crawls into the other room. I usually nurse her to sleep in the glider and then carry her in and put her on the pallet. If she wakes up I lay down with her until she falls back to sleep.