looking for cosleeper bed advice

[imbeachgrl]

I am pregnant with #2 and was thinking towards putting a cosleeper bed next to ours. Here is our situation and my reasons:
With our 1st baby, she slept in bed with us, at first in the First Years little cosleeping bed that you just put in bed with you since she was a tiny premie, and then just sleeping with us in our bed without that, and now she is sleeping on her own mattress next to our mattress, and they are both on the floor.
I definitely want to cosleep with baby #2 but was thinking it would be nice to check out the arms reach cosleepers since they are next to the bed, are portable, and i could use around the house additionally as a "protector" from my two year old girl, like when i want to take a shower or whatever. Am I thinking clearly on this? Does anyone have any thoughts or advice on having some type of easily moveable cosleeper that is still comfy for the new baby. I wonder how supportive it is? Or if there are other options? Will it be funny to have it pulled up to our mattress if our mattress is on the floor?
thanks!

[ErinYay]

I love our Universal (full-sized)Arm's Reach cosleeper, though "portable" is not a word I'd use to describe it. When it's being used as a cosleeper, there's a strap mechanism that keeps it tight to the big bed. We also positioned the bed so the cosleeper is jammed in nice and snug between the wall and the bed, too, so moving it around is out of the question- we have a Pack 'n' Play set up (in the yard, of all places!) for baby containment on the fly.

I do use V's cosleeper as a containment area for upstairs stuff, though- it's now in the playpen position as she can climb out of it otherwise. With a 2.5 year old, I'd probably just take the infant with me to the bathroom, etc, as those little monkeys can pretty easily topple a playpen, but esp a top-heavier Arm's Reach, unless you want to transform it to a playpen every time you plop the baby in there.

I think the mattress is very comfy, as evidenced by V's great sleep in it. It's sturdy, and I've never questioned its safety.

If #2 comes along while V is still cosleeping (which will be well into her toddler years for all we care- we like her there!) we'll be upgrading to a king, and I'll build a low platform to accommodate two toddler mattresses on the side, with a upholstered divider (with a mesh insert) to separate the two kids.

[akind1]

the full size arm's reach is not portable! for greater portability, there are pack-n-plays with full size bassinets out there, which, much as I did like our arms reach, I might think about with #2, esp if we are in a bigger house.

I use a mesh sling seat (or did when DS was smaller) and just brought him in the shower with me. bouncy seat for the bathroom, I just liked keeping him with me.

[imbeachgrl]

Thanks for the advice....I think I am going to rethink my idea of the arms reach and do something simpler, like maybe just have something for when i need to take a shower, or whatever, and then just sleep with the baby, like before. It is going to be another fun ride soon, having another little one around, and figuring it all out