6 mo old crawling off the bed, do we need to transition to the crib?

[yippiehippie]

DS almost gave me two heart attacks last night! He's not crawling, but getting around very fast w/his army crawl. He's a terrible sleeper (we're up every hr) and we co-sleep, him on a full size, DH on the queen pushed next to it, and me back and forth. We have a crib, which he uses for naps.

Here's my question. How do you co-sleep safely? Normally I sleep so light I wake right up at any of his noises, but last night he actually slept 2 straight hrs and then I awoke to him about to crawl off the bed head-first (his head was literally off the bed and I think he stopped himself b/c I've been letting him do it while holding on to give him the idea of depth perception). After going back to sleep, 45m later I awoke to him crying bc he'd crawled into the wall/window at the top of the bed and hit his head.

Putting the mattresses on the floor isn't an option, we live in a tiny apt w/no room for the box springs and it's nearly impossible to child proof if he did get off. Pillows aren't helping and I don't know if we can afford rails to span the bed.

Sorry for the loooong post, I guess what I'm getting at is do you have any solutions other than crib? I don't mind doing the crib, but how do you do it w/a LO that wakes every hr?

[buttercups.nest]

Awww I totally symphathize with you! My little one fell off the bed and tried crawling under and hit his head on the bed frame.

I don't really have any solutions for you. After he fell off, we tried experimenting with side-caring the crib, having the mattress off the frame so it wasn't so far to the ground, and in the end we have our mattress shoved up against the wall, and the crib in our room.

Babe starts off the night in his crib, if I need to nurse during the night I either use the rocker or bring him to bed. Sometimes he ends up in bed with me, sometimes he sleeps the night in his crib.

As far as the waking every hour....I started swaddling and that seemed to help. At a year he's still swaddled...I think we're working out of it though. He doesn't seem to like his arms swaddled all the time anymore.

Good luck!

[Sfcmama]

I would consider sidecarring your crib. It's worked great for us, especially when I'm really exhausted and worried I won't wake up if dd is rolling around too much. (my awareness of her is directly related to my level of fatigue!) I can't imagine how exhausted you must be! An extra level of precaution migh help you to sleep better knowing that's he safe...?
Good luck!

[lilith1]

We sit in the same boat. DS1 started sleeping in the crib when DH woke up to him ripping the pages from my book, happily entertaining himself. He would start in bed with us and wind up in the crib after I leave for work. I leave @ 4 in the morning, quite early.
DS2 same thing. Even though we have a low plat form bed, too much can happen. Everyone is still in the same room.
It works out for the peace of mind.

[MsVyky]

Try a bed rail. Worked for us!

(until DD became mobile enough to get to the stairs. We moved into the den downstairs until she can take stairs easily on her own without risk of falling)

[yippiehippie]

I've wondered about the sidecar idea, but what's to keep him from rolling onto the bed? I do swaddle him often still, but usually undo before putting him down bc he's a tummy sleeper. If I swaddle and put down on his back he'll roll to tummy and he actually doesn't mind that, but sometimes seems very uncomfortable and wakes soon. I wonder, though, that should keep him from moving to fast off the bed so maybe I should start doing it every night...(safety is def more important than sleeping well).
Thanks, mamas!
*Isn't it crazy the things we do for a peaceful, safe night's sleep to stay w/our babes (like moving to your den for a while to sleep), love it!