sidecar bassinet safety question

[triskelion]

Hi everyone,

I have a question I'm not having much luck finding the answer to online. We are due in early December and will be using a co-sleeper bassinet next to our bed for the first couple months. Since we live in Michigan and our house is rather drafty, we normally bundle up in blankets at night but with the co-sleeper, do we need to follow the same safety standards on our bed as the bassinet, ie. just a fitted sheet? Would it be ok if there were blankets on my husband's side of the bed since I will be between him and the baby? And could I wear something along the lines of a snuggie (like a sleep sack for adults :P)?

We sleep in a full size bed and the baby won't be in bed with us because my husband has problems with sleep-disruptive behaviors, making true co-sleeping a danger.
Thanks for any input you can offer!

[ShanaV]

Short answer, yes, the same safety standards apply.

To that end, there are some threads a ways back about keeping a baby warm at night, baby waking up cold, etc., and the ways to deal with it. Lots of people will do things like layer on the clothes/jammies, e.g., a onesie, then a footed jammie in cotton or fleece, then a swaddle or sleep sack. I really like a double swaddle of one Aden & Anais blanket, then one SwaddleDesigns blanket. This keeps 'em wrapped up nice and snug.

I don't know how this would really affect the blankets over you -- you can stay all cozied up to your heart's content with the baby wrapped up in the cosleeper beside you. But when you bring the baby to you to BF, maybe that's what you're concerned about. I guess at that point you would just move your blankies out of the way. That's what I do.

[jenifera2]

My husband uses the normal bed blankets, but if I were to use them they could easily fall into the cosleeper. I wear warm pants and shirt, plus I have a small throw blanket that I fold in half with the fold side toward my husband. I climb inside, and it's not wide enough for the part covering me to reach baby.

[somegirl99]

I use our regular covers but they are shifted more towards DH's side of the bed so they can't fall into the co-sleeper. Since I am partly exposed on the side, I wear more clothing to keep me warm and it works.

[sunnygir1]

I never had a problem with my blankets getting into the co-sleeper. I was cautious about how many I used and how I positioned them. I guess I don't toss and turn enough in my sleep to get them out of position?

I used one baby blanket on the baby too.

And I didn't get rid of my blankets when I brought the baby into our bed; I just wore enough shirts that I wouldn't get cold if I moved the blankets down.

I NEVER woke to find one of my babies' face covered by blankets or pillows. I am always aware of them, and even of my husband's movements.

[Blessed1]

We use blankets as usual on our bed and on baby we put a sleep sack type blanket on her. I am more concerned about pillows falling in the cosleeper. It happened once while we were napping and it freaked me out (It landed on her feet) . So now, I only use one pillow under my head and that is it! I don't use the 2 or 3 that helped me get comfy.