Do I need a crib? - Page 2

[Emerging butterfly]

Originally Posted by Baby_Cakes 

Not to threadjack, but my MIL keeps asking where we're going to put the baby's crib b/c Nora's room is so small and so is ours.  At first I'm like, hmm how are these kids going to share a room??  But i'm thinking, I don't even think we'll use the crib this time!  At least not for many months!!  If need be, we can always make room, but I don't see it being an issue at all.

We have four boys in one little room. We do it with 2 bunk beds. We always co slept and then got a cute little toddler bed for next to our bed when size became a factor for our queen bed...and then...when the littles were ready, they opted to join the pack in the "boys room". It's a great set up....they love their fort beds. My MIL is horrified that we "live like immigrants" BWAH HA HA HA! Funny how my little immigrants seem so HAPPY about their crowded quarters....

[Sheepdoc]

Ours became a really exspensive laundry hamper, too!  I think part of the problem was that we bought the extra firm matress as suggested and its so firm that even my second who wanted more space between him and me couldn't sleep there.   We have a queen and our solution was to send my husband and older child to sleep in a different bed and then #2 and I had plenty of space in the bed for him to sleep near but not snuggled into me.  (Of course last night at 6 1/2 years w/ daddy away for work he slept so snuggled into me it felt like having a co-joined twin - LOL.  And this is the same child that for about 6-12 months around 2 years of age (non-verbal) moved himself out of our bedroom. 

Honestly, whenever you get the hang of something they'll change it up on you.

The pack and play was a much better choice.

Biggest thing I have to add is that from the beginining I taught my kids HOW to get out of and adult bed.  When your infant wakes from a nap, turn them over onto their tummy, feet facing the edge of the bed and sit behind them and slide them out of the bed and support them for a second or two "standing" against the bed.  That way by the time they are old enough to move around on their own they are trained to slide out of bed feet first. 

[ursusarctos]

Originally Posted by Sheepdoc 

Biggest thing I have to add is that from the beginining I taught my kids HOW to get out of and adult bed.  When your infant wakes from a nap, turn them over onto their tummy, feet facing the edge of the bed and sit behind them and slide them out of the bed and support them for a second or two "standing" against the bed.  That way by the time they are old enough to move around on their own they are trained to slide out of bed feet first. 

That is a really good idea!

[Sheepdoc]

Plus if you put the crib in the room with an older child, how do you deal w/ naps?  Betimes?  Will they keep each other awake?  Wake each other before they should?  And by biggest horror w/ the idea - you are leaving an infant alone w/ an older child who lacks impulse control. 

Hey I wonder what would happen if I drop this big heavy toy on the baby?  Maybe the baby's cold, I'll just pile all the extra pillows and blankets on top of him to keep him warm.

-Lori

[tradmom]

Originally Posted by Sheepdoc 

Plus if you put the crib in the room with an older child, how do you deal w/ naps?  Betimes?  Will they keep each other awake?  Wake each other before they should?  And by biggest horror w/ the idea - you are leaving an infant alone w/ an older child who lacks impulse control. 

Hey I wonder what would happen if I drop this big heavy toy on the baby?  Maybe the baby's cold, I'll just pile all the extra pillows and blankets on top of him to keep him warm.

-Lori

I have some experience in this area.  :)  We currently have four children's rooms with a 15, 13 and 1 year old in one room; a 11, 10 and 7 year old in another room; the 17 year old has his own room when he is home; and a 6, 5, 3, and 9 year old share the other room.

I solved some of these problems you mention by putting the older child to sleep on the couch in the living room for naps and the baby to nap in the crib.

Bedtime I need to sit with the little ones, kind of like the nannies used to do in stories.  When they get up or start to get loud I quietly say, "Shhhh!"  It usually takes them 10 minutes to fall asleep with me there.  Sometimes I'll sing or tell stories, but most of the time I'm just quietly present and that is enough for them to settle down and fall asleep.

I had one instance when a couple of my boys were littler where they liked to throw things in the crib.  I bought one of those net things that you put over the crib to keep the climbers in... I used it to keep the older ones out.  :)  I haven't needed on of those in years now, though.  I usually put the baby (usually around 9 months old) in with the teen girls and that solves that problem for now.

Leslie

[ernverry]

We didn't really use the crib for our son. We did put him in a Moses basket for naps until he was about 4 months, and coslept at night. With the next one, we are just putting a very low futon on the floor.

[GillianB]

I'm having twins this summer and I'd already planned to skip the crib and use a futon/low mattress on the floor when we thought we were having just one. We don't have enough room in the nursery for one crib, much less two. A book that helped me envision the set-up was Montessori from the Start by Paula Polk Lillard & Lynn Lillard Jessen (both Montessori educators like myself). I plan to start with the twins in a bassinet or co-sleeper beside my bed, then gradually transition them to the floor mattress in the nursery. I researched firm foam crib mattresses and I plan to put a padded rug underneath for when they roll off the 4" high mattress. If you're worried about sleeping separate from your baby you could always get a twin- or even full-size mattress on the floor/futon to co-sleep with them in your room or the nursery. Alternatively, you could get one of the baby monitors (like Angel Care) that has the movement monitor and place the pad under a crib mattress on the floor in the nursery.

Hope this helps! I'll let you know how it works out with no crib for my two girls.

update 11/2012: my girls are 15 months old now and our floor mattresses have worked perfectly! It's one parenting decision that has turned out well We had them in a double bassinet pack n play for naps and coslept at night with them (parents on outside, babies on inside) for about a month to help me continue breast feeding more comfortably. Then when they were about 4 months old we transitioned them from the bassinets to the floor mattresses in their nursery. We had two crib mattresses set up in a little nook, surrounded by low-pile carpet and a thin bumper velcroed to the walls on 3 sides. They occasionally rolled off them but would continue sleeping on the floor! When they began crawling they wanted to sleep on the same mattress so we ended up pushing the two crib mattresses together to create one pallet and thats where they take their nap and nightime sleep still. In hindsight, we could have saved money on two crib mattresses by just getting one full/queen mattress or futon! We also splurged for a video monitor that we can use at night too- way expensive but good peace of mind with crawlers and toddlers!

Edited by GillianB - 11/9/12 at 11:08am

[ursusarctos]

Welcome to MDC ernverry and GillianB!

GB, a futon on the floor would indeed be ideal. But we have nowhere to keep our bedframe in the meantime so unfortunately that won't work for us. However, I was already thinking that for naps I would probably just put the baby on a blanket on the floor or in a basket. Or in the stroller actually - here they have this interesting tradition of always putting the baby outside in the stroller for naps, pretty much in any weather but a blizzard. They sleep better in the fresh air apparently. So I'll probably try that (on our balcony).

[Lynann]

Originally Posted by ursusarctos 

 here they have this interesting tradition of always putting the baby outside in the stroller for naps, pretty much in any weather but a blizzard. They sleep better in the fresh air apparently. So I'll probably try that (on our balcony).

This was how I was raised too, only a pram was used rather than a stroller. My mum still believes babies sleep better outside no matter what the weather (and there is always plenty of weather in Scotland.)

I do find having a pram is great for naptime when they get to that "refusing to sleep" stage at about 2 months. I would put DS in the pram and go for a walk and he would sleep as long as the pram was moving. As soon as we got back home and we stopped he would wake back up. Also being able to get outside and walk while the baby sleeps saved my sanity during the awful "lactose intolerance days" where he would scream from the pain in his belly and couldn't get comfortable enough to sleep. Somehow the motion of the moving pram seemed to be the only thing that soothed him when it was really bad. (We did try the driving around thing but that didn't work with him.)

[Birdie B.]

Our crib has been handy, and I'm glad to have it.  It's converted into a toddler bed for Meadow right now, but we'll set it up for the new baby and use it again.  She has mostly slept in our bed since birth, but the crib was awesome for naps during the early crawling/exploring days.  If she had been able to get down off the bed and crawl around our room, there's no telling what she would have gotten into! It was also somewhere safe I could put her while I showered or vacuumed or whatever.  It is true that we haven't used it a whole lot for sleeping, but it might be different with future babies, and I like having it.  If we have the 4 kids we're planning on, it will pay off over time!  I don't know if you should get one though, if you have limited space and budget.  Lots of people do fine without one!