Cosleepers - can we have the where does your LO nap thread, again?

[LittleBirdy]

I know there's one somewhere but can't find it.  DS is now crawling and is finally done with swaddling... but of course now he's completely mobile!  We do have a crib, but I can't for the life of me transfer him once he's asleep.  He's a really light sleeper and no matter how long I wait before I try to set him down, he wakes up.  Our mattress is off the frame and on the floor, but still on the box spring since we don't have any place to put it.  He's asleep in bed right now with a pillow fort built around him because I've spent the last three days spending his whole nap staring at him and I'm not going to lie... it's getting a little boring!

I thought about side carring the crib but it seems less safe to be putting the bed back on the frame in order to sidecar.  Thoughts?  What do you do in your house?

[Chloe'sMama]

We have a king bed and recently (a month ago) added a twin bed against ours (really just an extension of our bed).  DD1 sleeps in the twin (and mostly by me on the king) then DD2 is between DH and I.  

DD2 is now crawling, so we have the pillow fort too.  I put DD1 on the floor at this age, but DD2 wont sleep there, so we are just super quick when we hear her awake in the bedroom.

:)

[starling&diesel]

DD always napped on the family bed, unless she was asleep in the carrier.  If you're planning to co-sleep for much longer, I'd recommend setting the bed up so that you'll be happy in the long run.  When dd was swaddled and not able to roll or explore, we had the bed on the frame with the boxspring.  When she could roll, we got rid of the boxspring and got an IKEA Hemnes frame that has several height settings.  We set it on the lowest one, bought the requisite slats and put just the mattress on.   We got the frame and slats off of Craigslist, so it was pretty cheap for something that we use every day.  DD still naps in that bed.  She still sleeps with us too (28 months).  I'm going to try to heed my own advice this time around and get a king asap as this next baby is due in October. 

This time we'll be in a condo with stairs, and we have a toddler too now, so I think I'll nap the baby on a single futon on the floor in a corner of the living room.  When it's not being used for naps, the kids can play on it, etc. 

Happy napping! 

Oh, and when dd was small, I used to hang out and watch her too, either with the computer or a book or editing to do.  Not possible this time, but I'd do it again in a heartbeat!  Got some great books read during those hours! 

[lkvosu]

My little guy naps on my lap. He won't sleep anywhere else. It's annoying to not have that time to get things done, but honestly it's not so bad. It's my "me" time...gives me time to facebook, MDC, and whatever blogs, reading, etc I want to catch up on. I even do my nails and pluck my eyebrows! I figure it's safest, too, since there's no chance he could crawl out of my lap without me knowing ;)

Don't get me wrong, I think I could learn to love him napping alone, but then I'd have the same problem you're having!

[starling&diesel]

Chloe'sMama ... Do you use a monitor of some kind?  Wondering if I should get one for baby #2?  Do you find that DD#2 naps on the move more (carrier, etc) now that you have a toddler this time?

[expat-mama]

We cosleep for part of the night - DS starts off in his crib and ends up in bed with us at some point inevitably. We got his crib when he started rolling around like a maniac at around 6 months, so the crib transition started then and has been going steadily for almost 4 months now. For some reason he will sleep in his crib (in our room) before we go to bed and are not in the room. Once we get into bed, he somehow senses our presence or something and will wake up as soon as we get into bed so we bring him in with us. Maybe it's just his/our habit. Anyway, some nights we can put him back down in his crib, others he won't go back down in there only in bed with us.

For naps I found it was way harder to get him to go down in his crib at first. These days it's getting easier and easier. Sometimes I try and if he wakes up then I'll put him down in the bed and give up. I found lately that he goes down really easy in the crib when he has fallen asleep in the car and I just put him in the crib when we get into the house.

Anyway, my point is I think it is just taking time and effort- the more I try to put him down in there, the more he does go down for naps in his crib. Maybe he is just getting used to it, maybe I am getting better at putting him down in there. I dunno. My goal is to have him napping and sleeping in his crib most of the time by the time he is a year old- but I'm not rushing him. If he is ready to do it he will. When he wants/needs to sleep or nap with me, he can.

I have books and a laptop in the bedroom for when he is sleeping on the bed. Sometimes I'll fold laundry or do something like that while he sleeps. Yeah...it can be boring, but it's still a nice break.

[marinak1977]

We have a mattress on the floor and DS sleeps in it for naps. He learned to get in and out of it really early and it works great

[carmen358]

DD naps in our bed on her own now. As soon as she was able to crawl we taught her how to get down safely. We have a platform bed so it's easy for her to get down and if she did fall (which she never has) it's not far to go!

When she was younger though I would just sit with her in the bed and catch up on email/mothering/reading.

[katelove]

J sleeps in our bed for her daytime sleeps but we put our mattress on the floor for exactly that reason.

When we go away we request a cot from the hotel. Then we put the cot mattress on the floor and she has her sleeps there for naps. If you can't put your mattress on the floor do you have space for a cot mattress or single mattress? I still lay down to feed her to sleep, my feet just hang off the end 

[Sfcmama]

We caved and bought a video monitor on craigslist and it was a miracle cure! Before, I was going in everytime a heard a rustle and waking dd up. Since then, we've also side-carred the crib and I use pillows to block her in to buy me some time. Dd also has a single mattress on the floor of "her" room that she naps or starts the night out on. That room is child proof so if she wakes, she cant get into much trouble. For us, dd learned to get off the bed safely shortly after she started crawling so it was only a brief period that I really worried about her falling off. I should also say that I do A LOT of napping or reading beside her.

[MamaofLiam]

We have a sidecar crib that he sleeps in now during naps. We also have a monitor (sound only). He is such an active sleeper so the only safe way for him to nap without us in the room is either in the sidecar crib or on a mattress on the ground. I personally am loving the sidecar crib thing now! I didn't know how I felt about it at first, but I think its great now. I get a much better nights sleep too. As a side note, in our situation our bed is on it's frame (our mattress is awful if it's not on a frame). 

[chel]

My dd2 naps on the floor on a boppy.. I turn the tv to a music channel.
The bedrooms are upstairs and the family bed is very high. I often let dd2 continue to sleep in the morning on the bed so it's not as much as a safety issue now, just often find it easier to put the baby down downstairs as dd still nurses to sleep.

[Shaki]

DS isn't rolling yet (just turned 3 weeks) so he naps on our bed or on my lap or in a carrier (mei tai). I can only seem to get him to take one extended nap on the bed without me there, the rest of his naps he needs to be either on or next to me. My older DD took all her naps on or next to me until she was pretty big, and then she napped on our bed; king bed, no bed rails--we had a co-sleeper on one side and the other side was pushed up against the wall. DD didn't sleep in the co-sleeper it was just there to catch her if she rolled. Now we are in a new apartment with a co-sleeper on one side of our bed, and nothing on the other. When DS starts rolling I'm not sure what I'll do about the open side. Maybe bed rails, maybe pillow fort with additional "catch pillows" on the floor just in case. We will (as pp mentioned) teach him how to safely climb out of the bed when he has the gross motor skills to do it.

[BabySmurf]

OMG, it feels so good to hear I'm not the only one, lol!

DS naps in my arms 99% of the time, although I have put him in the crib a couple of times.  He tolerates it sometimes, but sleeps better with me, and in my opinion, it's heaven having him in my arms! I am getting to the point where I am needing time to get more done, but I haven't figured out the best way to go about that....