Bedsharing with a Pillow-Top Mattress

[LouiseAlma]

I'm pregnant with my first child, so I'm trying to figure out our sleeping arrangements when the baby arrives.  My husband has painful back problems, so we have a special mattress so he can sleep comfortably.  We want to co-sleep and eventually move the baby into our bed.  I was just wondering when the baby will be old enough to sleep on a soft mattress.

Also, I was wondering if, at the beginning, we could co-sleep by putting or mattress on the floor and placing a crib mattress between our mattress and the wall.  Has anyone had any experience doing this?  Is there a better solution?  We thought about purchasing a used co-sleeper or converting a used crib, but we're a minimalist family and we usually try to avoid buying furniture that would be unnecessary after several months.

Edited by LouiseAlma - 6/14/11 at 3:38pm

[konayossie]

I'm no expert, so take that for what it's worth, just a mama who had a baby that DEMANDED to sleep with me at all times. DH & I have a pillowtop, and I believe DS and I moved back into the pillowtop bed when he was around 4-5 months. I think I felt ok about it b/c he was very physically developed and could roll from front-to-back or back-to-front, even on soft surfaces--he could sit up assisted by 4 mos and unassisted at 5 mos. I think the main concern with pillowtops is that they can kind of envelop the baby if s/he were to flip on to his/her tummy and be a smothering-hazard (like a pillow), so for us I felt that danger had pretty much passed. DS also NEVER rolled in his sleep till just recently (around 24 mos), another reason I was not concerned about it earlier on. I mostly slept with him in the crook of my arm all night at that point.

[Contrariety]

Common wisdom is that pillow tops are a no go for babes, but DS slept with us on our old pillow top.   I kept him in the crook of my arm and slept very tensely for the first month or two, no pillow, only blankets on my lower half, etc.  We got a new, plusher bed before DD was born, and I honestly didn't fret about it at all.  I was mindful of where I placed her and kept the blankets away from her but didn't worry nearly as much as with DS.  :shrug

Now I'm not going to say that you should sleep with your baby on your pillow top, because that's really a judgement call you just have to make for yourself.  but for me and mine, it worked out fine.

[chel]

i think it depends on how plush and fluffy your bed is, pillow top or not. I have a pillow top but it's really just like a regular mattress. My dd doesn't sink in to it. Not as an infant, and even now as a toddler still doesn't.

[lkvosu]

A pillow top mattress is all we've ever had and it works fine for us. However, most of the co-sleeping "rules" include a bit about super soft mattresses being unsafe. You just have to use your best judgement. I think I would actually be more uncomfortable with doing the crib mattress scenario you described.  It seems like that could create unecessary and potentially dangerous gaps, right?

Alos, although a cosleeper would be an extra piece of furniture, you could always sell it after you no longer needed it.