Cosleeping question- mattress against wall?

[scrandall1173]

Everything I've read so far in books says to have the mattress snug against the wall and position your baby between the mom and the wall. I met someone the other day who said she never would have done that for fear of the baby getting pinned between mattress and wall. She just put her mattress directly on the floor as she would rather he baby roll off than get pinned, understandably. I really don't want my baby rolling off though either.

What does everyone else do?

Thanks!

[crunchy_mommy]

I was too paranoid to put the bed against the wall, for the same reasons as your acquaintance. For a while, I had a co-sleeper on one side to 'catch' DS if he ever rolled off the bed (he didn't actually sleep in the co-sleeper lol, and he never rolled off). Then we just put our mattress on the ground & I far preferred that. DS didn't roll off occasionally until he was older (6mos to a year, around when they start crawling/walking) and he was fine when he did roll off, it was only about 6 inches and we have a carpeted floor. He didn't even wake up when he rolled off most of the time lol -- plus it was easier for him to climb on & off the mattress with it on the floor, and safer for jumping on when he got old enough for that!

He nursed a lot at night so depending which side he was nursing on, sometimes I had him in between me & DH, but with a firm pillow between DH & DS. That worked fine too but I know some people would be uncomfortable with the pillow being in the bed at all. It was fine for us because of the way DH slept and DS always stayed close to me and the pillow never moved.

Just for the record. my DS is 2.5 now and we now have a regular-height bed (mattress and box spring) and DS sleeps between us with no barrier between him & DH anymore.... so you don't have to worry about these things forever!! But I still won't put the bed against the wall, I'm terrified of entrapment!!

(sorry, I'm a bit long-winded sometimes...)

[scrandall1173]

Thx for your reply! I think I agree...I put the mattress on the floor and she sleeps on the side not against the wall. DH is in separate bed right now as there's just not room on the queen. It's all far from ideal but it seems to get me the most rest right now and I really need it to function.

Out of curiosity, how did u handle nap times? Right now my plan is to babyproof the room and let her nap on the mattress. I do that now but she's not crawling yet. I may also try to help her nap in her crib. She likes the crib equally as much as the bed, thankfully, but I just can't get her down and staying asleep after the set down.

[crunchy_mommy]

I am the wrong person to ask about nap time lol, DS almost never naps unless I stay right beside him. I think you will have a period of time when she's a new crawler/walker that it might be tough but as long as you've babyproofed the room I'm sure she'll be fine. The few times I've gotten DS to nap on his own, I've left the door open and he'll either cry for me or just come out and find me when he wakes up.

[mihicado]

We pushed our bed against the corner wall. We also put yoga bolsters next to our LO and above his head, so we didn't have to worry about him rolling into the crack. He was about 8-11 months and was also swaddled.  Only one of us could sleep with him, though.

[Honey693]

We have a no gap bed rail (part of the rail fits over the mattress) so there is no possible way to roll in between the rail and the mattress.  I wouldn't be comfortable pushing the bed against the wall either and I refuse to put my bed on the floor.