tried co-sleeping last noc...

[sweetirishCT]

yikes!! what a night... i have fallen asleep while nursing my little maddy before , and laid down with her to snooze while DH was out playing cards, but never before slept the entire night with her in bed with DH and I... last night was a little trial, because our furnace was smoking so we had to shut it off and have no heat (only 35' outside last noc)... so I grabbed maddy and snuggled in with DH for the night...
it was awful... he sleeps as if in a coma, and once I awoke to find him laying on her arm!! : I was freaked out, and she was sleeping/not hurt, but it just opened my eyes to how dangerous it COULD be if he rolled onto her full body and smothered her!! and I slept terribly before that, I guess I was just nervous, and never fell into a restfull sleep, and after that I was afraid to close my eyes... I spent the night with my arm over her to keep DH from rolling over onto her, but by morning I put her on my other side to nurse on that side, but was afraid to fall asleep and have her go over the side of the bed
I just love cuddling my little girl, and I love to smell her while I am sleeping, but I am afraid to try this again...
any suggestions?
(doncha just love these little guys? )

[canadiyank]

How old is your little one? That might help what suggestions you get.

We put a pillow in between dh and dd...mostly b/c she "falls" over onto his side and it makes it hard to nurse her, so I put the pillow behind her back. But I did that after she could roll etc.

Some people put a rail on the other side. Or a crib mattress on the floor in case she rolls out. Or she could sleep there, etc.

HTH!

[SharonAnne]

my bed is pushed up against the wall, with pillows lining the wall, so if she rolls, she won't bonk her head She doesn't sleep between hubby and I, because mine, like yours, sleeps like the freaking dead :LOL

[sweetirishCT]

well, my DD is 6 mos next week... she doesn't roll too much yet... and DH and I are not, um, small framed people... he is 6'6", 300+lbs and I haven't lost that baby weight yet... :
so there is not too much extra room in our queen-sized bed for many pillows...

[canadiyank]

Ahhhh...Cali King sized bed, that's my rec, LOL. I have a dh with a frame like your dh, so ITU...Cali King is fabulous! (Only drawback - sheets are hard to find...)

[RedWine]

Sweet Irish, I would strongly suggest NOT letting your baby sleep next to your husband. I believe that mamas have instincts about their cosleeping babies, but papas do not -- females evolved sleeping next to their babes, not males. So in my opinion, it is not likely a woman would roll over onto her baby -- but it IS possible for a man to do so.

Why not push the bed against the wall? Or get a safety rail. Then, baby can sleep between you and the wall/rail. Just make sure there aren't any gaps between the wall/safety rail and the matress. If there are, you can roll up towels and fill in the gaps. This way, there is no possibility of baby getting trapped in gaps.

Safety guide for cosleeping can be found here, in case you need it:
http://www.askdrsears.com/html/7/T070600.asp

[PrennaMama]

We've got the king-sized bed, and Jon is a trim guy. He has gotten used to her sleeping w/ us, and misses her when she doesn't. But I occassionally have to put her on the other side of me (to nurse the other breast, as much as to keep her from getting knocked around when daddy's active in his sleep. I have a few pillows/mats on that side of the bed, just in case.

Btw, wouldn't you know the one and only time she has fallen outta our bed, was on HIS side, when she crawled over his legs, and off the edge. I awoke when she wasn't right next to me, just in time to realize she was heading for the edge, and whu-BUMP!-WAAAAHHH!!! We both felt so awful. He cried with her. Our bed is a platform, on the floor, low to the ground so her fall was MAYBE 8 inches. But we still felt so bad. Now he has put his pillows on the floor, just in case, and refuses to sleep with more than just a throw pillow for his own head. But, then, he could have 8 hours of dead sleep on a concrete slab. Those men!!

[FoxyMom]

Originally Posted by RedWine

Why not push the bed against the wall? Or get a safety rail. Then, baby can sleep between you and the wall/rail. Just make sure there aren't any gaps between the wall/safety rail and the matress. If there are, you can roll up towels and fill in the gaps.

We are lucky. We have a Cal King AND a twin bed. The twin is pushed up against the wall with the c.k. pushed snuggly next to the twin. DD spends most of the night in the twin. I try to nurse her there then roll back over in my spot next to DH. Sometimes though, when I nurse her on my left side (the side next to DH) I'll roll over into her spot, leaving her in mine, but far enough away that DH won't knock her with his elbow.

When we did just have the Cal King we had the co-sleeper on my side of the bed. Although it was never slept in, only for use as a bedrail. :LOL DD slept in the crook of my arm all night. Well, she got to big and too squirmy to do that, so we got the twin.

My fav suggestion is putting the bed against the wall. Good luck!!!

[Alkenny]

Like others, I suggest pushing your bed against the wall. Another thought is to sidecar the crib (take one rail off and then secure the legs to your bed.

Good luck!

[kisagotami]

I've pushed my bed against the wall and we took the bed frame out so the box springs and mattres are on the floor because ds loves to roll and this way he doesn,t have too far to fall.

My dh has never come close to rolling over ds but he's a SAHD and maybe that makes him a little more in tune.

If you want to sleep with your little one I suggest trying out different things untill you find something that works for you.

[spirit4ever]

I have a bed rail on both sides of the bed, but ds usually sleeps between me and the bedrail..never any worries here

[IncaMama]

yup...bedrail or pushing bed against the wall. and absolutely you should get a king if you can!!! LOL once you get a king, you'll have NO idea how you survived before.

if you still don't feel comfortable with those ideas, you could always put the crib sidecar to your side of the bed or use a co-sleeper (though at 6mos she's not likely to have TOO much more time in one of those)...so you can still have her right next to you but not have to worry about anybody rolling onto her or her falling.

[RedWine]

Speaking of upgrading to a bigger bed...we've been in a king, but now we're pushing a queen-size mattress up against our king-sized mattress -- so one half of our bedroom will be wall-to-wall mattresses. Dd1 joins us sometimes at night. When she does, she flails all over the place, whacking dh and I all evening. We decided to create one humungous bed, hoping we'll end up less bruised.

I think we'll have enough space for 3 more children, if we decide to have a bunch more!