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Arms Reach Co-sleeper

1K views 4 replies 3 participants last post by  TigerTail 
#1 ·
I have an Arms Reach Co-Sleeper which I bought after my first daughter was a few months old. She never took to it, and it wasn't useful past a certain age since the sides don't go up very high, so we never used it. The model I have is built on a Pack-n-Play playpen thingy, although I have seen a different type of Arms Reach that is wooden.

Anyway, I'm thinking of using it early on when I have my second child, but I kind of wonder if it will be useful. I mean, it seems like it wouldn't be much more useful than a bassinet by the side of the bed, and the benefits of co-sleeping won't be realized with that much separation. One of the reasons I started cosleeping with my first was because the first night she was in the bassinette, she was very restless and wouldn't sleep, so I brought her into our bed and she went right to sleep. I read in the Sears book about the incidence of SIDS being reduced with babies who cosleep, so I wanted to do it at least until 6 months. In the early weeks, I was amazed at how she would move and snuggle up next to me no matter how far to the edge I slept. It seems like a co-sleeper side car would make a baby feel like she was sleeping in a crib, and not really next to mom. But she still would be within arm's reach, so maybe it is a good compromise. Any thoughts?
 
#2 ·
i don't know how old your first one is, but check out my 'he's sleeping in the cosleeper!' post- my experiences were the same as yours- sam had little interest, and it became essentially a bedrail with room for dipes and gear. then max was born, and never really slept well in it either.
now sam has been (finally!) sleeping in it like a champ (whereas the crib across the room is anathema); now there is room for the babe in the bed & he's sleeping MUCH better. (I'm making the assumption that you are trying to figure out where to put both babes and no. 1 is still in your bed?)
anyway, good luck- i hear wakin' baby, sigh.

suse
 
#3 ·
I use it for my little one (now 7 months). It is great to use part time.......for naps.....for the beginning of the night when baby goes to sleep but you stay up, etc. Also, I would sleep w/my arm on him. We'd start out that way and then late at night I would take him into bed with me. We still do this. You can always try, and if you don't like it, don't do it! It is a bit of a pain to lift the baby in and out for nighttime nursing, which is why he ends up in bed w/me eventually. And I am able to sleep right next to him, with just that lip between us....but I can hear him breathe and I keep a hand on him. Also, I used the snuggle nest when we went on vacation when ds was 2 months old. I LOVED that thing.....it allowed him to be in bed w/us but in his own little space...no worries about rolling over. I wish that it lasted longer. I like those things because I'm an awful sleeper......we have a king sized bed and I really only sleep well if I'm alone in it! Even before ds was born, I was so happy when dh got up and went to work because I slept so much better w/the bed to myself.....I like to sprawl and toss and turn. If I didn't have sleep issues I wouldn't use the arm's reach.
Kristi
 
#4 ·
Quote:
Originally posted by suseyblue
(I'm making the assumption that you are trying to figure out where to put both babes and no. 1 is still in your bed?)
Our daughter was in our bed for almost 2.5 years, and then we moved her to an air mattress in our bedroom, the idea being that I would nurse her to sleep there and then get into the big bed. This was going to be a transitional phase between having her in our bed with us to sleeping in her own room by herself. It didn't work, she still woke to nurse in the middle of the night frequently, and even when I got up from the bed and got into the big bed, she still woke up. We got her her own bed in August of this year and she took to it like a duck to water. I lie with her until she falls asleep, and occasionally I sleep with her if she is restless and not sleeping well, but in most cases she sleeps through the night now, which didn't happen consistently until after she started sleeping in her room. She would still wake up once a night to nurse even after being in her own room, but there were nights she would sleep through.

My thinking is that we used both the co-sleeper and then the crib in a sidecar arrangement, but our daughter would never sleep on the "strange mattress" because she slept in our bed from the beginning. At this point I'm trying to decide if we are going to have a family bed, or just have the new babe in a separate bed in our room (co-sleeper or crib next to our bed). I think that if we got the new one used to sleeping in the co-sleeper right away that it would work, and maybe she might transition to her own bed sooner and sleep through the night sooner. But maybe not, maybe it is just a case of her doing things when she is ready. I guess I'm worried that I'm giving up the benefits of the family bed by using the separate co-sleeper bed, but I'm wondering if the benefits of the co-sleeper will outweigh that in the long run, since my husband wasn't much in favor of the whole family bed thing. I will still have the new baby next to the bed within easy access for nursing and such, but then it will be the same issue of having to disturb a sleeping baby trying to lift her back into the co-sleeper, so maybe I will end up doing the same thing I did before and just leaving her in my bed.

Oh well, come to think of it, I'm not really sure what I wanted when I asked this question.
 
#5 ·
so glad your 1st dd is a happy sleeper... btw, fwiw, that difference in levels really bugged the crap out of me, & I put foam (cut down from a kingsize pad- after letting it out of the pkg to air out, even though sam was almost 2 & hardly going to die of sids, i still don't wanna poison him with off-gassing!) in enough levels to raise it to the height of my bed- soooo much better. i can just roll him back & forth (koala is the brand i've found of playyard-size sheets that fits the enlarged mattress- the one it comes with won't work. neither does carter's) to nurse in the night- it is so awesome. even w/ the baby getting over such a bad case of croup, i am sleeping much better than before- and gosh, so is the baby (and sam!)
i know the official 'word' would be against putting an infant on the foam, but (besides the fact that every baby i've heard of is a heat seeking missle to mama out of that thing and into the bed) it is pretty firm, and (if max would sleep on it, which he won't) i wouldn't be too worried (and if i was, the foam could easily go under that hard-ass board
: they provide the babe to sleep on.)
anyway, don't give up on it as a waste of money just yet- besides being able to buy that toybox-type cover for it later, and keeping dipes etc on it now, you may find it the perfect fit for your baby's needs later (yes, i am happy i bought mine!)
btw, my toddler is only 25 lb, which i am pretty sure is under the weight limit, but it feels quite sturdy (and no two yr old is gonna get wounded falling 1 ft on foam, if it did fall- which i can't imagine.)

suse
 
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