[nighten]

Guinevere is 4-1/2 months' old and we didn't plan to co-sleep (she has a lovely cradle in our room), but that's what we're doing.

Anyway, she's teething and won't nap anywhere but in our room, so we moved the swing there and during the day she'll nap in the swing, but at night she won't sleep anywhere but our bed.

If I try to put her down for the night at 7:30 or 8pm then how can I do so safely without me having to go to bed at the same time? She's started rolling a bit and scoots all over. We have a king sized bed and I move the pillows and covers, and try to make a barricade but I'm afraid she'll scoot up under one or something?

If we wait until we go to bed (9:30-10pm), then she's up until 1 or 2am. Ugh.

How do you put your co-sleeping infant down for the night without going to bed yourself, and know that she's safe? (We have an audio only monitor.)

Thanks!

 

[North_Of_60]

We put her in her crib for those first few hours that we're not in bed. I'm actually in the process of making her a blanket roll that fits on the bed so she can't roll off the sides.

It's basically a blanket that has rolls on the edges that velcro on and off (for easy cleaning). You lay on the blanket with the rolls on the edge of the bed, and they act as bumpers. This way I'll be able to nurse her to sleep, then roll away and know she hopefully won't roll on the floor.

 

[Lazyhead]

We moved our bed to the floor and made a pillow barricade. DD is 2.5 now but she has always slept in our bed (and it's still on the floor!

)

 

[pinkmilk]

usually i just hold him until i go to bed! but sometimes(lately) i put him to bed at 9:30 and I go to bed at around 10:30 or 11:00!!! WOO HOO!!!i place him on our bed...queen size with crib at one side(side rail off) and a bedrail on the other side of the bed(

: ...does that make sense??)

He is 6 months and I do worry at nap time that he'll find a way to crawl off. I'm thinking of a little bed on the floor for nap time??

 

[catgirl1007]

I rock my DD to sleep in the recliner and hold her until I go up to bed. She's 22 months old now and I've done this forever b/c she was a really poor sleeper and this is what works for us. I could put her down alone in our bed now, but I like holding her. I'm having DC2 in November so we'll have to change our routine after he arrives.

 

[ryleigh'smama]

Bed on floor with pillow barricade here as well.

 

[Mommy2Jackson]

DS is 13 months now and I don't really have to worry about him falling off anymore. We have our bed pushed in the corner so there is only one side open and I usually put a pillow baricade up. At night I nurse him to sleep there and sneak out and Dad joins him soon after and me later. When he was really little I would sometimes rock/nurse him to sleep in the rocker then put him in his crib until he would cry or I would go to bed. Now our crib is only used for daycare kids

....he hates his crib and would much rather be in our bed. It's so funny now because sometimes when he wakes up I don't hear him on the monitor he will get off the bed and come walking out.....It always scares me

:

 

[AugustineM]

We moved our mattress & box springs onto our carpeted floor, pushed one side of the bed against the wall, and I would barricade DS in with pillows. There was no way he was going anywhere!

I'd usually nurse him to sleep around 8 and then stay up for a while. Did this from the time he was about 5 months and still do it now and he's almost 2.

 

[nighten]

Thanks for the replies

Putting the bed on the floor is *not* an option for us. We have two dogs and three cats and if we leave the door shut at night, the dogs wake us up and we we leave it open, the cats could come crawling all over the bed (one is old and uses his claws -- he's not very baby friendly).

I've been using pillow barricades but am worried when she gets more mobile that she'll scoot herself up into the pillows.

She won't sleep in her crib at all yet, but tonight am gonna try putting her down in the swing (it's in our room) and see if that'll work.

 

[D_McG]

I posted about this recently. our solution so far is to put him to sleep on a quilt on the living room floor. He is happy there (becuase he is flat) and we can see him!

I didn't want to have to hold him because I really enjoy the time alone with DH.

 

[XanaduMama]

We also do bed on the floor with a pillow barricade, which ds could totally climb over if he felt like it, but I go in there as soon as I hear him on the monitor and he's usually either just sitting up acting confused or still lying there. He goes to bed at 7 and I go to bed the first time he wakes up, usually around 10.

Once I did go in the first time I heard him, and he was standing (!) holding on to the laundry basket and looking very pleased with himself. But such silent mobility is pretty unusual. Actually, that may even have been at naptime...

 

[XanaduMama]

Oops, just saw your post about not being able to put the bed on the floor. We used bed rails on vacation, with pillows on either side, and that worked well (in that he didn't end up on the floor). But I turned the monitor up loud and dashed in there at the first peep! I know what you mean about grown-up time at the end of the day: it's priceless.

 

[Ravin]

Sometimes we put her in the middle of the king sized bed, and I had my computer in the bedroom so I had stuff to do without leaving the room. And sometimes I'd lay down in front of the TV with her on a blanket on the living room floor, and she'd sleep there for nap or until we were ready to head up to bed.

And sometimes I couldn't get away and I just nak'ed for 3 hours with her in the sling or read a book while lying down with her.

We experimented and found that a pillow barricade worked well for us, because if she rolled into a pillow she'd roll the other way rather than under it, and I wasn't worried about her slipping under one because she was quite capable of kicking them away by the time she could roll.

 

[Greenie]

We have a Queen, and it's right up against the wall. We put DS next to the wall, there are pillows stuffed in the crack so he won't get stuck, and then we make a pillow mountain on the edge. He's been fine for 8 months now!

 

[nighten]

So it sounds like the pillow barricade works best for many families? My only concern is once she's more mobile and rolling around the bed, but I guess I'm just worrying myself before I need to, since she's still only barely rolling over even.

Thanks for the feedback, all.

 

[Gigi2214]

Yes,, pillow barricade here as well..
Basically DD slept with us up until she was about 10mths.
Then we decided to put the crib in our room. She did not like the fact that she was a lone in her own room. Once we put the crib in our room she would fall asleep. She needed to have one of our pillows, I guess our scent made her feel better. She would also play quielty in the crib since she saw us right there.
After she outgrew the crib, now at 2.5 we have her in her room in a toddler bed. What actually helped was putting a tv in her room. We put it on quietly, I tuck her in and if she can't sleep, she plays quietly.

 

[MCsMom]

We got some of the bed rails that you can add to any normal sized bed (not just a toddler bed) so we didn't need to move pillows.

 

[KeanusMomma]

First of all, we mostly go to bed at the same time. For when we don't (and when we do--babies can suffocate on pillows!), we have bed rails along both sides.

 

[Greenie]

Quote:

Originally Posted by nighten So it sounds like the pillow barricade works best for many families? My only concern is once she's more mobile and rolling around the bed, but I guess I'm just worrying myself before I need to, since she's still only barely rolling over even. Thanks for the feedback, all.

We have a baby monitor, and at the first sounds of movement we go in and get him.

He doesn't have time to roll off the bed!

 

[kitchenwitch]

I'm lucky enough to have a really easy going little girl... She is two months old now, and every night I put her into her bassinet for a little while until I am ready to go to bed, (she goes in at midnight and I follow around one am) then when she starts fussing around three I take her into our bed, and she sleeps through the night and wakes around half past eight!