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| Posted: Jan 07 2010 at 5:55pm | IP Logged
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My 4 month old is sleeping in our bed with us. Working wonderfully and I don't want to move her out (she was not sleeping well in the cosleeper attached to our bed so in the bed she is!)
Two questions for those of you with cosleeping in your bed experience:
(1) where do you put baby down for daytime naps?
(2) how do you handle bedtime? Does baby go down before you and someone stay on guard to watch she doesn't roll out of bed?
Thanks,
Tracey
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JodieLyn
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| Posted: Jan 07 2010 at 5:59pm | IP Logged
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They make railings you can add to your bed.. that could be a simiple solution. When they're that little though I usually like them in the same room as I am.. so I have a nice cradle that stays in the main part of the house for when they're asleep and I need to set them down.
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| Posted: Jan 07 2010 at 6:14pm | IP Logged
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Good point. I like to have her close, too. She is almost 18 pounds already and doesn't fit in the bassinet anymore. :(
I have been laying her on the floor with a blanket. Ugh.
________
Tracey
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JodieLyn
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| Posted: Jan 07 2010 at 6:43pm | IP Logged
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oh my.. she is growing well. I have micro-midgets who might be 18lbs at one year.
But I invested in a solid wood cradle, that's low to the ground on rockers when I was expecting #4. I LOVE that thing.. it's strong enough I can stand in it.. I don't have to worry about other kids thinking they can climb in too.. and I only stop using it if the baby gets to where they're trying to pull up and could fall over the side. And even then.. if they're asleep when I lay them down and they're next to me so that when they wake up I can get them right away I can still use it.
I think a nice blankie on the floor is a reasonable solution.. if you don't like her on the floor I know a friend that used an under bed storage tote to make up a little bed in. Not much different than the floor but gave a bit of a side to block drafts and kept the blanket and baby off the floor.
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Jodie, wife to Dave
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melanie
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| Posted: Jan 07 2010 at 7:05pm | IP Logged
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I made a cosleeper for this last baby out of our crib...took one side off the crib and pushed it up against the bed (there's a trick to making it work, let me know if anyone wants details  )...anyway, this has been the BEST idea ever, it works so nicely for us. I can nurse the baby to sleep and then easily roll her into the crib and leave her to finish her nap (God willing). I put pillows there when she was a little baby. Then we had an awkward stage when she could climb over the pillows but wasn't big enough to get off the bed by herself without falling. That was tricky, and it varied from day to day. Somedays I would have a monitor up there and barrel up the stairs to get her as soon as I heard a peep. Some days I put her on the floor, or someplace downstairs. Thankfully, she learned at an early age how to slip safely down the side of the bed. So now I am back to leaving her to finish her nap on her own again...if I can manage to stay awake of course.
Bedtime, we go to bed together right now. It helps that I'm pooped pretty early. Still, it's not ideal. If I get her to sleep first though, she sleeps about an hour, then wakes up over and over until I come up and stay up.
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Melanie
homeschooling Maria (13yo), Kain (10yo), Jack (5yo), Tess (2yo), and our newest blessing, Henry Robert, born 4/23!
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stefoodie
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| Posted: Jan 07 2010 at 7:41pm | IP Logged
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JodieLyn wrote:
| oh my.. she is growing well. I have micro-midgets who might be 18lbs at one year. |
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I have one of those!!! 
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stef
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Barbara C.
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We have a twin bed pushed against the wall with a queen pushed against it. When I have a newborn they sleep on the twin, then me, then older child, then dh. We also do not use a headboard or frame, box springs and mattress are on the floor.
Usually as long as I am nursing, they prefer to nurse to sleep. Once they are able, I try to nurse them laying down in the bed at least once during the day and at night, so that they don't get too used to taking naps/going to bed on me.
My oldest WOULD NOT sleep for more than two minutes (literally) unless I was beside her or she was laying on my arm until she was almost two. My younger two would usually sleep for an about an hour by themselves. I've found that if I am laying there at the hour mark they sleep better and longer, they can just sense it.
Most days, especially during the first six months and right now when I'm pregnant again, I lay down for a nap, too. If I do leave a little one who hasn't learned how to scoot off the bed feet-first, then I make sure that there is nothing dangerous for them to land on around the bed...sometimes I stack pillows and blankets for a soft landing. But I often find that they start crying way before they start trying to roll or scoot off the bed themselves.
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Nique
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| Posted: Jan 07 2010 at 11:49pm | IP Logged
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melanie wrote:
| I made a cosleeper for this last baby out of our crib...took one side off the crib and pushed it up against the bed (there's a trick to making it work, let me know if anyone wants details |
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Details please - if you watch the two emoticons closely, they BOTH blink at the same time!
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KauaiCatholic
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| Posted: Jan 08 2010 at 1:52am | IP Logged
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we've always had good luck fencing them in the middle of our king-size bed with big body pillows (and closest to the two sides against walls). that has always worked for naps and bedtimes if I get up again after they fall asleep, which doesn't always happen.
Nique: I just spent WAY too long watching those emoticons blink ... 
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 Viviane
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melanie
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| Posted: Jan 08 2010 at 5:54pm | IP Logged
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Ok! Well, I hope I can describe this well...I may have to post a picture on my blog or something,  . First, we took a side off of the crib, the side that drops down, and we put the mattress at a level that made it most level with our bed. The crib mattress is just a smidge lower, but it's very close. We don't have a bed frame either, just a bedspring and mattress, but that's not because of the baby...we have a finished attic bedroom with weird low sloping ceilings. Anyway, when you get it lined up, you'll find that there is a gap of a good few inches between the two mattresses. I found a solution to this online. Someone had suggested using those foam pool noodles, you know the ones I mean?
http://www.amazon.com/Big-Boss-Swimming-Pool-Noodle/dp/B002H 37K0Q/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&s=sporting-goods&qid=1262994282&sr= 8-2
Don't let the price there scare you, that picture is for some great big ones I think. The regular ones are a couple of bucks each. Anyway, I took two pool noodles and used a utility knife to cut them the length of the crib mattress. Then I stuffed them between the other side of the crib and the crib frame, one on top of another. When you wedge them in good they are just at the height of the crib mattress, and they wedge the crib mattress tightly against our mattress. You don't even really notice the noodles either, because our bumper covers them up mostly. The one issue that might come up is that you need to make sure that your mattress and the crib stay snugly together. On the website where I saw this idea, she said that she used those elastic luggage bungee cords to hook the crib to their mattress. Since our box spring is on a carpeted floor, and our bed mattress is a big heavy king sized thing, we haven't had this problem, so I guess it depends on your bed and on your flooring and such.
Anyway, hope this all makes sense!
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Melanie
homeschooling Maria (13yo), Kain (10yo), Jack (5yo), Tess (2yo), and our newest blessing, Henry Robert, born 4/23!
slightlycrunchycatholic.blogspot.com
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SuzanneG
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melanie wrote:
Anyway, when you get it lined up, you'll find that there is a gap of a good few inches between the two mattresses. I found a solution to this online. Someone had suggested using those foam pool noodles, you know the ones I mean?
http://www.amazon.com/Big-Boss-Swimming-Pool-Noodle/dp/B002H 37K0Q/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&s=sporting-goods&qid=1262994282&sr= 8-2 |
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We did this too and used a few different things to "close the gap".....pool noodles, rolled up towels, packing foam, etc....
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Marcia
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| Posted: Jan 08 2010 at 7:42pm | IP Logged
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When your bed is on the floor the "fall" or roll to the floor isn't so hard on a little thing. We put our bed on the floor about 10 years ago and that's where it has stayed.
We now have a queen and a single side by side for all the kids who like to join us in the night.
I found that a 4 month old doesn't really roll very much and a light pillow on the floor could cushion her fall....if she becomes squirmy.
I would always stay with my baby in the bed until they were in a deep sleep and then sneak off to do my chores.
There nothing like cosleeping...we love it around here.
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Nique
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Melanie, thank you SO MUCH for explaining
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JodieLyn
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another thing with a bed on the floor.. you don't have as much "give" so the openings between bed and wall or bed and cradle etc don't gape as much.. easier to keep it flush to something.
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Jodie, wife to Dave
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teachingmyown
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I use a trick that I learned from Elizabeth years ago- I assign a big kid to sit with the baby during naps and in the evening before I go up. They are allowed a half hour of video game or an episode of something we have on DVD. Then they read. They take turns. Nowadays it isn't about the baby falling out, it is about the two year old waking up and wreaking havoc!
I love the noodle idea! We don't use a bedframe but we do have a boxspring under our mattress so it is still pretty high.
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Olivia
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Thanks for the question Tracey. I was wondering the same things.
I have a 15 month old and she has been cosleeping in bed since the beggining. We've always slept well at night. Nap times have always been more difficult. Over time I've tried various things. When very little she would usually nap in my arms or in a sling or I'd try to leave her after nursing in bed. Using a bassinet hardly ever worked as she would wake up when put down. I've never managed to get her to sleep in a cot.
When I felt it was unsafe to leave her in bed, when she started to roll, I used the cot mattress on the floor and lie down with her there to nurse for naps or her bed time (earlier than ours) and when she's in deep sleep I'd leave her. She usually wakes up a few times and I nurse her back to sleep. When I'm ready for bed I bring her in. I use a bed rail.
In the mornings she's usually 1st to wake up but if not I never leave her asleep in bed if I leave the room as she hasn't learnt how to climb down safely yet.
This was working well until last month. She won't stay asleep after a couple of minutes of me leaving her and I'm usually lying with her nursing up to 1 hour and she's in deep sleep. She just knows when I'm not next to her. Once she's in bed with us she sleeps fine. I'm hoping this is just a short phase to do with teething or something. For now I'm enjoying keeping her close to me in my arms where she's happy but it means I can't get things done like I used to. I wonder if anyone else has experienced this too?
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Christine
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We have a king-size bed. All of my babies have slept between my husband and me at night and in the middle of the bed during the day. I have a baby monitor in our bedroom that I turn on whenever the baby is sleeping without me in the room, so that I can hear the minute he or she wakes up. None of my children have ever fallen off of the bed. They have all eventually figured out how to slide off of the bed feet first.
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Olivia
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I too have a baby monitor I use if I ever leave baby. But to my suprise there have been times baby has crawled out of the room without a sound being picked up by the monitor. I'd be too worried leaving baby on bed until she can get off safely. I know some people use video monitors.
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4Real Forums : Mothering and Family Life
Topic: Cosleeping- naps and bedtime routine
