Co-sleeping using the cot instead of bed?

[Shanti]

Okay I just read the title and it sounds pretty funny.... haha! I'm sure some of you are going to be wanting to read this wondering what an earth I am trying to do by jumping into the cot with DD at night.... although we have often thought it would be alot easier some nights haha!!!

Ok.... so DD is in our bed, in between us and co-sleeps all night. She absolutely hates her cot so we only have her in there sometimes at the start of the night when she happily goes in but as soon as she wakes she is straight back in with us.

Now that DD is getting bigger and taking up heaps more space, we are feeling a little cramped in bed and DD moves around alot!! She's a squirmer which doesn't help.
Not to mention, loves kicking in her sleep!!

I've heard (and seen) some arrangements where parents have the cot pulled up next to the bed and the side rail is taken off on one side (the bed side obviously) and it's pushed up against the bed. Parents get more room, actually get to sleep next to each other and can easily settle bub and cuddle/feed bub upon waking each time.

For those of you who do this.... did you start out with bub in the bed with you and as he/she got bigger you moved them to the cot right next to you? How did this go?

And, do most cots line up evenly with the bed?? Our cot is one of those big sleigh cots (Love N Care) so I'm not sure it will even line up.... might get DH to have a look at it in the morning....

I'd love to be able to push our bed up against a wall and have DD sleep on the wall side so I can sleep next to DH again but we can't do this as the way our bedroom is set up doesn't allow (ie window on one side with window ledge so there would be a gap and other side is inbuilt cupboards thingys).... hard to explain.

THanks!!

[CrazyLady]

OOOO, I'm interested in this too. My DD likes headbutting me while kicking DP or vice versa! or crawling off the bed..........

[Honeybee]

Hi Shanti

I am also looking for a solution to this problem. I have DS on the edge of the bed between me and the cosleeper (which he is now too big for). Lately I have been putting mattresses all around the rest of the bed, because he's moving around a lot now and fell out of bed the other night (awful!).

I've been thinking of looking into bed rails/bed guards (not too sure what they're called), but you can get them for kids' beds I think, and also for elderly people. I thought that might be an option for us. Oh, and I'm starting to think we might need to get a king size bed... In my dreams, probably.

Just went and had a look at our cot and our bed, and I think you might be onto something. If we raised the level of the cot base to the higher level, then it's possible that the cot mattress might be around the height of our bed's mattress, which would be ideal.

Even if your DD wasn't in the cot, she could sleep on your side of the bed, rather than in the middle, and if she rolls over she'd just end up rolling into the cot.

I reckon you should measure the heights of your bed vs your cot and see if the two heights would match up well enough to try it.

Good luck!

xx

[Fig]

I currently am using the cot next to the bed. I love it. I started co-sleeping with DS from newborn, but after awhile sometimes needed room to stretch out without worrying about him. We took the side off the cot and pushed the cot mattress up against the bed. There was a gap on the other side which we filled with another cot mattress on its side.

I put him to sleep on his cot for all his sleeps. I feed to sleep so i lie next to him and feed. During the night i lean over and feed him sometimes and other times when he wants more of a cuddle I bring him back over to the bed. Latley, he is starting to move around a bit more and some nights he makes his way over to me for a cuddle (so cute). We also have my DD - 2.5 yrs in the middle of us part of the night as well, so the extra room is a must.

Well worth doing if you can find a way to not have any gaps between cot and bed.

[CrazyLady]

bummer, i started measuring and after measuring height adjustments of both bed and cot i can't do it safely :/

Lucky DD seems to be more settled of a night as of late.

[sloane]

it sounds like a good plan if it's the right height shanti.

i was just thinking it'd be great to have a cot with a side that opened like a door - DS is fine to put down (cos i put him down asleep, a whole diff prob to be tackled at some point!) if you put him across rather than down. it just seems like so many babies hate that sensation of being put down.

[Janie]

I'm sorry R, but I laughed when I read your post..........again, I can't believe how much your little DD sounds like my DS1!!!!! Man have we travelled the same path I think the sidecar cot sounds like a brilliant plan if you can make it fit etc, I would definitely give it a go. I have a few friends who have done it, all with success. Otherwise, just upgrade to a King size bed we were just saying last night that we might have to do that!!!!!!

[boomba]

We have just done this. the cot matress sit about a cm higher then our matress, but there is no gap. I have had to put a big long boday pillow down the railed side of the cot so that the matress is butt up against the bed. We also have the cot hard against the wall then opur bed...I know you cant do this but it stops the cot from moving!
Its great to ahve the extra room...cause DS1 likes to sleep wiht his legs in my face so having DS2 in his own safe space is perfect!

Plus OT but since Co sleeping form birth, i have never complained of lack of sleep cause i dont actually have to wake right up iykwim

Good luck hun x

[Astrid]

Used the sidecare method with both girls. They tend to start off in the bed then shuffle across as time goes on.

Just one warning though. Have a bed against the wall can really inhibit air flow. In our last 2 houses it was not a problem, but this one we had a real mould issue. We had to take away the cot and put the bed back into the middle of the room. Thankfully this time around we have a king size and I just put a bedrail on my side. So make sure you have good air flow. We could not use a bedroom for a month whilst we got the room and mattress cleaned.

[Amethyst]

We have just done this. the cot matress sit about a cm higher then our matress, but there is no gap. I have had to put a big long boday pillow down the railed side of the cot so that the matress is butt up against the bed. We also have the cot hard against the wall then opur bed...I know you cant do this but it stops the cot from moving!
Its great to ahve the extra room...cause DS1 likes to sleep wiht his legs in my face so having DS2 in his own safe space is perfect!

Plus OT but since Co sleeping form birth, i have never complained of lack of sleep cause i dont actually have to wake right up iykwim

Good luck hun x

i agree with everything said cept it was DD for me. Oh and we rolled up a blanket to jam against the rail side and make sure the matresses had no gaps between them. Our matresses didnt match up in height either - I thinkDD's was a few cms lower than ours but it didnt cause any problems....

We coslept from birth and she was moved into the side car cot at about 18 months i think it was - it was summer, she is sweaty and the feet in DH's face and head on mine thing was aggrivating us cos she was too long at that age and DH was always half off the bed!

We had a couple days dramas as she adjusted to not being in the middle but after a couple of weeks she was willingly rolling over into her cot in a half sleep state after coming off the boob, so then she started appreciating her own space.

HTH!

[Heaven]

I would love to do this!! But on our bed the base comes out further than the mattress, so the mattress is sitting in the base if that makes sense. So we couldn't have the mattresses right up against each other. But I need more space!! DD sleeps horizontally on the bed!!

[kitten2b]

we did this as well, we went to bunnings and got some wood braces and braced the cot base to the bed base do theree is no way it can be moved away from the bed leaving gaps etc, we were luck that the bed and cot matched up perfectly

[boomba]

Heaven our bed is the same but i moved the matress right up to our matress and then wedged the ohter side if that makes sense!
Astrid thanks for the tip will keep a close eye on that I never thought about the mould...but wuldnt it be like having your own bed against the wall?

[Heaven]

Oh I see!! Didn't think of that!!!! Thanks.

[Astrid]

Astrid thanks for the tip will keep a close eye on that I never thought about the mould...but wuldnt it be like having your own bed against the wall?

You should fine if you have already had your bed against the wall with no problems. We were fine in 2 homes, just our 3rd we found out the hard way to be very careful with the air flow around the bed.

[Indadhanu]

Yep we did it

We started out with her in our bed, and the cot next to the bed, about 50cm away (not with the side off obviously). Then I read about 'side-car' arrangements and decided to give it a try. The hardest part about it was filling the gap between the bed and the cot. When we had an ensemble there wasn't much of an issue but when we got a bed frame we had a gap but I used my long maternity pillow. We were very lucky though, that the cot lined up perfectly.

We just introduced it slowly. I'd feed her to sleep like normal, than transfer her to the cot. Because I could pretty much snuggle in with her if I needed, she didn't really protest to me moving her. I'd just move her, then get in close like we were still so-sleeping, or I'd leave my hand on her so she knew I was still there.

[Shanti]

Thanks so much everyone!!!

Well, DH got home from work and as soon as he walked in the door I asked him for his help to do it so that we could start with the new sleeping arrangement tonight!!

We lined the cot mattress up with ours after taking off the side rail (adjustable side) off and DH drilled new holes in the cot so it matched up at the exact right level as our mattress. We moved our bed over so that it pressed the cot right into the corner of the room so DD's cot is next to the wall and we have loovers (sp?) window there with plenty of air flow so no probs there she'll get lovely air flow..... our bed is good in that the mattress pretty much lines up with the bed frame so all in all.... it works really well!!!
Oh and we rolled up a blanket and stuffed that down the side of the other side of the cot where the gap was (between side of cot and cot mattress) like you said you did Amethyst. (Dh did that then I read your post!)

We did our bedtime routine as per usual tonight and DD was excited rolling around on her 'new side' of the bed and seemed excited about it and fed and off to sleep she went - easy!! And hasn't woken in 3hrs!!

Fingers crossed for a nice sleep with plenty of space for us and noone kicking us in the head, legs, back or stomach!!!! haha! She's been waking up so much and gets upset cos' there isn't much room to move around and she loves moving all over the place so now she can in her own bed lol

Thanks all

ps why didn't we do this sooner? lol

[Shanti]

Well DD still woke as often as she usually does but it was sooo easy to feed her and then just move her back to her side.... it was so nice not being kicked in the back or head all night too.