co-sleeping and falling off the bed

~Belinda~ · March 19th, 2008, 10:43 PM

Man, this might be something that will happen to us in the future! I use a bed rail at the moment but Madeleine is only 10 weeks old!!!

I do hope Madeleine heads into her cot when she's a little older but right now, it's out of the question, she hates it!

**kristy J** · March 20th, 2008, 07:57 AM

I don't want to scare anyone and its a personal choice to co sleep or not.

I just wanted to share the reason we don't sleep while ds is in our bed.
i know of 3 people who have lost babies in their families from co sleeping, one from falling off the bed broke its neck, the height a baby falls matters a lot falling just 60cm for a baby is like falling off a small balcony for us when i did my infant first aid they said to fall your height can be fatel so imaging how short a distance a baby will need to fall that can cause major problems with or without pillows to land on.
the other two i know of were suffercated, the grandmother of one of them told me that they his mum was a very light sleeper and never moved much in bed. yet when your sleep deprived as 99% of mums are anything can happen and again a baby doesn't move if its being suffercated. and the other loss i know of was a 2 year old who also was suffercated, i think it was daddy who rolled on her, i know the parents went through hell not only from loosing their beautiful daughter but from being investigated too.

Im almost in tears just writing this but i allway feel i need to tell people these stories. so people know what can go wrong. it may not happen often and yes these all happened over a number of years but one infant death is too many.

though my DS slept in his room from day 1, i was advised that if i did choose to have baby close that to move the cot next to the bed inline with you this way your child is safe you can stroke and pat them all night if you want but they can't get out.

take care kris

~Belinda~ · March 20th, 2008, 09:00 AM

Those stories are very sad, thanks for sharing them.

Nazela · March 20th, 2008, 10:12 AM

not a big fan neither are my girls (father and daughters love to sweat) so within 5 mins they are usually sweating - we have had falls when they were younger but now we put bubs between hubby and me - wait til she is hot and bothered and uncomfortable show her / ask her if she wants her bed - usually its a yes....lol