Co-sleeping when they can crawl! Really need help.

I have been blessed with a child who sleeps quite well in her cot.

We started life together co-sleeping for the first 6months and then from 6 months DD moved to her cot and has since slept through the night there.

The last couple of weeks we have started to experience teething (ohh the joys) and she has been since waking a lot screaming. When its a middle of the night wake up I have been bringing her in with me (DP is in the spare room) and have been letting her comfort feed and sleep there but this is where my problem lies.

I want to provide the comfort of me being next to her and her being able to latch on to me if she needs some relief on her gums but I am absolutely petrified to go to sleep as I am worried about her crawling off the bed!

I thought I had taken all of the necessary precautions - bed is up against the wall, there is a wall of pillows along that wall so she cant fall down the narrow space but the issue is now she can crawl, she goes for the end of the bed.

A month ago, I bought her in to bed with me in the morning as i was so tired. She had her morning feed and I fell back asleep and then I woke to a thud and she crawled off the end of the bed! I was devastated and very lucky she didnt injure herself.

I have tried putting a wall of pillows at the end of the bed but she just sees it as an extra challenge and wants to get over it even more.

We have a king sized bed so its not like I can barrier the entire bed even then I fewar she would just launch herself over them.

What have you done to combat this problem?? How do you teach them not to crawl off the bed?

Hmm I'd like to know too. Unfortunately, I don't think there's much you can do?? Mattress on the floor is the only thing that comes to mind...

I put her in a sleeping bag to make it harder...

Hope you find something that works.

I was going to say that- a mattress on the floor, either for you both to sleep on or as a landing pad ;) Good new is, they grow out of fairly quickly- it doesn't take too long to realise if they crawl, they'll fall.

Can you teach her how to get off the bed safely? ie. slide down backwards on her tummy

We have this problem too. 99% of the time I wake up as soon as she moves but this morning I woke up to find her standing up grabbing the bed-head, grinning like a crazy-person. Eeeeek!! We've got a futon so we're closer to the ground than most but I've put our spare doona folded over a couple of times at the foot end of the bed for a bit of padding just in case.

Not sure if you're in the same boat but my DD has NO IDEA just yet about going down things backwards. She's still trying to crawl head-first down our stairs! Sometimes I seriously want to put her in a helmet!!

Hi AliBaby,

I have co-slept with all my babies since birth. Once they got to crawling stage, we would disassemble our bed and store it in the garage, and put the mattress on the floor. It does sound like a hassle, but I felt that it was the only safe way for us to continue to co-sleep. Then, when they were older, the bed was brought back, and they were taught to climb down safely. Also, transition to their own bed is easy because they are already used to sleeping in one.

Oh, it is scary when they fall out of bed! That happened to me with DS1 when he was a baby and we were staying with relos. DS and I were sleeping in a single bed and I awoke to a loud bang! He had fallen on to the floor (wooden floor). Others in the house awoke to the noise, so I was feeling a bit like a neglectful mum. Suffice to say, the next night, the mattress was put on the floor!

Thanks for all your help girls.

I might put a mattress on the floor at the ends of the bed to soften the blow from the wooden floorboards if she crawls off.

I think she is still a little young to understand to go backwards but I will give it a try. Doesnt hurt to show them a safer way.

LoriRae- Good to know that they will grow out of it.

double post

My DS crawled off the bed once:redface: and tried several times since (we caught him those times but lowered him down so he just bumped the floor) then he realised he would hurt himself if he went off the edge so he'd stop there & try to reach down forwards & cry. We tried to show him how to turn around and get down feet first but didn't think he was getting it. The just a few days ago, he did it! Yay for DS! What I'm trying to say is, keep trying to teach your DD how to get down. It might not seem to be sinking in but it surely is!

Great idea about the mattress on the floor - much safer.

Good luck.

what about the bed safetly rails you use for single beds if you have one of them at the end.. would stop her an dmake her think IYKWIM............

Rach75, we have one at the side of our bed but it is only helpful to prevent falls for when they are asleep and may roll in their sleep. Now when DS is awake he actually pulls himself up on it and could easily flip himself over it and onto the floor if I wasn't around! It is certainly great for when he's asleep, but would still be risky to rely on it to stop falls.

I have put a mattress on the floor at the end of the bed. Its only a foam one but its better than the hard wood floors.

I tested it out myself :rofl: and its not to bad hitting head first but I think she would still get a shock falling down (I did). maybe that would be enough to scare her into not doing it without hurting herself IYKWIM.

:rofl: I can't believe you even tried testing this on your own LOL

Yep - the soft fall landing, I love the idea of the bed rail at the end of the bed. We were teaching DD to climb off by sliding down her tummy backwards from the beginning. Shes only fallen off once or twice now.

HTH xxxx