# For those who sidecar a crib, how do you nurse?



## paulamc (Jun 25, 2008)

I'm thinking of setting up a crib sidecar arrangement. DS frequently wakes up when I shift around. Also I'm concerned that when he starts getting more mobile that the current arrangement won't be safe - it's a high bed and a hard wood floor below.

Anyway, I'm just wondering, if you sidecar a crib, must you nurse in bed and then transfer your LO to the crib? Or is it possible to nurse him/her while he/she is in the crib and you are either right up next to it, or partway inside? Having to transfer DS to another location will be extremely disruptive so if this is how it works I think I'm going to have to find another solution.

If you do nurse your LO while he/she is in the crib, I suppose this means you're nursing on the same side all night. Isn't this a problem? I normally switch sides every session or two.


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## Pyrodjm (Jan 9, 2007)

I have a side carred crib. I nurse DD to sleep on the breast opposite to the crib and scoot her over into the crib once she is snoring. This way DH and I have the bed to ourselves. When she wakes up to nurse I bring her close to me, so that she is one the very edge of our bed and feed her from the breast nearest the crib. She falls asleep while nursing and I just leave her next to me. When she wakes again I just nurse her where she is. If she wakes a third time in the early morning (and I am awake enough), I move her to my other side. Then I scoot over so that I am on the very edge of our mattress and partially in the crib and DD is between DH and me with plenty of room (we are not small people). Many nights, I do just feed from the one breast all night. I might be a bit engorged in the other by morning, but nursing her on that side when we wake up takes care of it. HTH.


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## ilovebabies (Jun 7, 2008)

We have a sidcarred crib.
My little guy isn't so little anymore and doesn't nurse any longer, but when we did, I just nursed sitting up. I have never been good at nursing while lying down. When he was a bit older and was down to nursing just once or occasionally twice in the middle of the night, we changed the crib to dh's side of the bed.







It helped so much and before we knew it, he was sleeping through the night.


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## josh&davesmomme (Feb 24, 2006)

I nurse while they're in the sidecar or half in and half out with no trouble...sometimes i have to scoot him over to nurse if he's too far over in the crib. I have over supply and have to blockfeed ( nurse on same side for more than one feeding to be sure baby gets both foremilk and hindmilk) anyway so nursing on one side most nights isn't an issue, but _occasionally_ i do have to switch sides, when he was tiny i would just sit up and nurse and lie him back down in the sidecar when he fell asleep and now that he's older if needed I'll place him between dh and I for the remainder of the night if I need to switch.

I laid a blanket- wrapped tightly around the far end of the crib mattress and extended it under me to cover the seem of the two mattresses and then it doesn't seem to be uncomfortable for baby if lays on that spot- there's photos of this on my sidecar page http://www.freewebs.com/sidecarcrib/index.htm


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## spirit4ever (Nov 4, 2004)

i nurse her in the crib quit often!! Or scoot her over to me where we do fall asleep like that most nights!


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## paulamc (Jun 25, 2008)

Quote:


Originally Posted by *spirit4ever* 
i nurse her in the crib quit often!! Or scoot her over to me where we do fall asleep like that most nights!

Thanks everyone for your replies! Spirit4ever, do you mean you actually get into the crib, or you're in the bed and she's in the crib while you nurse?


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## Nimbus (Feb 26, 2007)

We do a version of side-car -- an extra long twin pushed into a little alcove in our room and our queen bed pushed up against it. Make for a giant king bed. Anyhow, I usually scoot over to the twin to nurse dd and sometimes scoot back to lay next to dh. I end up spending most of the night with dd, but get to cuddle with dh at the beginning. I'm just too sleepy to move back in the middle of the night.

You can nurse from both breasts with baby on just one side of you. You just lean over a little more. I place pillow above dd to rest my arm on and am turned just short of laying on my stomach. I'm not explaining it well, but maybe some mamas in the breastfeeding forum can!


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