# sidecar mattress height question



## nukuspot (May 10, 2007)

nak

we are waiting for our crib to arrive to sidecar it (it's being made right now). we already have the mattress. we measured and it looks like the crib mattress will be about 1-1.5 inches lower than our mattress if we have the crib height on the highest setting. (we have a tall bed) will that be ok? we bought a 5 inch crib mattress from ecobaby. the other option was to get their 6.5 inch mattress which would actually be about the exact height of our mattress when no-one was on it, but since we have a pillowtop mattress which depresses a bit with my weight on it, dh was worried that we would be then left with a crib mattress that was actually higher than our mattress in that case, thus the baby could possibly roll off it onto our mattress and couldn't if her mattress was a little lower.

so, my question is: if we can't get the 2 mattresses to be exactly the same height, is it better for the crib one to be a little lower or higher than ours? or does it have to be 100% the same height? i just want it to be as safe as possible. i can always return this mattress for the higher one if needed, but dh also said that maybe we can put a board under the 5 inch one to make it higher if needed too.


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## coloradomama1 (Dec 31, 2006)

i would say a little lower would be better, our always was and i our dd started the night in the sc'ed crib once she was mobile since it made me feel like she was "contained" for the first part of the night.
ETA-i think i stacked old mothering mags under the crib legs to make the beds the same height when she was really little. not the most technical but hey, it worked temporarily! she was never in there at that age anyway


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## columbusmomma (Oct 31, 2006)

ours was slightly lower too. We also elevated from under the crib legs. My Dad built me some wood "blocks", with indentations for the crib legs to fit into. Now the mattresses are almost exactly perfect. DD is almost 2 and does roll around and can either be on our mattress or hers.


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## nukuspot (May 10, 2007)

oooh! good idea, elevating from underneath...I am glad I chose for themattress to be lower rather than higher, this sounds like it might be possible to fiddle with it and make it work. Now I just have to see how to fix my worry about the 2 mattresses sliding away from each other when I lay on my pillowtop and it indents (this happens currently with my co-sleeper, but it doesn't concern me all that much because there is that "lip" on the co-sleeper.)

Anyone else would like to let me know how theirs is set up? Anyone have the crib mattress higher than theirs?


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## tbone_kneegrabber (Oct 16, 2007)

ours is the same height, back when we still had a bed frame (before ds was walking) we had the crib on risers, and now the bed and boxspring are on the floor and the crib does not need to be on risers

our problem was mainly that because the crib was intended to have a fourth side when the side was taken off and the crib pushed against our bed there was a gap of about 3-4 inches because of the space for the the fourth side of the crib. and because the crib was intended to also be used as a toddler bed the mattress kinda "fit down in" the crib so that when it didn't have the side the mattress would not fall off.

what we did to fix this problem is dp made a platform out of 2X4s and masonite to extended over to our bed so that the crib mattress is on a platform, raising it up over the "fourth" side and creating a smooth tranistion from bed to crib, and then we took the crib bumper and folded it over several times an secured it to the far side of the crib and shoved it down into the gap that was now present on the far/wall side of the crib.

wow that doesn't sound like it makes any sense at all!!!! I thought I had pictures but I can't find them right now.


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## nukuspot (May 10, 2007)

I can't picture that very well! I wish you had pictures too!


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## luckygreen713 (Apr 9, 2008)

Quote:


Originally Posted by *nukuspot* 
oooh! good idea, elevating from underneath...I am glad I chose for themattress to be lower rather than higher, this sounds like it might be possible to fiddle with it and make it work. Now I just have to see how to fix my worry about the 2 mattresses sliding away from each other when I lay on my pillowtop and it indents (this happens currently with my co-sleeper, but it doesn't concern me all that much because there is that "lip" on the co-sleeper.)

Anyone else would like to let me know how theirs is set up? Anyone have the crib mattress higher than theirs?

To keep the 2 mattresses close together, always had our crib against the wall, with our bed firmly against it, so the crib couldn't move and create a gap. But the crib mattress could still shift from side to side a little, so I put a long thin strip of foam (a pool noodle would work too) between the crib mattress and the crib, on the far side, not the side near my bed. This kept the crib mattress firmly against my bed mattress. Yes, this created a gap on the far side of the crib, but my kids never ventured over that way until they were older, and barely even then. They always stayed close to me, so I didn't worry about it.

As far as height goes, I liked the mattresses to be as even as possible, but with our younger dd we had her mattress slightly (like an inch) lower than ours. I don't have a pillowtop though, so I didn't have the same issue as you. I would never want the baby's mattress to be higher than mine. Just a preference thing, I guess.


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