# Co-sleeping parents, where does your baby nap?



## newclementine (Jan 23, 2008)

We are trying to figure out where the baby will nap if we don't have a crib or a co-sleeper (or another protected place). We are most interested in hearing from parents of infants, it's not that we are concerned about keeping the toddler in the bed (like one would do wit a conventional crib) but rather with where you put the tiny baby to sleep alone while you do things around the house.


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## readytobedone (Apr 6, 2007)

Quote:


Originally Posted by *newclementine* 
We are trying to figure out where the baby will nap if we don't have a crib or a co-sleeper (or another protected place). We are most interested in hearing from parents of infants, it's not that we are concerned about keeping the toddler in the bed (like one would do wit a conventional crib) but rather with where you put the tiny baby to sleep alone while you do things around the house.









we used a co-sleeper in the beginning. but i think next time around we could definitely just use a bed. firm mattress, mesh rails to keep from rolling off. or pillows, for the less by the book







check in often, and even a tiny babe would be fine!

also, in the beginning lots of babies will only nap on you anyway. DD would nap in the bouncer and mostly did that for the first 7 weeks...


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## Hannahkatiebell (Apr 1, 2008)

we put our lo on a bed in between pillows. he was swaddled.


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## MamieCole (Jun 1, 2007)

DS napped on me or in a sling when he was a newborn...erm...and an infant, and a toddler.







Around 18 months I was able to either nurse him to sleep on the bed and slip away or nurse him in a chair and move him to bed without waking him.


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## stormborn (Dec 8, 2001)

Either on me or in a reclined jogging stroller; works well because I can roll her around the yard/house with me.


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## Nimbus (Feb 26, 2007)

The only place our 3 month old will sleep aside from in bed with me or being worn is in a swing. She did nap in one of those little papasan seats until she was about 2-3 weeks but then decided it was too lonely and still.


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## HealingBeam (Aug 12, 2005)

He sleeps on me but he's only 7 weeks old.
His sister slept either on me or in a stroller.


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## hedgehogs4 (Aug 22, 2008)

my lo sleeps - briefly - in a bouncer/papasan baby chair and sometimes a swing and in my sling, my toddler naps in our bed or on an airmattress downstairs.


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## angela&avery (May 30, 2002)

my dd had a bassinet, but she napped on the couch or bed too. Often she would fall asleep on the couch while I was folding laundrey or tending to he brother... I would lay her there sandwiched in by a pillow or something.


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## MamaRabbit (May 26, 2005)

Started out swaddled. I have a mesh bedrail on my side of the bed and that's where they still sleep.


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## fruitfulmomma (Jun 8, 2002)

My oldest would not sleep anywhere but with me which was fine since I didn't have other children to attend to. After that I have had three girls who all slept fine in my bed at naptime. We have a really tiny house, so they are not really out of my site most of the time.

I would say if you plan to leave them on the bed, make sure there are no blankets or pillows near them or anything else they can grab at that would cover their face or become tangled around them. Also, once they start rolling over you will probably want a rail of some sort to keep them from rolling off the bed.

Another idea is if you have a specific area you will be working in during nap time, you might get a crib or toddler sized mattress and just lay it on the floor near you.


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## Devaya (Sep 23, 2007)

we used a moses basket (i think in the u.s. you call it a bassinet? not sure) when he was small...after that a cot, or he slept in the carrier, and when we took the cot down, he sometimes napped in the bed surrounded by cushions. when he got more mobile, we took the bed off its base.


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## treehugz (Apr 15, 2008)

my dd would only nap next to me for the first three months or so (in my lap or in a carrier). since then she falls asleep nursing on our bed and i slip away. we have just a mattress on the floor.


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## nalo (Oct 25, 2005)

As an infant we used a moses basket and then a cosleeper and then her crib. Currently, she naps in her crib.


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## zoeyzoo (Jul 6, 2007)

IMO it's really not that much of a concern until they are a few months old and can move from where you put them down. I used to leave dd in her bed (sidecarred crib) or on my bed. She also really liked napping on the floor in her boppy. Now that she can move around I tend to have her nap in the crib or on the floor. I bought a carrier to wear her but she still cries wheneven I put her in it so wearing her wasn't an option.

My advice is to not purchase anything you weren't planning to (i.e., crib, plack n play, etc.) until you have an idea of what your baby likes. You can always make the floor or bed safe for them (by removing pillows, etc.) until they can move around on their own.


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## bandyr (Aug 11, 2007)

Our children have always napped in our bed. We've taken the necessary steps to make the space safer and just left it at that. When the babies started moving around more (rolling over/crawling), we moved the mattress on to the floor. Lucky for us, we've been in small homes or apartments since they were born and it's been easy for me to be close by. Sometimes I would bring the laundry in the room and fold it just to keep an eye on them. It's a quiet activity that doesn't wake them up. I was more concerned about them when our second was smaller because of the chance her brother might roll on her (they are nineteen months apart). If I felt she was at risk, even with frequent checks, I'd just pop her in a wrap for the rest of the naptime. Or lay down between them and get some sleep myself!


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## Paceman (Mar 8, 2008)

We put our mattress on the floor and he has always slept in our bed. He is 16 months now but we did this as an infant as well. I always lay down with him and nurse him to sleep then sometimes I stay for a nap or I slip out. I have to admit that there have been times he has slept in the car in the garage or in his stroller also. I don't like to wake him once he falls asleep. I could not have survived without the mattress on the floor. I feel so much safer and he has always hated his crib. Now he just gets up and comes out when he wakes up.


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## Sonneva (Jun 12, 2008)

My baby has always just napped on me


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## Sanveann (Mar 19, 2007)

Matthew slept either in his sling, his swing or in the bed. Sometimes he'd snooze on the couch, if I was right there with him to supervise. When he was very tiny, we just set him in the middle of the bed, and he wasn't really able to go anywhere! When he got big enough to roll around, we made a sort of "pillow fortress" around him. I'd leave the monitor on and just go peek in as soon as I heard any noise from him moving around.


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## GardenStream (Aug 21, 2007)

DS naps in his swing 95% of the time. It's the only place that he will nap for more than an hour.


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## Sanveann (Mar 19, 2007)

Quote:


Originally Posted by *atobols* 
DS naps in his swing 95% of the time. It's the only place that he will nap for more than an hour.

You know, I didn't get a swing with DS1 because I thought, "I'm not letting some machine do my mothering for me!" But when it got to the point where I couldn't even shower until DH came home for lunch, I caved and borrowed one from a friend. That thing was a GODSEND! DS slept like a dream in it.


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## kennedy444 (Aug 2, 2002)

My little one slept in a cradle, bouncy seat, sling or in the middle of my bed for naps.


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## Miss 1928 (Nov 12, 2007)

When DD was really little wee and not very mobile I put her down on the middle of the bed surrounded by a "Fortress of pillows" (Unless of course she was sleeping on _me_.) Or, I put her on the sofa using high back chairs butted up against it to sort of form a "crib".

Later, when she was crawling, I put her in a "Nest" (a bunch of folded blankets with a boarder of pillows) on the floor.

Now she naps on the bed again, because she can get down by herself.

I'd second ZoeyZoo about not purchasing anything until you really know you need it.
We never had a bassenette, or crib or bedrails. Now we have a toddler bed sidecar-ed to our bed, so she is still right next to us, and sometimes in bed with us, but it's easier for all of us to sleep now.

Good luck!

PS, one MDC Mamma suggested I put newspaper all around the babe in the bed, so that when she wakes and moves or plays with the paper you can hear it and go to her. I liked that and it worked for a while.


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## Peony (Nov 27, 2003)

In the middle of the bed surrounded by pillows.


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## ChetMC (Aug 27, 2005)

On a blanket on the floor near where I was, or on our bed. Mostly on our bed in the case of DS. Mostly on a blanket where I was when we just had the one.


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