# How do you co sleep and keep the baby from getting covered by our blankets?



## Angel377 (Mar 3, 2015)

Hi, we have been co sleeping since my baby was born and it is so far going awesome! He is just three months old. He sleeps tucked up next to me and nurses when he needs to. We sleep great. My problem is twice when I put him on the side in between my husband and I, I have awoke to find the blanket slightly covering baby's face  I have tried to put him so he is the only one over the blanket but its a little tricky to nurse. I want him to be warm and safe as possible. Any suggestions? Thank you


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## xixstar (Aug 15, 2007)

We used a bed rail (often used for children transitioning to bed) and babe slept between me and the rail. I kept my blankets as usual and had a little space for babe to sleep dressed warm enough without blankets. When babe got bigger, we switched to a sidecar crib.


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## lightheartedmom (Mar 25, 2008)

Two out of my three kids co-slept. For our first, we used the Snuggle Nest co-sleeper, which gave us rookie parents some much needed peace of mind for her safety, but was a giant PITA with take the baby in and out for nursing. Second born outright refused to co-sleep from day one, much to my chagrin. That girl wanted her own space to sleep and made sure we knew it.  What I found worked best with our third (in our very big king size bed 0) was putting baby between us, but up higher. We kept our pillows far away from where she could potentially roll or wiggle into them and kept her in a sleeper that was warm enough so she wouldn't need blankets. You could also use a sleep sack...I've never tried them, but know some people who seriously loved theirs. When baby woke to nurse, I'd just scoot her down a little bit and then reposition once she was done nursing. Sometimes she would sleep nestled up in the crook of my arm, but somehow I do not remember having blankets over the face in those cases.


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## Angel377 (Mar 3, 2015)

xixstar said:


> We used a bed rail (often used for children transitioning to bed) and babe slept between me and the rail. I kept my blankets as usual and had a little space for babe to sleep dressed warm enough without blankets. When babe got bigger, we switched to a sidecar crib.


Thank you for your advice :grin:


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## Angel377 (Mar 3, 2015)

Thanks a lot, I guess I'll keep baby on the side between me and the rail, that seems best. That is until we get a king size bed :laugh:


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## SurvivalDad (Mar 9, 2015)

We went snuggle nest on all three. We loved it


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## Yogini108 (May 15, 2014)

I keep the blanket on my side of the bed only up to my waist and wear an open front cardigan so I don't get too cold and can still easily nurse. It bothers my husband sometimes, so sometimes we each use our own blankets so he can pull his up high and my side doesn't get pulled up.

Edit to add - I do put baby in a sleep sack. It makes for easy diaper changes and keeps her warm.


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## Angel377 (Mar 3, 2015)

Yogini108 said:


> I keep the blanket on my side of the bed only up to my waist and wear an open front cardigan so I don't get too cold and can still easily nurse. It bothers my husband sometimes, so sometimes we each use our own blankets so he can pull his up high and my side doesn't get pulled up.
> 
> Edit to add - I do put baby in a sleep sack. It makes for easy diaper changes and keeps her warm.


thanks for your advice! any brands you like for the sleep sack?....we live in Alaska


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## Yogini108 (May 15, 2014)

Angel377 said:


> thanks for your advice! any brands you like for the sleep sack?....we live in Alaska


I use these from Little Me. If it is cool, i put them over a onesie and then put socks on her. But cool to me is low 70s with drafts inside!

I have heard good things about this Halo brand - they are supposed to be very warm. Some are pricey but I suppose you can get away with only having 1. THey have these on amazon too.

http://www.halosleep.com/sleepsack/


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## slythought (Mar 27, 2015)

Angel377 said:


> Hi, we have been co sleeping since my baby was born and it is so far going awesome! He is just three months old. He sleeps tucked up next to me and nurses when he needs to. We sleep great. My problem is twice when I put him on the side in between my husband and I, I have awoke to find the blanket slightly covering baby's face  I have tried to put him so he is the only one over the blanket but its a little tricky to nurse. I want him to be warm and safe as possible. Any suggestions? Thank you


I'd like to offer a totally un-PC comment on this because I know others are out there like me and I wish someone had said this to me: I have been co-sleeping since night 1 (now three months). We have a king size futon on the floor. I nurse baby to sleep and cloth diaper (EC during the day), so we sleep naked snuggled facing each other. I have a flannel sheet and cotton blanket I use for both of us. I also sleep with a pillow. YES, I have found her under the blankets a couple of times. I was more bothered by this than her. I am a very aware sleeper and the blankets are breathable fabric. Baby is also great at keeping herself alive, but also loves to block her own airway when she is in the sling etc. I determined that she just doesn't need a whole lot of space to breathe which is why she does this. Now at three months, I've stopped worrying so much about the blankets.

I did try the sleep sack once, but it was impossible to swap out dry diapers without waking her. No idea how other people handle the diaper situation at night with clothes on. So the blankets are unavoidable in my opinion and totally fine.


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## Galatea (Jun 28, 2004)

I dress warmly enough that I am not compelled to pull the blankets up. I put her on the outside (not btw me and dh, who pulls the blankets up to his chin. I put her in a sleepsack so she is warm.) No problems.


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## prone_to_wander (Jun 29, 2009)

I tuck the blankets at the foot of the bed so they only come up to my waist and I wear a long sleeved pj top and I turn the heat up a bit. My LO is in footie pjs. If it is cold I just put him in fleece jammies.


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## TealCandy (Dec 14, 2014)

We dressed a lot warmer than normal and only used a sheet. My husband had trouble sleeping without the sensation of blankets, though, so we started tucking in smaller blankets so they only covered his side of the bed. My son didn't get covered by our blankets with us until he was much older, probably a year. He's always been a warm little guy, despite being born in the middle of winter and living in a very cold house, so it wasn't hard to keep him warm.
One thought on sleepsacks- I was planning on using them for this next baby, but I woke up once to my son's cries as he struggled to change positions because my husband had trapped him by rolling onto the loose material at the end of his pj's (he'd pulled his feet up into the legs). It was pretty funny then since my son was plenty old enough that there was no risk of injury. But now I'm scared that a younger baby could get stuck that same way in a sleepsack, and I get a lot of reassurance from the little guys being able to regulate their own positions. Probably super unlikely to cause any problems, but it's something I think of now.


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## LuvLilJazmin (Apr 17, 2015)

I second the sleep rails idea. But now we put baby's crib next to our bed and secured. We have one that one side can be removed. It's kinda bed extension but only for the baby. LO always sleep facing me,so sometimes she's in her crib when I feel like needing a bit space,and I move her to my other side,in between DH and me, with blanket lowered on her. I do that to avoid flat spot on her head. Dh got the highest part of blanket to his neck, LO and me covered until waist only. I dress her warm though


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## mamaprovides (Jun 4, 2011)

It gets cold here so other than summer I sleep with blankets.

We had our bed on the floor with the head firmly against a wall (my husband checked each night with our first for about 9 months.
We started day one.
For the first several months I had baby on a firm contour pillow (didn't know there was a thing one could use as the only advise I got for bed sharing was 'don't kill the baby.')
My husband and I had separate blankets (twin size on queen bed) for the first 6 months. Once arms get strong and busy it's fine. I, while awake, once put a blanket over his head while he was sleeping to see what he would do...he used his arms to remove it very un gracefully. 
My husband slightly slept further down the bed then baby and he "learned" to sleep with fewer pillows...I don't remember if I had a pillow as I didn't always use a pillow. 
I slept with a night gown with all the top buttons removed and a cardigan with all the buttons removed...in summer I used a open sleep shirt.


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## Daisy8s (Apr 8, 2015)

We co-slept both kids until they were over 2. Here's what we did.

Until they were 3 months old they were in a co-sleeper beside our queen sized bed. Then, when they had some basic strength to squirm I felt comfortable with them in our bed but in a careful position. 

a) the baby was put up high next to the headboard (rolled towel tucked down to fill gap between mattress and headboard.) 
b) parents slept further down--husband had to bend his legs or have his feet over the end, didn't bother him either way. Our blankets were so low down they barely came to the baby's feet.
c) baby slept in warm, footie pajamas (never used sleep sacks).

We had a really scary experience when the oldest was 6 months old. We all tried to crowd into a single bed while visiting family. Thank god I'm a light sleeper because I woke to him flailing and being smothered under the blankets. He was gasping for breath when I uncovered him. 

We very nearly killed our baby and I never forgot that. We did go on to co-sleep but we were much more careful about the size of the bed and placement of blankets after that.


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## contactmaya (Feb 21, 2006)

Snuggle nest for newborn, older baby between me and the wall, not near any other person, everyone in bed has a separate blanket.


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