# What is your cosleeping setup?



## pixiewytch (Feb 7, 2007)

We have ended up in the unintentional cosleeping category with our 7 month old and I wasn't prepared for the sleeping arrangement at all. We have a queen size four poster bed which is very high off of the ground and hard floors (not very cosleeping friendly to say the least). Our bedroom is very tiny so we don't have an option of sidecarring or moving the bed against any wall without running into the closet or door. I was looking at those cosleeping mats you put on your bed and they were like $200







:

So I want to know what kind of setup other people have with babies in their beds? What did you buy? What works and what doesn't? Should I get rid of my bed and just set my mattress on the floor to save the money of buying fancy cosleeping pillows? I just want our bed to be safe for our baby without her falling off of it. DH already refuses to sleep in the bed now because she is in there and he is paranoid about rolling over on her.


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## WhaleinGaloshes (Oct 9, 2006)

I moved the mattress to the floor when DD was around 6 months old.

I actually love it this way. She could crawl on and off well by the time she was 7 months old...she takes her books to the bed to read them, we cuddle and rough house there, she tucks her dolls in, she'll go lie down for 30 seconds (the baby equilalant of a power nap







), when she wakes from a nap she comes out to say hello. It makes me feel like the bed is 'hers' too, I guess.

And of course I don't worry about her falling out.


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## ~PurityLake~ (Jul 31, 2005)

We have a queen size bed and I guarantee you our bedroom is smaller than yours. One wall has the door and a closet, another wall has another closet. We have our head of our bed against a third wall and the crib against the bed between the bed and the fourth wall. It is very tight with tiny walk space. We don't have a bed frame.
We never bought anything for cosleeping. It's me, my husband, our squirmy, leggy 3 foot tall 2 yr old, and our tiny 17 pound 11 month old in there every night.

I'd recommend you dismantle your bed frame and place your boxspring and mattress on the floor. Then you won't worry so much about your babe falling onto the hard floors. You could also place pillows around the bed on the floor in case your babe does roll off.


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## jenmary (Jul 7, 2006)

we put the queen mattress and boxspring on the floor. ds learned the 'right' way to get down (feet first) when he started crawling. he has fallen off this bed (and the futon on a low frame in his room where he and i sleep now) once, but there is thick pile carpet in the bedrooms. you could get a thick rug for the bedside.
incidently, we have not fit 3-in-a-bed since ds was about 9 months, not because of worries of rolling over on ds, but because both dh and ds are fidgety bedhogs! ds usually has both arms flung out to his sides, or ends up falling asleep sprawling side-to-side. we need a bigger bed.


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## katt (Nov 29, 2001)

DS isn't crawling yet, but durn close. We will be moving our queen to the floor and when we have 2 kiddos (4 in the bed) we'll be turning the bed sideways and adding a twin to the bottom, so we'll have a HUGE bed. I'm looking forward to it.

Currently, the babe sleeps between us, DH has his own blanket and DS and I share a quilt.


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## pixiewytch (Feb 7, 2007)

Wow. Everybody does the mattress on the floor thing, huh? All I've been doing is stacking up pillows on DD's other side to keep her from rolling off in her sleep. I'm a very light sleeper so I'm pretty sure I would wake up if she stirs. I'm thinking that isn't safe enough though, huh?

So for those of you who put everything on the floor, what did you put underneath the mattress and boxspring on the hard floor? Anything? I can't go right out and buy a rug larger than my mattress but I do have one fair sized area rug I could use on one side of the mattress. Just looking for some ideas so that this setup is somewhat aesthetically pleasing.


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## Llyra (Jan 16, 2005)

I just lay a clean sheet between the mattress and the floor, just to keep the mattress clean I guess.

For the PP, we also put the mattress on the floor and store the bed frame, during the rolling and crawling phase. I'll reassemble the bed when the babies are old enough to get down from it on their own. I also have a crib in my room (used to be a sidecar, before we dismantled the bed) to put down a baby if/when I just really need some space for awhile.


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## glorified_rice (Jun 5, 2005)

We have a king-sized foundation and mattress on the floor. I actually put a fitted sheet around the box spring to make it look a little bit better.


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## kewpie-o (Jun 1, 2006)

Quote:


Originally Posted by *pixiewytch* 
Should I get rid of my bed and just set my mattress on the floor to save the money of buying fancy cosleeping pillows? I just want our bed to be safe for our baby without her falling off of it. (

We just got a king size mattress (free from a friend! woohoo!) and put it on our bedroom floor this past week. We moved our very tall queen size bed into our DD's "nursery" (a room that serves no other purpose than a place to put her clothes and toys







). I LOVE this set-up already. Even though DD is not mobile yet (just 3 months old), I wanted to feel good about laying her down for naps in our bed without the chance of rolling off. And the extra space the king size gives us is wonderful - DH can sprawl out without crowding me and the baby.

It's also handy that we can use DD's nursery as a spare bedroom....DH and I can sneak away and have some privacy for a few minutes while DD is sleeping. Although, I guess it feels a little weird to be having "adult time" in a room with curtains that look like circus tents and balloons and cute little circus animals on the walls


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## EasternB (Jun 16, 2007)

We have two mattresses on the floor and have since DD was about 2 months old or so (she's 2 now). Her and I sleep in one bed and my DH sleeps in the other, but we sleep next to each other (if that makes sense). We also will snuggle before I hop into bed with DD.


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## blissful_maia (Feb 17, 2005)

We have a king mattress and box spring on the floor. Works great!


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## wombatclay (Sep 4, 2005)

We'e evolved as dd1 got older, and now that dd2 has joined the bunch...

---queen platform bed with arm's reach co-sleeper
---queen mattress on floor (no box spring)
---queen mattress plus twin mattress side by side on floor
---two twins side by side (makes a "King")
---queen mattress on floor next to toddler bed
---toddler bed next to queen bed on frame next to arms reach cosleeper

But the cosleeper only holds diapers and "night needs" and by morning dd1 is in the big bed too...so lots of beds but somehow still crowded.









If you don't want to drop the big bed you can also put up bed rails. Not as nifty as a co-sleeping humanity bed pillow deal, but just as effective (and a whole lot cheaper). And for about 50 dollars you can get a "snuggle nest" type thing if your partner is really scared about smooshing the babe.


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## myrmom (Aug 19, 2004)

we have the crib butted up against one side and a side rail on the other...he sleeps in the crib till we go to bed then comes to bed with us....


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## amj'smommy (Feb 24, 2005)

when ds#2 (now almost 3 ) was a baby we had our king size bed on the floor (foundation and mattress- no frame) and it was pushed up against one wall on the side and one wall at the head of the bed. he slept on the side of me when really little and as he got bigger he moved to the middle of dh and I - we dropped the bed actually when he was around 9m. We did for awhile have the crib side-carred to the bed when the bed was still on the frame but he never really slept in it so I sold the crib on craigslist







We moved last Sept. and in our new bedroom there's no way to have the bed against a wall on the side and the top (well we did do it that way for a month but the foot of the bed covered the heating vent so we had to move it come October) but ds#2 was 2yrs old by now and knew how to get off/on the bed carefully and he still slept between dh and I so we put the bed back on the frame and in the center of a wall. He has fallen off just once- dh had gone downstairs to sleep on the couch due to a headache and he forgot to put the pillow barrier up... ds was ok though. Now we have a new baby (15weeks) and at first we tried co-sleeping with both of them but as it turns out the baby sleeps so much better in a crib ...... don't worry though the crib is right at the foot of our bed







and we moved a twin bed into our room right up against our king so ds#2 falls asleep with us and either dh or I moves him over into his bed. It works for us


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## angrypixiemama (Jan 5, 2007)

We struggled with similar issues. Our four poster queen is very high off the floor. My mother had steps made for our bed while I was pregnant, because I couldn't leap up there anymore.







We just moved the bed against a wall, blocking part of a window and access (almost) to the closet. Once it was wedged against the wall, I filled in the small space with some firm pillows and padding. I already sleep better, knowing my squirmy 8 month old has to get past me and her father to get near the edge of the bed. I have a big bug/germ phobia, so setting the mattress on the floor was not going to be an option for me. Good luck. Remember that all of this is temporary, and you can eventually move things back.


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## prettypixels (Apr 13, 2006)

We have a king sized bed that we're getting ready to move to the floor. (Baby is almost 7 months) But I will tell you what, it doesn't matter how big the bed is... my baby rolls and rolls to find me all night. It drives me crazy because I'm a light sleeper so every twitch of hers wakes me up.

But waking up next to her is...























I think I might have gotten a Cal. King if I could've found one, given the option! LOL! The bigger the better IMO! But I don't think it would've fit in my bedroom...


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## jjawm (Jun 17, 2007)

We have a queen bed quite high off the ground, and not next to any walls. My 9 month old sleeps between me and the bedrail. She doesn't crawl around the bed, so this works for us. She's a pretty immobile sleeper.


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## jcregan (Jul 20, 2007)

DD is currently 14 months and we have always had our queen bed and box spring on the floor (it is a tall mattress and we have never had a frame yet!).

When DD was tiny we had her in the arms reach co-sleeper next to the bed (although she ended up in bed with me by 2-4 am anyway) and eventually we just moved her in with us and we put pillows around the edge. She fell off once onto the carpet but was fine.

Now we are thinking of side-carring the crib so we can get some more room in there.. DH almost always sleeps on the couch and to be honest I don't like when he decides to sleep in bed with us cause it is just too uncomfortable!

Is it too late to side-car the crib.... anyone think we could get her to scootch over there once we go to bed?


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## Coco_Hikes (Nov 26, 2006)

Quote:


Originally Posted by *pixiewytch* 
So for those of you who put everything on the floor, what did you put underneath the mattress and boxspring on the hard floor? Anything? I can't go right out and buy a rug larger than my mattress but I do have one fair sized area rug I could use on one side of the mattress. Just looking for some ideas so that this setup is somewhat aesthetically pleasing.









I left the bedskirt under our mattress to hide the ugliness that is the boxspring. It sort of works.







Nothing under the boxspring, though. Hmm. Didn't really think about that. But we're getting a new mattress soon (can you say CREAK?) so maybe I'll buy another mattress cover to put around the bottom of the boxspring since it'll be hidden by the bedskirt.

We committed to cosleeping full-time when DD was about 4mo (she slept in her crib only for about three weeks, at about age 3 months). For the first few weeks after she was born we used one of these First Years Sleepers , which actually worked out pretty well. It was either this or her tiny self sleeping on me. As yummy as it was to have her sleep so peacefully on me, mama needed some real sleep! So this gadget helped. Then after 4 months we just brought her into our queen-size bed, no special modifications, and then at 8 months or so we ditched the bed frame (wrought iron, high off the floor, etc.).


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## OneWithTwo (Oct 17, 2006)

I have a full bed. Dd sleeps in the middle. My bed is quite high off the ground also.
When I with my ex, we were still in a full bed and she slept in the middle.


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## hipmummy (May 25, 2007)

DH has been sleeping on the couch for the past seven months I had it the first three (well I wasn't really getting any sleep so it did not matter). We have a Queen and DH kept rolling to close ds. We tried the cosleepr but after many attempts and two hundred dollars we ended with our current situation. We use the cosleeper for books,diapers and water. We don't have a way to set our bed against the wall or we would have tried that option. Tonight DH is in the bed with ds. He is snorring so loud that I am back on MDC because I cannot sleep. We will work this hole thing out soon... I hope>>>>>>>>>


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## myownsky (Jul 18, 2007)

We're, in a lot of respects, dealing with the same issue but with our almost 5 month old. He only started co-sleeping with us about a month ago, and we definitely don't have the room on our full size bed. What I ended up doing was taking off one of the sides of his crib and putting his crib next to our bed (they happen to be the same height conveniently). On the other side of the bed is about one foot of walking space.







You do what you gotta do.

I hope you have some luck figuring out your arrangement!


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## clavicula (Apr 10, 2005)

mattresses on the floor, for us this is the only way! (we have 2 Ikea Sultans, they weren't expensive)


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## secondintheoven (May 21, 2007)

Currently our son (3 yrs old) sleeps in the middle of me and my husband in our king size bed. We all toss and turn all night, which is fine for now however I'm due to have our second little bundle in Jan '08. We're still trying to figure out how our sleeping arrangement will work w/ a newborn. I have a bassinette that I can put right up next to my side of the bed but I really want the baby to sleep w/ me. I'm just afraid to put our son next to the baby because he's all over the place when he sleeps. Our room isn't set up for us to put the bed up against the wall other than the way we have it which is the head board is against the wall. Maybe I can put the safty rail on my side of the bed and put the baby on that side with me inbetween the baby and our son. Any suggestions? I just want us all to be together but in the safest way.


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## peapiebaby (Jul 7, 2007)

Geez -- I could have written the question. Exact set up, plus 2 dogs who co-sleep.








DD fell out of bed again for the 2nd time last night, over the big round pillow tucked on my husband's side waiting for him to join us. She has a big bump and it scared the crap out of me again.
We have the video monitor and everything now b/c she did this a couple of weeks ago.
She's in the pack and play tonight in our room (our crib won't sidecar, unfortunately). I have been waking her at night to nurse her (thread in breastfeeding beyond infancy tells about our stupid ARNP's issue w/ her losing weight so I'm trying to feed her at night, per my LLL's leader suggestion, to help get extra calories in.)
So I guess I have to pull her out, wake her and bring her back w/ us.
Anyway, we've hesitated putting the mattress on the floor as we don't have any storage space really for the headboard/footboard and box springs, and the dogs have their little safe spot under the bed. But after 2 falls on a wooden floor over barricades, I think we'll be dismantling the bed this week.


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## AlexisT (May 6, 2007)

DD is just between me & DH in king sized bed. It's fairly high off the floor, but it;'s staying there (where would we put all the stuff stored under the bed?!) We don't plan on extended cosleeping though. DD will have to be out before DC2 comes, because we can't fit 2 kids in there. She does have a crib too and she'll even sleep in it









We had the crib sidecarred, which was fab, but it just didn't work with the room layout (our bedroom is an odd shape, and we have the original fireplace on one wall, so the bed and wardrobe have to go in specific places). Shame. Next baby I'm getting an Arms Reach--DH was too nervous about having the baby in bed when she was tiny. Now that she can move around a bit it's fine. (Aside from the sprawling!)


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## Adele_Mommy (Jun 28, 2007)

I too "ended up" co-sleeping around 6-7 months. DD slept in an ArmsReach co-sleeper before then and transition to the crib did not work at all! We did various things but unfortunately, they probably will not work for you.

We had a queen when we started and a separate queen guest bed. We have always had really big bedrooms, so at first we pushed the two queens together and pushed the whole arrangement into a corner so the head of both beds and the side of one was against the wall. DD slept between me and the wall and DH had the outer bed pretty much to himself.

Later we got a king-sized bed and we have used guard rails on one or both sides of the bed at various times.

I would suggest that your baby not sleep in the middle, to alleviate your DH's concerns about rolling over. Also, I can get a restful night sleep with dd crawling all over me, but dh cannot. A guard rail should help prevent baby falling out. I don't know if there are safety concerns with using a guard rail with a 7-month old. Anyone else know? A guard rail is fairly inexpensive. Everyone's suggestion about putting the mattress on the floor sounds like a good idea too. We sometimes napped on a futon on the floor and for awhile dd would start the evening there and then move into our bed later in the night.

Good luck!


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## pixiewytch (Feb 7, 2007)

Thanks everybody! We dismantled the bed on Sunday and put the mattress and box spring up against the wall. DD is now sleeping next to me closest to the wall and DH sleeps behind me. The arrangement seems to be working quite well so far.

I have another question though. Even with the boxspring my bed is still awfully high off the floor. Do I really need a boxspring under my mattress on the floor? I still just feel like it is an awfully long drop if she were to fall off.


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## TheGirls (Jan 8, 2007)

I've never had a boxspring and seem to have turned out alright.







It makes the mattress feel a bit firmer, but it's good for your back. I've done the mattress on the floor and the platform bed thing, and I don't even have kids yet.


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## becoming (Apr 11, 2003)

In your situation, I'd move the mattress to the floor.

We co-sleep with our newborn in our queen-sized bed. Babe sleeps on my side of the bed, kind of on my shoulder, away from pillows & blankets. (We sleep with just a sheet, with the comforter folded down to the foot of the bed at night.) Our bed is not up against a wall, but he's too young to roll, and we kind of sleep in the middle of the bed anyway. (Poor DH gets very little bed space these days!)

We have one of those expensive bassinets that converts to sidecar (my parents bought it for us), but he won't sleep in it at ALL. He must be right next to mama.


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