# Co-sleeping and pillow-top mattress?



## aleisen (Jan 6, 2008)

Hi--

My first baby is due in a few weeks. We have an Arm's Reach co-sleeper but I'd also like to have the baby in bed with us at times. The problem is that we have a pillow-top mattress (it's about 8 years old) and I've read that a baby shouldn't sleep on a pillow-top. I don't want to buy a new mattress because we can't afford an organic one at this time and I don't want to expose the baby (or my husband and I!) to off-gassing.

Any suggestions? I know from some older posts that some people co-sleep with a pillow-top and have no problems. Is this safe? Is there anything I can do to make it safer? Thanks in advance.


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## sunnygir1 (Oct 8, 2007)

I don't know what you can do to make it safer except keeping pillows and blankets away from baby's face and not using thick comforters.

We had the same situation. We used the co-sleeper some, dd slept on my chest some, and she slept between us some. I think if you put a changing pad down or something else that is fairly stiff, it might make a firmer surface. They also make little bed-top co-sleepers; I have one I used as a portable changing table when dd was little. You could use that in your bed until your lo is a little older. When she got bigger, I didn't worry about it anymore.


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## Contrariety (Jul 16, 2007)

We co-slept since birth on a pillow-top mattress.


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## jaye88 (Oct 31, 2007)

We also co-sleep on a pillow-top mattress. We had a co-sleeper that mostly only got used for naps until DD got big enough to climb out of it.


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## TattooedMommy (Aug 11, 2006)

I co-sleep with a pillow top, no problem.


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## sunnymw (Feb 28, 2007)

We also co-sleep on a pillow top, with a tight-fitting sheet. The saleslady and I were talking about it and realized that the babe will only sink as heavy as his weight is, so it's not like he's going to drown in it, IYKWIM. DS has no problems on it and we plan on c/s directly on the bed with this one as well... FWIW, we do use a tight fitting fitted sheets to reduce the "hills and valleys" effect... then again we have a brand new 4" pillowtop, it's huge!


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## MyBoysBlue (Apr 27, 2007)

We co slept since the evening he was born on our pillowtop mattress. The baby is so light that he didn't sink into the foam. No worries.


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## Writerbird (Jun 1, 2007)

I have a little top-of-mattress bed thing I got for twelve bucks at a consignment shop, but we've had him tucked up to us on our pillow top plenty of times. We have a very tight mattress pad and snug sheets, so he's at no risk.


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## Ks Mama (Aug 22, 2006)

We've co-slept on a pillow-top with both my DD & DS since birth (still sleep with both on it), with no problems. We bought our pillow-top when DD was less than a month old. Our full size bed was just too small for the 3 of us. There's nothing unsafe about a pillow-top, in my opinion.

I think it would be ridiculous to think that you wouldn't wake if your baby, who is sleeping cradled in your armpit (assuming you're side-lying nursing, co sleeping), was in some sort of distress, no matter what kind of surface you're sleeping on.

And by the time she might be wanting to sleep with a bit more space, she'll be old enough to be turning herself over, in control of her head, etc. to where you won't even think about the potential "unsafeness" of a pillow top.

No worries.


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## jessweetj (Jan 26, 2008)

I co-sleep with both of my children. My bed is a pillow top and on top of that I have a memory foam mattress (so comfy). The memory foam curves to your weight so they're not going to just be swallowed whole by it.. I've never had any problems and both of my children like to sleep on their sides..


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## nighten (Oct 18, 2005)

We have a pillowtop, and I just got a really tight fitting mattress cover (just a cotton one) that goes over it. That, plus a really snug fitted sheet worked great to make the surface have less loft/give.

You can try taking something that weighs about the same as a baby, like a bag of potatoes (I know that sounds silly, but doing this might help ease your mind) and lay it on the bed for an hour or so. See whether it sinks in or not. If it does then get a tight fitting mattress cover and try again.

We were concerned initially because of the loft (and also experimented with a memory foam topper) but the tight cover and tight sheet really did the trick.


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## askew (Jun 15, 2006)

Quote:


Originally Posted by *jaye88* 
We also co-sleep on a pillow-top mattress. We had a co-sleeper that mostly only got used for naps until DD got big enough to climb out of it.









:


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## hipmummy (May 25, 2007)

My mattress is harder than most crib mattress's so I had have no issue. But I do know you can put a very tight fitting matress pad and sheet on it and there will be much less sinkage.


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## AppleCrisp (Aug 19, 2005)

We have co-slept on a pillow top since birth with no problem. I used to lay out a towel doubled in half underneath him in case of accidents, and this had the added effect of providing a kind of smoother surface for him to sleep on so he didn't sink into the mattress as much. But my DS was a very quiet and still sleeper - he never moved while he was sleeping, just stayed exactly where I put him.


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