# How to sidecar? Idiots Guide to....



## trancechylde (Apr 14, 2008)

Does anyone have any links or websites that show step-by-step instructions on how to sidecar a wooden crib to a bed?

We currently co-sleep with DS in the middle; I'm not ready to give up the co-sleeping, but I AM ready to have some contact with DH again during the night, so this seems like the perfect solution.

I have looked in the stickies and tried a search, but I can't seem to find anything..

TIA








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## azohri (Aug 19, 2008)

Here's a link I've seen recommended before, although I haven't tried it yet!

http://www.freewebs.com/sidecarcrib/index.htm


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## artgirl (May 17, 2002)

I don't have a link but here's what we did:

Our bed is a mattress and a boxspring on the floor.
Our crib has adjustable mattress height (I think they all do). So when the baby is an infant you don't have to lean over so far to put them down (mattress up high) and when they get bigger then can't jump out over the rail (mattress dow low).
We took the side of the crib that moves up and down off.
We pushed the crib next to our bed and adjusted the crib mattress height to be even with our bed.
I rolled up a baby quilt and shoved it into the crack between the beds to fill it in.
I sewed two twin sheets together (end to end) to make a really long sheet.
I tucked one end of the sheet underneath the baby mattress and carried it across the crack and over our bed, where I tucked it under our mattress on the far side. That way it was held tight, holding the two beds together firmly and helping to make sure the crack between beds wasn't going to trap the baby.
We also positioned the baby crib in a corner so the head and side were against the wall.

We have a safety railing on the far side of our bed as well.

I don't know if that helps or not. Maybe you really need to see pictures... or need instructions on how to adjust your crib?? Thought I'd at least give it a shot.
Good luck. I really like having the sidecar.

ETA: the link above is great. I think I may adopt the bungee cord idea. Much more reliable than the sheet method I'm using and you don't have to do as much laundry!


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## Bromache (Jan 24, 2008)

I have also used the above mentioned site as a guide -- very good resource there. However, I personally decided to use ratchet tie-down straps (like these -- I got mine at Wal-Mart in the sport/outdoors section for about $20) instead of bungee cords because I was worried about injuries from snap-back with bungees, but that's just a personal thing. HTH.


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## henny penny (Mar 26, 2008)

The above link pretty much explains it all. We put our crib up on secure wood blocks to get the right height instead of using two mattresses. Now that ds is nightweaned we have the crib on the floor without the extra blocks and the crib mattress is about 8" lower than the adult mattress. Works great if you have a really active (thrashing) sleeper like ds. He stays in his space most of the night but can climb into bed if he needs a snuggle.


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## Kealli (Dec 8, 2007)

I feel like what we did was super easy:

Push crib into the corner (with one side off)

Push bed against it

Secured legs of crib to our bed frame with zip ties (easy to remove and very cheap)

Used bumper pad and rolled up towel to fill in the gap

This was not the arrangement when he was a newborn, only around 6 months. So I was not as diligent with the gap since he was so mobile. The seamless gap with the two sheets sewn together is an awesome idea!


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## KimPM (Nov 18, 2005)

Be careful with bungees...they stretch too much, even when you get them as tight as you can. Use ratcheting tie-downs instead. Can get them at the hardware store.


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## Altair (May 1, 2005)

how do the straps or tie downs linked above work? I have a latex mattress so there are no handles on the side of the mattress to hook anything to. Do you use the straps around the width of both mattresses and then how is it secured?

Also, in terms of sheets, I was confused looking at the step by step link. Do you use a regular bed sheet, regular crib sheet, then see if you can get something else to cover the gap (waterproof layer, extra long sheet tucked under both, etc)? What covered the foam? A crib sheet wouldn't fit over the mattress and foam, right, because they are so tight? And is it really hard to change the crib sheet since the gap is so tight?

I'm so excited to sidecar our crib when the baby comes, I'm just having trouble envisioning all the details!


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## asoulunbound (May 16, 2006)

I never really thought about how to secure the cosleeper until I bought an arms reach and read the little book that came with it about attaching the strap to the bed, etc. I like all the ideas on DIYing it tho.


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## trancechylde (Apr 14, 2008)

wow- thanks so much for all the tips and ideas. That link is great!

Our mattress doesn't have handles either, and I'm not in the USA, so no Wal-mart here, but at least I have some great ideas to work with.
I'm sure I can come up with some kind of similar arrangement.

Thanks again, you guys are great


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## artgirl (May 17, 2002)

Altair....
in terms of sheets. We had a queen sheet on our bed, a crib sheet on the crib mattress and the sewn together sheet over the whole thing covering the gap.

It was definitely a pain to change the sheets. Nevertheless... with leaky milk, leaky dipes, and so many people in one bed... it had to be done AT LEAST once a week. It was a project.

Maybe someone has a better way.


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## Bromache (Jan 24, 2008)

Hmmmmm... I'm not sure how to make it work without the mattress handles, but I like the idea of the zip ties attching the crib legs to the bed frame. Cool!

For us, we got lucky that the crib on it's lowest setting matched the height of our mattress and box spring on the floor perfectly (our bed frame was way too high). What we did was attach the hooks of the long straps of the tie-downs to the mattress handles and then ran them between the mattress and box spring. The other part, with the ratchet on it, was hooked to the wooden base of the crib, and then the long straps were fed through and tightened. The ratchet part and excess straps hang underneath the crib, if that makes sense visualizing it. Then I have the crib mattress pushed up tightly to the bed mattress, with rolled up blankets filling the gap at the back between the crib mattress and crib frame. Regular fitted sheets are on both mattresses, then a folded quilt runs over the gap, tucked tightly around the rolled blankets, to make a seamless cover for everything. We don't have leakage problems (I don't even have to wear breast pads ever, and DS is almost always still dry in the morning, believe it or not), so that hasn't been an issue for us, but I'm sure you could put a waterproof layer underneath where I have the quilt, then change those two things as needed. I guess that's that... Oh, I just recently put bumper pads around the crib sides because DS moves around a lot and was bumping into the hard wood.

HTH!


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## tuppence (Feb 18, 2005)

A quick follow-up question--does the crib have to be convertible for that one side to come off? Will one with just the drop down side work? We never looked at cribs with the first one so I'm new to all this.


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## Pyrodjm (Jan 9, 2007)

We just have regular crib with an adjustable side. We just assembled everthing except the side that adjusts. You can do this with any crib.


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