# Do you follow this rule?



## earthgirl (Feb 6, 2006)

I'm always reading how you should never, ever put your baby alone in an adult bed. I see this in every book, even those that are supportive of co-sleeping. But, I am wondering how many of us do put our babies in our beds when we're not there beside them.


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## starry_mama (May 26, 2006)

I do, except for the brief stage when they start rolling around and crawling, but can't get out of the bed by themselves. Even then, I often do put them in a big bed alone, but I try to remember to set up the baby monitor while they are asleep, so that I hear them when they wake.


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## katiedidbug (Dec 16, 2006)

I break this rule daily.







: DS will not sleep in a crib, no matter what. The second I put him down, he's up. I have to admit, he has fallen off our bed a few times, but I do keep the monitor on really loud so that I can hear him the second he wakes up.


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## goodheartedmama (Feb 1, 2007)

yes, and I check on them every 5 minutes. Up until they can get out of bed safely on their own, they sleep on me until I go to bed.


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## DreamsInDigital (Sep 18, 2003)

My two little ones take their mid-day naps in the family bed alone. I've never considered it unsafe at all, no more than a babe in a crib alone.


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## mamameg (Feb 10, 2004)

I voted other because I routinely put my baby in an adult bed and I sometimes feel like I shouldn't. Not so much now because my youngest is 15 mo and he's been able to get down from the bed for months at this point, but when he/they were little, I used to worry about the safety of it. I tried to keep them on the side of the bed next to the side cared crib. We had a few falls (maybe one or two each child) but nothing serious. *whew*

Oh, and we've always used a monitor if an adult wasn't in the room.


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## GooeyRN (Apr 24, 2006)

I didn't leave dd alone in the bed until she could safely get on and off the bed by herself. (around 15 months old)


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## bobandjess99 (Aug 1, 2005)

I always put dd to sleep in her bed...which of course is the family bed.
Naps, nightime, etc, whether I was there or not. I DID buffer her with pillows at first, LOL. Also, my bed is a mattress on the floor, so really, not even a big danger. Now, if we had like a sleigh bed 5 feet off the floor....I'd think differently, I assume. We only had 1 or 2 instances where she fell off, right at the crawling stage, around 8-9 months, where she could crawl/walk supported and tried to get off the bed herself and fell. Once she mastered it, all was fine again. Again, a short fall, and I did keep a blanket on the floor by the bed (its a tiny room, there is only one small portion of floor not covered with bed, lol) so it was a short fall onto a soft floor.
considering the plethora of bruises, cuts, scrapes, and generally hideous injuries she (the no-fear acrobat) regularly gets now that she is 2.5, I sometimes laugh to think at the worry I had over an 8 inch fall onto a padded floor, LOL!


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## eclipse (Mar 13, 2003)

I put my kids in an adult bed alone from birth (if they will sleep without me there). I do not worry about it.


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## mommy2two babes (Feb 7, 2007)

I put other. I do put my Ds in our bed while I am not in there. I have a king size( matress and boxspring on the floor) that DD, DS and I all share. I also have the monitor on in the room though and I can hear him as soon as he wakes up. I have to figure though that even if he did manage to make it off the bed it is not a big drop onto the cushy carpet.


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## my_baby_love (Jan 15, 2006)

I voted that I put DS in the bed alone. I figured that it's the bed he is used to sleeping in, so why would I put him anywhere else. I just got to the point where he will sleep without me holding him, and it's a totaly luxury to be able to leave him alone to sleep, take the monitor (on super loud), and go do something for _me_! He is somewhat mobile, but he makes so much noise waking up - he rolls from side to side and makes all kinds of sounds - that I have always made it in there before he is anywhere near falling off the bed. Maybe I will re-evaluate if/when he falls off the bed, but right now that is what works best for us.


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## reducereuserecycle (Jan 16, 2007)

i put dd in bed alone a lot and just check on her frequently (she can't roll yet)


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## lastaats (Oct 12, 2006)

I lay my 11 m/o in bed by herself daily. That's where she's used to and sleeps the best. Our bed is one of those ikea beds that's really close to the floor. I put a pillow on each side of her and a blanket or something on the floor in case she does try to get off by herself. She's good about yelling for me when she wakes up instead of trying to get off on her own so i haven't had any problems. When we had a regular taller bed i just turned a moniter on so i could hear her when she woke up.


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## ledzepplon (Jun 28, 2004)

Quote:


Originally Posted by *starry_mama* 
I do, except for the brief stage when they start rolling around and crawling, but can't get out of the bed by themselves. Even then, I often do put them in a big bed alone, but I try to remember to set up the baby monitor while they are asleep, so that I hear them when they wake.









:


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## NeivaKai (May 12, 2007)

I put my ds in a cosleeper if I'm not there, but he's on a monitor or I am in the same room as him.


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## Jenivere (Aug 4, 2003)

I frequently put mine in our bed alone but our bed is a matress on the floor and I don't leave a bunch of stuff around that could smother her (she is one now).


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## Peppermint Poppies (Jan 7, 2007)

I often put DS alone in our bed, and I think he's safe, but he can't roll yet. I might have to rethink things once he's more independently mobile.


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## Parker'smommy (Sep 12, 2002)

Our dd has always slept in our bed for naps and nightime alone. When she was a newborn, we had the co-sleeper, and now we have a bedrail on our king sized bed. She has never ever fallen out.


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## alaskaberry (Dec 29, 2006)

when my baby was little, i would put pillows up to make sure he didn't fall out. but he's 14m now...where's he gonna go? the mattress is on the floor.


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## ryansma (Sep 6, 2006)

Ds has napped and slept alone in the family bed consistenly since about 3 months. We made sure the bed was safe and that we could hear him and we never worried.


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## MissMommyNiceNice (May 1, 2007)

I chose other because I do occasionally leave ds in the bed alone, but I do not feel as if I shouldn't. So, none of the above. Sometimes I just don't want to poke the bear as it were and after 2 hours of trying to get him down, I don't care to chance his waking by moving to the crib. So I build what DH calls "The Fortress of Pillowtude." We hope to put the bed on the floor this weekend, though, cause he's mobile!







:


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## Llyra (Jan 16, 2005)

DS won't sleep anywhere else. DD1 was the same way for a long time. But I don't worry about it at all. My bed is a firm cotton futon with a tight-fitting frame, with no place for a baby to become lodged or anything, and during the crawling and rolling phase I dismantle the frame and place the futon directly on the floor. DD1 used to occasionally roll off, but it's less than 6 inches from the ground and the worst she got was a mild surprise and a light bump on the head. I'm sure it'll be the same for DS; he's too young yet to have found his way to the edge. The room is well childproofed, and honestly I think it's perfectly safe.


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## gottaknit (Apr 30, 2004)

My "baby" is almost three now, but we always let him sleep alone in our bed for naps when he was an infant. (I'd wait til he was asleep and sneak out.) Our bed was just a mattress on the floor.

I guess I thought these rules only applied to non-cosleeping families.









ETA: If you don't own a crib/cradle, where are you supposed to put them??







:


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## elmh23 (Jul 1, 2004)

other. i did before he started rolling and crawling. now i don't because a big reason babies shouldn't be crawling at 3.5 months (he's now almost 5m) is they don't have depth perception and crawl right off the bed (he crawled off dd's, thankfully it's only 1.5ft off the ground!) when he's bigger, i'll let him on the bed by himself.


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## moogyboobles (Jun 9, 2007)

No I can't, I worry about sids (as it seems to be a lonely thing) plus my little one crawls with his eyes closed looking for boob when he wakes and he rarely goes an hour or so without doing that.
So on the rare occasions he naps I tidy up upstairs, put away clothes or watch tv (the one in my bedroom).
In the evening I have to spend the whole time in my bedroom, I might get dh to sit with him if I want a bath.


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## kittyhead (Oct 28, 2005)

i didnt leave mine alone for naps until 8 months or so, when he was crawling and able to get off of the bed on his own safely (feet first). before that i just busied myself with some quiet activity in the room while he slept, did bills, read a book, etc. i might have left for a minute to get something to drink, go to the bathroom... looking back i think that i stayed with him not because i thought it was unsafe for him to be in the bed by himself, but because i just didnt want to leave him alone anywhere.


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## lemurmommies (Jan 15, 2007)

I let DS nap alone in the family bed, and at night after he falls asleep we put him down there before we go to bed too.

It honestly never even occurred to me to worry about it!


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## roxyrox (Sep 11, 2006)

I always put my ds to sleep in our bed and then left him there until we came to bed. He was never near any pillows and our bed is really low so even if he had managed to crawl off it he wouldn't have been hurt. As soon as he learned to crawl/wiggle we taught him how to get down safely. I think cribs are actually more dangerous - all those bars for babies to get tangled in!


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## Ruthla (Jun 2, 2004)

Quote:


Originally Posted by *eclipse* 
I put my kids in an adult bed alone from birth (if they will sleep without me there). I do not worry about it.

I did the exact same thing. I did buffer them with pillows when they were crawlers, figuring that even if they wiggled out of bed anyway, they'd push the pillows down first and the pillows would break their fall. When the girls were babies, I had the boxspring directly on the floor, so the bed was only about 18 inches off the floor anyway.


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## georgia (Jan 12, 2003)

I've put all three of my children in bed---on the rare occasion someone was asleep without me







We've always had our bed on the floor, and I did the pillows as bumpers thing, too. Never worried about it either--I was never far away


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## DBassett (May 15, 2007)

I picked other.

I DID until he started crawling head first off the bed. Now, I still leave him for split seconds like if I get up during the night to pee or get a drink. I wouldn't leave him longer than that because he has and will fall off the bed. When he can safely get off the bed, I'll go back to leaving him there by himself


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## Nature (Mar 12, 2005)

Yup I do. I make sure its safe, and I check often.


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## mamaduck (Mar 6, 2002)

Our bed was on the floor when our babies were little, and yes, I let them nap alone on the mattress. I checked on them frequently.

I know someone who is anal about putting her baby to sleep on the floor in my room when she is visiting. I always worry more about that -- so many places to get caught up or stuck if he rolls around.


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## Aliviasmom (Jul 24, 2006)

I did with Alivia. I never put her to bed alone...because, frankly, if she went to bed, I went to bed! But if I got up before her, I would most certainly leave her there alone. My bed is situated where it has a wall on one side, and until she stopped co-sleeping, it had a rail on the other side. Also, it was on the floor (mattress and box spring...no frame).


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## mountainsun (Jan 11, 2005)

I do use a baby monitor and our mattress is on the floor with a boxsring, with one side up against the wall.

I also show my babies how to get down safely (backwards) from a young age.

I think it is perfectly safe


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## lurve (May 5, 2006)

mattress is on the floor (not even box springs) and i use a video monitor


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## liliaceae (May 31, 2007)

I do leave ds alone in the bed, and I think it's safe, BUT only because the mattress is on the floor, the room is baby safe, and we have a video monitor.


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## Kailey's mom (Apr 19, 2007)

I do, I sneak out of the bed after she's good and asleep for naps...our bed is on the floor, along with a sidecarred crib and the the extra crib rail across the only part of the bed she could get out, so it's safe, she can't get out of our bed (we have a hard time getting in our bed lol)..we have pillows, lovies, stuffed animals etc..but she's 14 months old


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## ~PurityLake~ (Jul 31, 2005)

I don't even own a baby monitor. My baby monitor is my own two eyes and ears. I live in a small one story home, though.
Each of my daughters have fallen out of bed once, during that stage when they start crawling, but are not yet walking. It is a dangerous stage for them. They are so inquisitive.
They either let me know they woke up by getting out of bed, walking down the hall and finding me, or by sitting up in bed and crying out for me. If they cry, I come running.
I've never considered our bed unsafe, despite reading warnings to the contrary.
Cosleeping is awesome!


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## ecoteat (Mar 3, 2006)

I said other because we sometimes put her alone in our bed, but think it's safe. Although as she gets better at climbing and more adventurous, we are changing the set-up by replacing her crib (which she never uses) with a twin-sized futon on her floor. She'll do naps there then and we won't have to set up the pillow barricade and watch the monitor so intently!


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## momma-d (Feb 2, 2007)

Our family bed is on the floor (a futon) with a playyard gate around it (kind of like a gigantic crib







) so I feel completely ok leaving DD in it without my supervision. Although, I routinely left her in the middle of our reg. bed (prior to the switch to the floorbed) before she could roll-over or crawl on her own...I felt ok about that, too, since we made the switch as soon as she could roll over...
I like the playyard gate around our floorbed because it keeps DD "contained" enough, yet she's got plenty of room to move around on the bed if she wants to...plus there's a nice window she can - and loves to - look out of to the back yard.


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## torio (Jun 14, 2006)

Not sure if I answered correctly--I routinely put my babes to bed in our family bed, but not alone. Our twins like to nap together--their second choice after napping together with me.







:

But yes, I think it's perfectly safe. Do you know of a mobile child who has crawled up and fallen out of a crib? I do. Much worse than a fall from a bed or mattress.


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## tinkentinken (May 12, 2007)

I put 'other,' because we always put ds (now 7 mo & crawling) on the bed for naps but only occasionally leave him alone, and then I'm always in the adjacent room listening for him stirring. He used to be very noisy as soon as he woke up, but now he starting to just roll over and get moving quite quickly, so I have to be there immediately. I think it's time we move the mattress to the floor, even though it's not that far off the ground as it is, since he is so very quick!


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## txgal (Jul 16, 2003)

I will put my baby in my bed alone, but only after she has learned to get down by herself and then I still check on her every 5 min. We have an atruim in the center of our house so if all the blinds are open I can see her from any room except the kitchen.


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## katt (Nov 29, 2001)

My babe takes his naps in the family bed. He's rolling over, but not crawling yet. I just put a pillow on either side to keep him from rolling off. We have a small apt. so I can hear him when he wakes up, he also 'calls' for me.
When he starts crawling (soon) we'll put the mattress on the floor.


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## phathui5 (Jan 8, 2002)

My 22 month old is asleep in my bed right now. I'm not worried about it.


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## katheek77 (Mar 13, 2007)

My 12.5 month old is sleeping alone in our bed right now. She can climb off of things, but if she wakes up, she usually just sits in the bed and calls us.

She naps in there as well. If I'm not asleep, she sleeps in there alone.

I put a couple of pillows along the edge of the bed.

She's fallen out once, when I couldn't put pillows down (she'd flopped onto them - now I pull them off the bed first).

She's a lot clumsier when she's awake, so, i don't worry too much.


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## wannabe (Jul 4, 2005)

I routinely do, because it's a bare mattress on the floor, no pillowtop or anything, and I remove the pillows and quilt.


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## kewpie-o (Jun 1, 2006)

Is the reason babies aren't supposed to sleep in an adult bed by themselves that they might fall off the bed? Or does it have to more with suffocation hazzards? Our mattress is on the floor and there is nothing hazzardous in our room. If the sheet is tight on the mattress and there are no pillows around...I can't really see the danger. Am I being naive?







:


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## Emma's_Mommy (Apr 28, 2006)

i kid you not the ONE TIME i did this my oldest dd took a header off the bed!

never again for me.......but my dd would sleep in a crib so i guess that makes my situation a bit different!


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## Bellejar (Oct 2, 2005)

It is not because I think the bed is unsafe, I am afraid my youngest will roll out. She has done this in her own bed so. As far as an infant, ass long as you don't put pillows near them, I think it'd be fine.


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## captivatedlife (Aug 16, 2006)

E doesn't go in my bed anymore alone because she fell.

hard.

Until she started moving (5mos) I didn't care.


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## LadyBee (Nov 21, 2006)

For the first few months DS usually slept in my arms or a carrier. When he got a bit older we did leave him in the bed alone. When we started to roll and climb around in the bed, we used the cribs for naps and never left in the bed. That was only for a few months though. Around 9 or 10m I really learned his cues and left the monitor right next to him in our bed. Now at 15m when he wakes he'll sit up and make sounds for me to come and help him down


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## OneWithTwo (Oct 17, 2006)

I can't put my dd alone in bed. My bed is high off the ground and she'll crawl right over the edge, which is a long way down for a little one.
Plus she'll never really sleep in bed without me being there. Even when I get up, she wakes up.


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## rmzbm (Jul 8, 2005)

I always put them to sleep alone for naps on the family bed, why all the commotion over it? Some kids WILL take a tumble. So?


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## SneakyPie (Jan 13, 2002)

Mine has slept alone on our bed on occasion since he was about 6 months old, I think.


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## seoul_mama (Jul 10, 2007)

DS is alone in bed for naps and nighttime, except for when dh and I go to bed at night. Then we all cuddle and spoon. We have a monitor for when ds is alone. we have the mattress on the floor so we're not too concerned about falls. Also, we have carpet so if he falls







: , he has some cushion.









As a side note, ds has fallen off the bed a couple of times (horseplay, losing his balance, so forth), nothing serious, and we realized that he learned very quickly to mind the edges of our bed.


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## LoveChild421 (Sep 10, 2004)

we put our mattress on the floor so that even if ds rolls out he isn't going to get hurt. He has rolled off many times and didn't even get a bruise. ds likes to go to bed late so usually we do go to bed at the same time, but I wake up before him and get up.


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## aamna (Mar 20, 2007)

I put the baby on the bed alone 2 days ago, and when i came back to my horror the bed was empty and saw him on the floor. that was a very scary moment, i don't even know how he fell.. or if he hit anything on the way down (we have a bookcase near our bed) .. i will probably never do that again unless under supervision.


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## josh&davesmomme (Feb 24, 2006)

i voted yes but that's also dependant on the age ---

my newborn yes they weren't going anywhere and I was sure to make sure the enviornment was safe- no fluffy bedding to suffocate on etc.

my just starting to roll and crawl baby no- not unless I was nearby

my proficient crawler- yes once he learned how to get down safely and other safety percautions were in place to be sure he didn't roll out of bed

my toddler- no problem


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## liliaceae (May 31, 2007)

Quote:


Originally Posted by *rmzbm* 
I always put them to sleep alone for naps on the family bed, why all the commotion over it? Some kids WILL take a tumble. So?









Well I personally try to avoid putting my son in situations where he is likely to get hurt, but even if you don't mind a few bumps and bruises, what if they land on their head and break their neck? And we have hardwood floors, I imagine if ds took a header off the bed he might very well get a concussion. Not something I'm willing to risk when I can just put the mattress on the floor.


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## StrawberryFields (Apr 6, 2005)

I have since ds was born--I don't know where else he would have napped? I plan to do the same with the new baby too.


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## hannahi (Sep 14, 2005)

I voted 'other' because from the age of about 4 months, when we moved my ds from a bassinet into a sidecarred crib attached to the family bed, we've been using a video baby monitor when we leave him alone in bed. So we can still see and hear him very well from every room in the house.

Hannah


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## mamaveggie (Mar 24, 2007)

Since I put on the bedrails, I haven't worried about it. Before the rails, I would check on her every 10 minutes, which was driving me crazy hence the bedrails.


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## pumpkinyum (Mar 27, 2007)

Quote:


Originally Posted by *rmzbm* 
I always put them to sleep alone for naps on the family bed, why all the commotion over it? Some kids WILL take a tumble. So?










Oh yeah, sure, cause a head and/or neck injury is just nothing!







:

No, we don't, bed is up off the floor, and I worry.


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## ashtree (May 17, 2006)

DS sleeps in the bed by himself during the day and late at night (so I can do what I'm doing now







) He has fallen off the bed a few times, but only once without me in the bed with him. I think if anything he has more room without me, and now he has figured out how to get off the bed by himself so no worries over here.

I think that with any future children I have we will sleep on a mattress for awhile before using the bedframe. Of course I have no idea how we are going to fit another baby into our already crowded family bed. :LOL

ETA: When DS started moving more (crawling, rolling, scooting)he also became aware of heights, and would crawl to the edge of the bed after waking up but go no further. We have a small house so it wasn't long before I heard him, but he never tried getting off the bed by himself until he was sure he could do it.


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## clavicula (Apr 10, 2005)

we sleep on 2 queen mattresses. i believe, co-sleeping families should use mattresses, it is so much easier. so you never have to be afraid.


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## gwynthfair (Mar 17, 2006)

I put her in the co-sleeper alone until she started crawling at 7 mos. old and then I started putting her in the crib for naps and before we go to sleep. She ends up in bed with me.


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## CaraboosMama (Mar 31, 2005)

I think a lot depends on the age of the babe in question. My 13 mth old son naps in an adult bed all the time by himself. I put pillows at the edges of the bed in case he rolls a bit. I have done this for 6+ months w/out any major concerns.


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## MommyMichele (May 2, 2006)

When my babies start rolling/crawling, if I put them down for a nap instead of holding, it's on this twin mattress we have on the floor. It's easy to nurse, then roll away. At night they sleep in a sidecarred crib attached to a king size bed, usually for a few hours before I go to bed myself.


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## ~~Mama2B~~ (Mar 9, 2006)

My dd is 3 months old and has never slept in a crib. She sleeps and takes all her naps in our family bed, which she loves. She can kick, roll over and lift her head, so I'm not worried about her.

Kristi


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## riversong (Aug 11, 2005)

Ds takes all of his naps alone on a king-sized futon on a very low frame. The top of the mattress is 6 or 7 inches off the floor. I put a king-sized pillow on the edge of the bed that's not against the wall. I don't worry at all because he can't roll over the pillow. Even if somehow he did, he wouldn't have far to fall, but I wouldn't want him to, of course.


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## mothragirl (Sep 10, 2005)

we always did, but i could see the bed from the living room so she was mostly supervised. there wasn't anywhere else for her to sleep.
she has taken a few headers onto the hardwoods back when she was small, but somehow managed to survive.


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## becoming (Apr 11, 2003)

Nope, I don't follow the rule, and I don't feel badly about it.


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## Wolfcat (Jan 10, 2006)

I always put DS in the middle of the bed (full size) alone for his naps. It's kind of wierd, but he only ever fell out when we were both in the bed (I think he would push away from me when he was done with nursing). Now that he can get himself out of bed, I only use the bedrail when he is on the outside nursing at night.


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## ldsmom06 (Jun 20, 2007)

I used to put my baby alone in our bed until one night after my husband checked on him he rolled off the bed onto our wood floor. He wasn't even rolling yet! only happend once but after that we changed the way we did it! bed on floor is much safer.


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## 1babysmom (May 22, 2006)

DD has napped in our bed since birth...most often alone. She HAS fallen off the bed...twice...out of the 560-something days of her life (and about 2-3 times that amount of sleeping in my bed)...and only one of those was during naptime.


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## jjawm (Jun 17, 2007)

My 9 month old naps in her crib in her room, but sleeps at night with us.

I was always nervous about her sleeping in our bed, since it's high off the ground, and I was worried pillows would be a suffocation hazard. Our room isn't babyproofed, since we're always in there with her, and only at night. Her room also has room-darkening shades. She won't even sleep in our bed with me during the day because it's too bright.


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## BluePhoenixMama (Jan 31, 2007)

I was surprised how many others said that they put their babe in the adult bed alone. We've been doing it since she was a few months old. We made sure she was safe, of course (middle of bed, away from any blankets, soft pillows), and checked in on her often. I also know that my mother did the same with me and my brother.


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