Co-sleeping with a Crawling Baby

I co-slept with both my kids, off and on, and still do occasionally.

Yes, you want to make sure they don't get hurt or suffocated by accident, because they are very mobile at this age. AND, sometimes the Parents sleep so soundly...that they don't always "know" or "hear" if their baby fell out, or is still there, or is not buried under the covers, or tangled up in them etc. Put it this way, once, my Father fell down in the middle of the night and couldn't get up....my MOM didn't even hear him fall, nor him making noise to call her. He was on the ground overnight this way... he had a stroke. She didn't know.
My point is, not all "Accidents" are "noisy"...and we sometimes CANNOT even know when we are sleeping. Accidents are often "silent."

What I did when my kids got to that "stage" is, we got a futon, put it on the floor in our room... and then, since it was ON the ground, we didn't have to worry if our kids "fell out." AND, we adamantly baby-proofed our bedroom...NOTHING was on the floor. We did not put any blankets anywhere either. But, I am also a light sleeper... and I wake at the smallest sounds. BUT, I would sleep with my kids on the futon, or my Husband would. Then, as they grew out of it, or depending on their needs or phases... I still co-slept with them or not.

*oh just wanted to add: as she DOES get more mobile, and gets to crawling, standing, and just has more motor skills...yeah, they can get "stuck" in crevices. But, also, where does she nap? In the bed? If so, and you are not right there...she could manage to crawl out, and fall out of the bed. Almost all babies fall off the bed at some point. And depending on how they fall... they may get hurt. The thing is, she WILL get to the point where she can manipulate her body and go places...and so, you'll need to think about how you will circumvent this, because the side-car apparatus will not keep her "in." Unless, you just transition her to the crib, and with the railings in and fully up. Or, you'll just have to co-sleep with her for naps too... and make sure she's safe.

For us, I co-slept on the futon with my kids. BUT, for naps, and the initial putting to bed, for my son at least, we always put him in his crib first. Then when and if he wakes during the night, I pick him up and co-sleep with him. But with my first child, she was more high-needs and I always had to co-sleep with her since infancy, and she would not transition to a crib and she was just very spirited anyway. So, evaluate "how" you will manage it when your baby gets very mobile and with increasing motor skills.

It's such a nice bonding thing to co-sleep. Everyone is different, and different in how long they do it.

just do what you feel is best & safest.
All the best,
Susan

i have co slept with all three of my kids till they were two or three. they usually like to stay as close as they can to me and never wander off, but if you are afraid that your daughter will do that i suggest putting some thick padding around the bed to catch her fall, just until you find out for sure if she does do that.

Hey L.!

I have co-slept with my son since he was home from the NICU, and it's been a great experience!! I've never had a problem with him crawling down to the bottom of the bed, or falling off...but, what I have done as a precaution is made sure he had secure spot in the middle of the bed to sleep. When he was a 'baby' this included rolled blankets around his sleeping area, that helped him learn to sleep on his own and also be safe and comfy. Usually, babies sleep so much more soundly when they have the comfort of their parents that I haven't ever experienced an issue. And, for me (like you I'm sure) as soon as my son woke with needs, I was up and ready to take action. Since, it's just me and my son, I pushed the bed up against the wall and lined that side with rolled blankets in the space against the wall. But, if you create a comfy spot in the middle she should be fine where she's at.

Now, that he's a walking toddler and is 'bigger' than an infant, I've had more issues with him taking over my whole bed!! So, this is when I'm working on him moving to his own bed in my room and then eventually to his own room...but, it's been the most amazing experience waking up to my little boy's smiling face.

Good luck and don't stress!

Once our daughter started to become mobile we had to put the side all the way up for her safety...and Mom's sanity. :-)

I cosleep with my little crawler and we have had fun with this !!

At this point my bed is a queen sized crib lol

I have a sleigh bed so the crib "bars" slip in between the boxspring and rail and she cannot just crawl off the edge.

The time will come when we have to chat about it all but for now when we wake up I let her zip around the bed and crawl all over me and get her move on.

Good luck to us both!!

We used a co-sleeper bed, similar to the setup you described with your crib. I will never forget the first time I found out that my son could crawl out of there on his own. It was during a nap, on waking up I could hear him making noises in there on the monitor but when I went to check on him he wasn't in the co-sleeper! I frantically looked around until I found him in my closet (door open) just checking things out. He had scooted all the way over there. SO just be prepared that that day is coming before you know it and plan accordingly! I guess you could raise the rail for naps? Then at night do the padding all around like the other posters suggested. But since you are right there, you are more likely to feel/hear her moving around in there. If she is the very curious type, however (like mine still is)she will probably soon learn that this is a new option and will find a way to get out and explore! You'll just have to see if co-sleeping is still going to work for you and your family at that point. (But if that's the case, she will figure out how to get out of her crib too!):-)

I would say that it is time to stop. I hate to say that, but I think it is the BEST thing you can do. We used to occasionally co sleep with our baby, until he started crawling and actually FELL out of the bed. THANK GOD he was ok, but he could have really hurt himself!!!

We took all of the precautions mentioned by other moms, but it STILL happened. Baby slept between us. One night, I got out of bed to go to the bathroom, hubby was asleep, and baby was asleep. Some how baby woke up, and crawled/rolled out of the bed. AND we have a cal king bed.....and he STILL fell out.

I know it is hard to stop, but all it takes is one bad fall and you will regret it for the REST of your life.

Hi L.,
Yup, I agree with the padding suggestions. That's what we did and our kids are all so alive and intelligent that I can barely keep up with them. They all fell out of bed at some stage, usually more than once, always landed on our arrangement of pillows and foam mattresses and a few times actually crept down there to sleep on purpose. There was more than one instance of a child tumbling out of bed onto the pads and never even waking, so I'm pretty sure there was no major trauma. I always made sure of three things:

*The frame of the bed was covered/padded so that baby wouldn't hit metal or wood on the way down. (I used to just tuck thickly folded towels in along the length so that the frame was covered by a nice inch thick layer.)

* The floor was padded not only two feet out from the bed but also about a foot under the bed (so baby doesn't just wriggle under the bed and get stuck/frightened/bump her head on the frame. Just slide them under the bed during the day if they bother you.

*The padding was as much one-piece as possible - foam mattress, futon, layers of comforters, etc - so that the pillows don't part and let baby hit the floor.

It takes a little doing, but it's well worth it. Besides, I always kinda liked the camp-out feel of it, like I was a kid having a sleep-over. It felt fun. And parenting should definitely be fun every time there's a chance for it!

Co-sleeping is great, in my opinion, and if you're like me, your maternal radar is on 24/7 so there's not much chance of sleeping through a hiccup, much less a child in distress. When I did give up co-sleeping it was because of precisely that -- I needed more rest! I know that grievous things have happened to some families, but for whatever reason they never happened to us and I like to think it was equal parts luck and vigilance. So be vigilant, get some padding that won't just open up and swallow the baby and good luck staying a step ahead now that your baby is mobile! It's a busy time of life, but it sure is a blast.

Good luck! :-)