Co-sleeping woes :P

[laura]

Mada had so much good advice- maybe you guys know something about keeping little critters from diving off into the abyss when they're snoozing in the big bed.

Cam starts out in her bed, then ends up with us mid-night. I like it because she's such a wild little girl that I use that opportunity to pet her whilst she sleeps, to reduce the chances of pulling back a bloody nub. (j/k) I do like my snuggle time, tho.

Problem? She wakes up before I do, and unlike her agreeable older sister did, she doesn't wake me up- and then she climbs off the end of the bed (presumably in the search of trouble). Two mornings in a row, wakened to screaming 10 month old, who has crawled off the end of the bed and fallen on her head. HELP!!!

Laura
Moderator/AK Coordinator

Mom to Alicia (severe PE) 5/98 and Camille (htn, oligo) 4/03
http://www.babiesonline.com/babies/c/camilleandallie/

[amyk]

Soooo funny. Unfortunately, I can relate. Chloe had the same pattern that your Cam seems to - starting in her bed, moving to ours, then ultimately ending on the floor. And we have travertine tile in our bedroom.
She's good now, but for awhile we were rigging up the bed with booby-traps all around it so we could hear her before she made her great plunge. We put things that made a great deal of noise around the perimeter of the mattress so that either she would unwittingly crawl over them, or they would fall on the floor before she ever did. Either way it worked, and it would always wake us before she got into trouble. (We usually used some of her toys strategically placed around the sides and end, but in a pinch I have been known to use things like bags of tostitos. Can you imagine if someone walked in and saw that?)
Fortunately, Tristan could care less about being in our bed and he is perfectly content to have his privacy. So far.

Amy

Chloe (8/6/01) 35 weeks, p/e, hellp
Tristan (9/3/03), 32 weeks, p/e and hellp AGAIN

[laura]

SEE? I knew someone would know what to do! Booby traps? Ingenious.

I think a bag of chips would be perfect- there's no way she'd be able to pass up a crinkly bag and it might distract her long enough to wake my tired old rear up. She's such a diver. I don't know how many times I've just caught that one as she was going over the edge by the foot... She's going to be a sky diver, I can just feel it in my bones....

thanks for the suggestion!


Laura
Moderator/AK Coordinator

Mom to Alicia (severe PE) 5/98 and Camille (htn, oligo) 4/03
http://www.babiesonline.com/babies/c/camilleandallie/

[mada]

Hey Laura,
another thing is have her slepp in the middle...Then when she gets up she will have to climb over someone to get out..or should I say fall out[:)]Or you could always buy one of those bedgate things for the side(like a rail) Sam had one when he started sleeping in his big boy bed. Although the booby traps sound pretty good too!!

Mada Harpster

Sam 6-29-00 36weeks P.E.
Ben 11-03-01 No P.E.

[taras mom]

If you can't keep her from tumbling out, you could make a moat of full laundry baskets to cushion the fall.[8D]

Carol (38)
DH Bill (40)
Tara Mairichi
12/7-12/9, 2002
The Mightiest Little Angel

[sherry fisher]

Oh the CO-Sleeping woes! Or the mommy gets no sleep woes! I am SOOO glad that someone touched on this. Will is in our bed...but he starts out there! He still does not sleep through the night. He wakes up screaming for a couple seconds while stretching his head in moms back and feet in dads! Then he's fine for 1/2 hr until he does it again! ITs so exhausting! What we have FINIALLY done is move his crib into our room. We took the side rail off and made it into the 'toddler bed' and moved it all the way up to the foot of our bed. Yes, we had to remove our footrail! :) Now when Will goes to sleep we put him at the foot of our bed in his own big boy bed. Sometimes he sleeps, sometimes he dont! But he cant sneak out without crawling over our feet and waking us up. Love it! :) Little snot!

I am still unsure with his sleeping habits how on Gods earth we will manage him and a newborn! I am determined that the new baby will start out in her own bed.....and CONTINUE that way! Right up until I realize that nursing is so much easier with a co-sleeper! LOL OH HELP!!!! Did I tell you how thankful we are for a king size bed!! LOL

Sherry Fisher (28)
DH: Bill (35)
Proud Mama to:
#1) Alex 1/1/94-PE
#2) Abbie 12/17/97-PIH
#3 Will 08/03/02-PP PE
#4) EDD: 4/27/04
http://www.babiesonline.com/babies/b/babyfish3/
Pregnancy Updates, ultrasound pictures, and the countdown: http://www.babiesonline.com/babies/b/babyfish4/

[deerhart]

take your bed off its frame and put the box springs and the mattress directly on the floor until she can crawl out without falling.

We actually did that with the kids beds for a while when their beds were a bit too tall for them and they would fall when climbing out.

Erin

Moderator - First Time Moms, Parents of Preemies
Missouri State Coordinator
Mommy to Alex and Mason

[jsilvas]

I did the boxspring and mattress on the floor thing with Ethan. It mostly just came about because the only other part to our bed were the rails. We moved and just decided not to use them. It worked out really well, but he stayed in bed until we (I) woke up. I probably would have put pillows around the bed otherwise. I'm also an extremely light sleeper when it comes to the kids. Sometimes I swear I've woken up just before they did.

I don't know what we'll do when Ella can get around more. Now we have a nice bedroom set and I would hate to put it away. But this is our arrangement now: five-year-old (yes, you read that right) still between us and five-month-old in her crib right next to me. We're working on making Ethan's room more inviting, but we're not really complaining or rushing him out. It's a long story of how he's stayed there so long.

With Ella, I don't even like her to feel the comfort of our bed. There's just no room. SO FAR, she's ok with where she is, but I'm afraid I'll be sleeping in the crib before long. [:0]

Jeanette - 30
Louis - 32
Ethan - 6/8/98 (36 weeks 4 days - PIH)
Ella - 10/3/03 (36 weeks 6 days - PIH)

[amyk]

That's so funny, because for awhile (when I was pregnant with Tristan, no less!) I was sleeping scrunched up on a toddler bed - you know the kind, with the crib mattress - because it was better than getting kicked in the head all night long. One of our dogs saw her golden opportunity and started sleeping in my former spot through the remainder of the pregnancy. She's mightily offended that I've reclaimed my spot, she's sleeping in the closet, my daughter's still in the middle, and the toddler bed is collecting dust somewhere upstairs.

Amy

Chloe (8/6/01) 35 weeks, p/e, hellp
Tristan (9/3/03), 32 weeks, p/e and hellp AGAIN

[hutced]

Finally someone who can relate to my sleeping woes. My daughter is about to turn 2 tomorrow has slept with us since she was about 6 weeks old. It was the only way we could get any sleep........2 years later and still in our bed, now NO ONE gets ANY sleep. Like Sherry's Will, Emily sleeps sideways and is constantly kicking and head butting us. Thank goodness Evan is happy in his cradle, of course in our room.

My mom got Emily a "big girl bed" for her birthday. We are praying she will sleep in it, in our room of course. Knowing me I will miss her if she does. I too like it when she hugs me in the middle of the night and says: mommy I wove you. Makes my heart melt.

Oh and by the way, she is kind enough to slam the bedroom door closed when she gets up early in the morning and is up-to-no-good.[}:)]

Denise
Emily 3-6-02 41 1/2wks, 7lbs15oz
Evan 10-21-03 35wks, 5lbs6oz, PIH/PE (placental abruption)http://www.babiesonline.com/babies/h/hutced/