I can't believe I'm a mother! Ever since I was a little girl I've wanted a baby. So after a lot of world travel and a few great careers, I'm now on maternity leave for a year fulfilling all my house wife fantasies. What I'd under estimated though was the profound effect it would have on how I look and interact with the world now. My focuses have changed, heart has swelled, fears erupted, muscles ached and inner strength been challenged. This blog is me detailing some of the interesting topics I have encountered or wished I already knew before motherhood while attempting to retain my sanity along the way. If there is something you think I'd be interested in please let me know!

April 11, 2010

Co-Sleeping with a Side Car Cot

Both Steve and I are comfortable and believe in the benefits of the co-sleeping family bed. However we actually started kind of by accident because we didn't have enough room in our one bedroom apartment! We literally only had enough room to squeeze a cot in, pressed right up against the bed. So we decided the side car set-up might suits us. There are specific cots on the market that are for this purpose however are very expensive. So to reduce costs I researched all the safety issues and came up with our own solution. This involved removing one side of an Ikea Gulliver cot, aligning the mattresses at the same height and ensuring they were as tightly pressed together as much as possible. This was done by wedging the cot against the wall and using rolled foam in a cotton case to hold the mattress in place. I referred to a very helpful website about how to side car a crib. It's very important to have the surfaces at the same height and with no gaps in between, to do so increases the risk of the baby getting stuck in the crevice.

At 4mths it's working very well. Odessa begins the night in the cot and is moved to the bed for feeds and sometimes moves back. So far I have NEVER had to get out of bed for a feed in the night and instead drop back to sleep very easily after we are done. I really think this has aided in the fact that as parents we haven't felt too sleep deprived so far. I can also settle her very easily at an arms reach while maintaing my own space.

She doesn't sleep with sheets (she hates anything on her legs) so we don't have any issues with having to tuck them in down the side. She is also not sitting up on her own or standing yet so we may have to re-think the set up by then.

17 comments:

  1. hi there lovely! at the moment i'm about to do the same thing as you (having bought a gulliver cot from ikea.....) - our baby is 7 mths old and is rolling but not yet crawling. just wondering what your baby is doing now she's bigger and whether you are still using the side car cot? have you had any issues with her crawling / rolling / falling off the bed? i'm just trying to work out what the safest thing is with both day sleeps and with early evening, when the baby is in bed before me?? would love to hear your thoughts 7 months on! thanks and kind regards, finn

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  2. Finn, It's been so longer since I've posted! We have moved to Melbourne and unfortunately the blog just got lost amoungst all the boxes.
    Odessa is now 15mths old and walking so we have had to rethink the set up many times.
    1. We dropped the cot to it's lowest setting and dropped our bed to match. Still too high although she would stop at the edge. She has only fallen off if she was playing and jumping around.
    2. We put our mattress on the floor and placed a kids mattress next to it. Good for my assurance.
    3. Now that she can safely climb down we have made a giant bed! Thats a double mattress and king mattress beds pushed together. It's very easy to teach them to turn around to get down.
    Let me know what you ended up doing!

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  3. I'm just writing a post on my Hungarian blog about co sleeping. I found your picture above as a good example to put a cot next to the parent's bed.
    May I please use your picture on my blog with a link to your blog as the source of the picture?

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  4. Alexandra, that's fine. Thanks! Send me the link when you're done (if it's in English and I can read it!).

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  5. Thank you, Helena.
    This is the link:
    http://alexandrainaustralia.blogspot.com/2011/04/kontinuum-elv-2.html
    It's written in Hungarian but you might understand something with Google Translator. It doesn't do a good job though...
    Briefly:
    I wrote about the Continuum concept in a previous post and continued with my thoughts about co-sleeping in this post.
    I also attached a picture of my husband and son taken in the hospital when my son was born.
    Even though we all (with my newborn daughter but without my son) sleep in a double bed, I wanted to show other example that you can sleep with your baby having the comfort of your own bed and the safety of your baby.

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  6. Love how you decorated your room! It is beautiful. Where did you get those purple bed sheets? I've been looking everywhere for purple bed sheets and can not find any.

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  7. Baby cot is very useful things for babies to sleep comfortable.I think side car cot is the best to use that allow parents to keep their baby in the bedroom with them while they sleep.This is especially helpful for nighttime feedings.

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  8. Hi there, my husband and I love your set up. Just wondering how you got along once bubs was a bit older and sitting up? did you use the same set up?

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  11. I admire what you have done here. I like the part where you say you are doing this to give back but I would assume by all the comments that this is working for you as well.
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