Sidheag McCormack wrote:
Today is my day for asking questions, hope you don't mind :-)

We're planning on using what is called in the UK a bedside cot, or in
US speak a co-sleeper - i.e. a cot(UK)/crib(US) with one side missing,
fastened to the adult bed along the missing side, the idea being that
adults and baby have their own sleeping space, but it's easy to get
the baby for feeding and put it back afterwards.

Currently we use a duvet on our own bed. If we were fully cosleeping,
I know the advice would be to swap this for sheets and blankets. I'm
in two minds about whether we really should do this anyway. We could,
but I prefer the duvet, and I suppose I'm not really convinced that a
duvet is significantly more dangerous than the equivalent weight of
sheet and blankets would be. Either way, you have to stop the baby
ending up underneath the covers.

What do any other co-sleeper users do? Any other tips?

TIA,

Sidheag
edd Oct 13th - full term tomorrow!

This is what I'm planning on doing, as well. Funny enough, I first got the
idea from a UK magazine. Last year I couldn't find any information on
sidecar cosleeping (what we call it in the U.S.), but now I've found a lot
of useful information, mainly by doing Google searches.

When you think about it, the most danger of baby suffocating is early on,
when they're still learning how to regulate their breathing patterns.
That's also the time when they can't move themselves out of danger if they
do run into something that impedes their breathing. But that also means
that they'll be less likely to squirm themselves around into a place where
they might run into your duvet, as long as you take steps that the duvet
won't be going into the crib and you space baby far enough away.

Early on, I plan on using a sleep positioner pillow to help keep my baby on
its back in the crib, as is recommended. My husband and I are large people
and I'm not sure enough of myself to risk sleeping in bed with my baby at
all. The pillow I'm going to use looks like this, but is a different brand:

http://tinyurl.com/o6ab (pillow positioner from One Step Ahead - a great
catalog, btw)

And here's a wonderful article I found that helped me make the decision
between buying an Arm's Reach Co-Sleeper Bassinet and just going ahead and
buying a crib to use in a sidecar arrangement. It answered all my questions
on how to properly attach the crib and make the whole arrangement safe for
baby.

http://pages.ivillage.com/gentlegoodnight/sidecar.html - How to Sidecar Your
Crib (with photos)

Good luck!

- Joanne
#1 - 32w5d