cosleeping and crawling

"jake's mom" wrote in message
r.com...
Hi all,

For all of you cosleepers--how do/did you all deal with your little one
crawling in the bed? DS is 7 months old and cosleeps part of the night
with
me--then part of the night with DH. I go to work in the middle of the
night
so DH has him alone in bed for half of the night. We are both worried
about
him crawling off of the bed and hurting himself. . . he is very fast and
his
teething keeps him awake a lot of nights. We do barricade him with
pillows
but just don't feel like that is enough. What do/did you all do when you
got to this stage in babies development?

I think only one of my co-sleeping daughters ever fell out of bed at night
when I was there. She just crawled down between DH and I, and right off the
end. Boy THAT woke me up in a hurry, when she hit.

We set up the crib when Gwendobaby here (5 months) fell off the bed the
second time during nap-time (I was downstairs, but she was
sleeping...right?) The third time, she fell into the narrow space between
the bed and the crib, which she wasn't IN at the time. I would put the
bed-rail on, if she didn't scootch everywhere on her back, headfirst, and
rotate up to 180 degrees faster than you'd think possible. I'd have to put a
rail up around the whole bed and it might as well be a crib!

I've never found any alternative for a mobile baby than a crib, when a
parent cannot be there and be relied on to wake. If DH sleeps that soundly,
then maybe you need to move DS to a crib for the rest of the night? It is
in fact what I do now, if I wake before the Gwendobaby wakes, and DH is
still sleeping. I know he won't wake if she stirs, that's just reality. So
into the crib she goes. But the crib is next to the bed, and she can still
benefit from hearing daddy's breathing and so on.

--angela

"jake's mom" wrote in message
r.com...
Hi all,

For all of you cosleepers--how do/did you all deal with your little one
crawling in the bed? DS is 7 months old and cosleeps part of the night
with
me--then part of the night with DH. I go to work in the middle of the
night
so DH has him alone in bed for half of the night. We are both worried
about
him crawling off of the bed and hurting himself. . . he is very fast and
his
teething keeps him awake a lot of nights. We do barricade him with
pillows
but just don't feel like that is enough. What do/did you all do when you
got to this stage in babies development?

Any advice is appreciated!

Thanks, Robin



There is infant research involving the "visual cliff" -- basically they
develop depth perception and sensitivity hights shortly after they start
crawling or otherwise moving independently, but not before. Before, they
will walk right off a platform without hesitation.

Not sure if this is helpful, it just came to mind.

-- Dagny

Thanks for all of the replies. It's good to hear that other people have the
same issues to deal with--DS almost escaped the bed last night with me and
the pillow fortress in it. We need to check into bedrails to see if there
is one to serve our purpose. I don't want to rail the whole bed, though,
just one side.

Thanks again everyone--I can always count on you for answers to all of my
questions!

Robin

"jake's mom" wrote in message
r.com...
What do/did you all do when you
got to this stage in babies development?

Well, DS seems to know where the edge of the bed is, so it has not been a
problem except for once, at age 11 months, when he did go over a pillow
bolster and fell out of bed, poor thing. Did not seem to hurt him, though.
After that, I began to pad the floor around the bed with a bunch of folded
quilts, but he has not fallen out of bed since then.

I was going to put the mattress on the floor, but based on how he behaves
when awake in bed, I think padding the floor is good enough for us. I also
use heavy feather pillows on he bed. I didn't use bolsters until he began
to roll, however.

Beth

"jake's mom" wrote:
Thanks for all of the replies. It's good to hear that other people have
the
same issues to deal with--DS almost escaped the bed last night with me and
the pillow fortress in it. We need to check into bedrails to see if there
is one to serve our purpose. I don't want to rail the whole bed, though,
just one side.

Thanks again everyone--I can always count on you for answers to all of my
questions!

Robin



I wouldn't use a bedrail--they're meant to keep kids from accidentally
*rolling* out of bed, but none would be high enough to keep him from
climbing over. (And if it's high enough this week, by next week it won't be,
the way babies develop.) Also, it seems that once the baby did get over the
rail, he'd be in a worse position to fall (straight head down, and from
higher up at that) than if he was just edging over the side of the bed.

Can you perhaps just decrease the distance to the floor (and risk of getting
hurt) by putting the mattress on the floor until he understands the falling
thing? (Probably no more than a few months.)

-Joy

Dagny wrote:
There is infant research involving the "visual cliff" -- basically
they develop depth perception and sensitivity hights shortly after
they start crawling or otherwise moving independently, but not
before. Before, they will walk right off a platform without
hesitation.

Caterpillar does *not* have this yet (at 7 months) - and I learned this
morning that she can crawl over me, so 2 pillows won't work. We'll probably
try a folded comforter on the floor on the side she likes to fall off of
until she learns "feet first." Since she's not able to intentionally move
backwards, it might be a long, long lesson.

Phoebe
--
yahoo address is unread; substitute mailbolt

For all of you cosleepers--how do/did you all deal with your little one
crawling in the bed?

We put pillows down on the floor next to the bed so that when DS crawled or
rolled off he wouldn't get hurt. :-) It happened 3 times or so and was no big
deal.

I know one mom who woke up in a panic one night and couldn't find her DD. She
shook her DH, who, half asleep mumbled at her that she should look under the
bed. Sure enough, the baby (then quite young, though I don't recall exactly
what age) had fallen off the bed and rolled off the pillow placed there for the
purpose and was snoozing quite happily underneath the bed.

Holly
Mom to Camden, almost 3
EDD #2 6/8/04

Another thing you need to do is teach him how to get off the bed. Especially
if you move your mattress to the floor, he will be able to do this quite soon.
Just practice with him going off backward feet first--you will be surprised how
quickly he will learn this.

Leslie

G'day

BTDT too. Barricade with pillows. Soft stuff on the ground if he does
fall out (only fell out once in 2 years). For a while we used those
dense foam alphabet jigsaw floor tiles. Bought the long bedrail from one
step ahead and used it for a few months till I got sick of the fact that
it also made it hard for ME to get out of the bed.

Leslie wrote:

Another thing you need to do is teach him how to get off the bed.

Just practice with him going off backward feet first--you will be surprised
how quickly he will learn this.

I learned this from mkb many moons ago. I forget who I read it from.
Everytime he goes to get off the bed say "Feet first", put him on his
tummy and swing his feet over the side. Not only did he learn this
quickly, but it also made learning to crawl backwards down the stairs
safely very fast and easy too.

DrRuth
Mum to Joshua Eamon (Nov 15th, 2001)
http://uts.cc.utexas.edu/~drruth/joshua/

HollyLewis wrote in message
I know one mom who woke up in a panic one night and couldn't find her DD.
She shook her DH, who, half asleep mumbled at her that she should look
under the bed. Sure enough, the baby (then quite young, though I don't
recall exactly what age) had fallen off the bed and rolled off the pillow
placed there for the purpose and was snoozing quite happily underneath the
bed.

OMG, can you imagine if the bed decided to break precisely at that moment
the baby was under the bed.
--
Sue (mom to three girls)
I'm Just a Raggedy Ann in a Barbie Doll World...