18 month old and newborn - Sleeping arrangements

[Sienna]

Hi all:

I am due in Sept. and DS will be 18 months then. Question is, what should be the sleeping arrangements? Granted, the newborn will spend most of the time in our room, in either the cradle or with us in bed. But should I buy another crib so that when I put the tiny one down for a nap, DS doesn't get upset, like"that's my crib?" I don't like putting a newborn to nap in the cradle and walking away because we have a large clumsy rottie who thinks she is a chihuahua.

Anyway, help!! Two cribs? or is DS ready for twin or toddler bed???

Sienna

[vikivoly]

I can't really help, but I'm going to be in a similar situation. However my DD#1 will be 22 months old, so I can't see buying a second crib. If DD#1 isn't ready to for a toddler bed, I'll probably use a bassinet for the first month or two.

As far as napping, couldn't you shut the door and use a monitor? Cribs are expensive and we aren't planning on having a #3, so I just don't think it's worth the extra cost.

[McQ]

I'm in your exact same boat with a son that will be 18 months when the new baby gets here. And 17 months if number 2 is in a hurry like its big brother. We didn't use a cradle or co-sleep with the first one. And since he loves being in his crib now I just don't see how I can take it away.

So right now I plan to borrow a crib from a friend. Then when DS grows out of his crib, do the ole switcheroo and return the friend's crib. If I can't borrow one, then I plan on buying an inexpensive crib then swap it out when DS is ready.

Allison
~ mommy to Declan 3.24.03
and number 2 EDD 9.14.04

[tapr]

We were in the same situation. DS was 17months when DS #2 was born in February. We ended up purchasing an additional crib. We are currently co-sleeping while we wait for the crib to be delivered, hopefully within the week. My older son was in no way ready for a toddler/twin bed so we decided to get an additional crib. HTH

[petersmom]

When DD was born DS was 15 months and not ready to switch. We ended up buying a second crib that converts into a full size bed, so it wouldn't be wasted $$. At 19 months DS wants to be in a big boy bed, but we don't(for selfish and safety reasons!!!) He doesn't like to sleep, at least now he is confined and is not wandering around upstairs.
Hope this helps,
Stephanie

[luvtoshop]

Hello--DD will be 19.5 months when we bring home her baby sister. We just had dd#1's 18m appt and the pediatrician *strongly* recommended getting another crib for the new baby. We were going to keep the baby in the co-sleeper for 6m and then move dd1, but it looks like we'll be getting a second crib SOON.

Good luck!

[lunababy]

We are pretty much in same boat. DD will be 26 MO. She is just not ready for big bed. I read here somewhere that another mom realized it was going to save her time and headaches by keeping older sibling in crib and not wandering around, in baby's face, etc. when new baby comes along and everyone is so tired.

I am researching some cheaper (but apparently good quality cribs from Ikea that convert to toddler bed) for DD and I'll put baby in higher quality crib. HTH's. Hope it works! ;)

[Ohio_Mom]

Another option would be to put the new baby in a Pack & Play full-time until your older child is ready to move to a toddler or twin bed with rails. My daughter moved to a twin bed with double safety rails successfully at 20.5 months with absolutely NO problems. We still put a sleep sack on her at night, and that plus the bed rails keeps her from trying to climb out of bed. When she wakes up, she calls for us instead of trying to get out by herself. But we've also just kidproofed the you-know-what out of her room so that if she did start getting up by herself and playing before we were awake, it wouldn't be a huge deal.

You can get a foam portacrib mattress (I think Kolcraft makes them) for less than $20 that fits in the Pack & Play very nicely, and my daughter always slept much better on that than the hard, thin P&P mattress. I wouldn't hesitate to let the new baby sleep in that until the crib was free again.

Just a cheaper and more practical idea to consider!

[sallysmith]

We had a similar age gap. We ended up getting a portacrib for dc#2, which we kept in our room for about 6 months. (we moved it a couple of times into dc#1's room, but we always ended up moving it back out).

When dc#2 was about six months old, we decided it was time to put the portacrib away. We bought a secondhand crib for $20. Shortly after that, we ended up buying a toddler bed for dc#1 anyway. (We were having sleep problems and I thought that would help.) We were going to move dc#1 straight into a regular bed, but we just didn't have the room.

I guess i'm trying to say that you shouldn't push the bed onto your dc. Just play it by ear and you'll see what happens.

[KBecks]

DS will be 21 months when #2 arrives. We will use a bassinet at first, and then see how DS is doing in his crib.

We will probably get a 2nd crib and leave DS undisturbed in his sleeping arrangements, since he is sleeping well. But, if he becomes a climber and seems to want the big bed, then we'll go that route. It's hard to tell now how DS will be in 6 months, so if we get a 2nd crib, I'll find something inexpensive and in-stock locally.

[fairyfahrenholz]

Hi there -

I was in a similar boat, DD was 13 months old when DS was born. We kept DD in her crib, she wasn't ready to be in a toddler bed yet and DS sleeps in the pack 'n play. Yes, still sleeps there for the moment.

I just ordered a toddler bed from JC Penny, a cheapie since DD's crib converts to a full-size bed. DS will transition into the crib when we get the new bed set up for DD.

It's worked well for us, DS isn't much of a mover once he's asleep, so he's been safe in the pack 'n play and it's easy for me when he wakes for a night-time nursing session.

Oh, DD is 23 months old now and DS is 10 months old...we passed the time when they *should* have transitioned, LOL. Now it's just craziness.

Good luck!

Kristen
Emma 5/10/04
Michael 6/2/05

[RJPO]

Same boat! Jamie will be 17 months old when his sister is born in late August.

We plan to keep the new baby (as opposed to the old baby) in a bassinet in our bedroom at night, until she outgrows it at four or five months, just like we did with James. I really like bassinets because they're relatively small and you can roll them around (we have a big walk-in closet that we would roll James' bassinet in to when we wanted to watch TV in our bedroom!).

So I figure that we're set for the first several months, with Jamie staying in his crib and the baby in her bassinet. After that -- two cribs, I guess.

My big question is: once you figure out where to put them, is there any way to get them to nap at approximately the same time ?!?!

Rachel
mom to
Mary India, 6/21/98
James Jolyon, 3/23/05
Elizabeth (middle name TK), due 8/29/06

[karen6]

My parents moved us all to "big beds" at 18 months (in our case a "big bed" was a twin mattress on the floor - not far to fall if we rolled out!) Apparently that worked for them, and I can't say I feel scarred in any way because of it. At some point, we got bunk beds, but I'm pretty sure that was a few years down the line...

-Karen