Co-Sleepers

[Heidi Buckley]

Is there anyone out there using a co-sleeper????? I am interested in one manufactured by Arms Reach, but don't know much about co-sleepers. Any help would be great to know how other parents feel about these! Thanks! Heidi

[Denise]

We used a co-sleeper for our firstborn and it worked like a charm. It was so convenient to have her practically next to me, yet safely in her own bed. I couldn't have imagined those first few months without it - the baby cries at night, you prop yourself up a little, pull her close, and breastfeed her back to sleep, then lay her back down, all with very little disturbance. Our co-sleeper was a little table-like platform bed, still advertised as a co-sleeper but not the one that converts to a changing table and playpen. The only caveat - the ad said it would be good for six months, but our daughter outgrew it at about 4 months of age (she was too long, not too wide). Remember, you should still use wedges to keep the baby on his/her back. Also, it didn't work at all with our secondborn, but that wasn't the bed's fault. It turned out our son was super fussy and would really only sleep on top of my chest. Oh the sleepless nights... But I did think the co-sleeper was great the first go around.

[Marimar]

We really loved ours! Denise has already listed many of the advantages. DD slept in it for quite a long time...until she was able to sit up on her own (6 months?) and then we took the bassinett down and used the play pen area instead...still attached to our bed. She slept in this until about three weeks ago when she outgrew it (length) and now sleeps in her cozy Pali crib!

You should buy one and try it out for yourself! There is no comparison!

[Marimar]

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[cozy2j]

We used an Arms Reach co-sleeper for our daughter, and we absolutely loved it. We didn't purchase it until she about 3 1/2 months old, and I really wish we would've had it from the very start. It's convenient to have the baby so close....prevents you from having to get up and run to the crib in the middle of the night. It really saved my sanity in this way. My only irritation was that in order to get out of bed, I had to scoot down a bit because the co-sleeper was in my way. Once I remembered to scoot down, though, it wasn't a big deal. We're planning to use the co-sleeper with baby number 2, due in about 5 months. Oh, we also had to purchase leg extensions because our mattress is a pillow top and higher than normal beds...the extensions are inexpensive and can be purchased separately.

Jill

[ericagorman]

We started with one of those cute little bassinets. My DS outgrew it his first month and then we got the Arms Reach Co-Sleeper.I love it and wish we had started with it immediately. The only drawback, and it's a little one, is that you have to skooch down to the bottom of the bed when you want to get out of bed.

[GinaP]

Yep, we had one too and really liked it. I recommend it highly--we'll be using it for Babe #2, that's for sure.

Gina P

[elaine]

As an alternative, I ended up just using the stroller (a Combi 6100) in the full recline position as a portable bassinet right next to my bed, so I didn't have to get up. Eventually (as she outgrew the stroller), I've ended up just having her in the bed or moving her to her crib. I liked the idea of the co-sleeper, but just never got around to getting one, and then I decided that we didn't need to spend the extra money.

[Belacane]

We have a king sized bed, so we opted to have Alex sleep between us for the first three months. This worked fine, and by that time, we had to switch to bottle feeding anyway, so there was very little advantage to having him in the bedroom with us.