Co-sleeping Question & Story

[himom]

Josh sleeps with us. When I woke up this morning and rolled over to get him he was gone! Needless to say I was completely freaked out and started frantically calling him. He "answered" me and I found him crawling on the floor on the opposite side of the bed. He had a big smile on his face. No bumps or bruises, and he was in a great mood.

Once my heart started beating again I started to wonder what happened. I really have no idea how he got down off the bed. I'm afraid he might have fallen but he was so happy when I picked him up it didn't seem likely. I suppose he might have climbed down (my Dad has been teaching him how to slide off the couch) but Josh is only 9 months old! The bed is taller than he is! I can't picture it. And the image of him falling that far gives me the shivers.

So I could really use some advice from other co-sleepers. How do you keep your little ones from crawling away if they wake up before you do? We have a rail but obviously he just crawled around it.

For now, he's back in his crib!

Jodi
Mommy to Joshua, born February 2003

[etwahl]

hi jodi! that would freak me out too!! lauren's not crawling yet and just rolls over once, so we're not in that predicament yet, but i expect to be. what we did, which may or may not work for you, is put our mattresses on the floor, and then put her little crib mattress on the floor beside it. she can sleep on her mattress for naps (or even at night if you wanted). also, i plan to buy a snugtuck pillow http://www.snugtuckpillow.com/ for our bed as well as one for her little mattress. maybe that would work for you? at least if he crawls over or around the pillow, it's not too far to the ground. and sounds like he is already learning to crawl DOWN from the bed - gifted little guy :)

Tammy,
Mom to Lauren Genevieve
03/12/2003
www.evantammy.com

[bluej]

Amazing little creatures aren't they? My guess is that he was able to slide off of the bed, stand on his legs and then plop down to play. I really hate to tell you this, but this is probably just the beginning for you (especially if Grandpa is helping him w/ his climbing abilities :D )! Caden was able to climb out of his crib at 11 months and he couldn't even walk yet. Luckily he was able to do it w/o ever getting hurt. Seriously though, once he figured out how to do something, he did it repeatedly. Josh will probably be trying to get on and off the couch, chair, bed, you name it for the next several days. It's a new trick to him and so much fun. I have no advice, just wanted to warn you that it looks like you are going to have an adventurer on your hands!

[MinnieMouse]

When Beth started trying to get off our bed herself we decided the best thing to do was to teach her to do it safely. We practiced over and over her backing off the bed, hanging her feet off and then dropping to the floor. It worked out well. As she got older we got her a stool that we keep at the foot of our bed and she used that to climb ON to our bed.

FWIW, Beth was crawling at 6mo and WALKING at 9.5mo...so we taught her to get off the bed quite early.

HTH

Christine