so a couple of weeks ago I was planning on cosleeping with my daughter in my bed but my husband's schedule has changed so he will now be home at night and it's just not going to work. My point is that I am looking for some feedback on what my daughter should sleep in. The two choices I figure I have are a bedside cosleeper and a bassinet. I figure the cosleeper would keep her close and provide easy access for b-feeding but I do like the bassinet because rocking always soothed my other children when they got fussy at night and bedside coslepers obviously don't rock. Also, we have very little space next to our bed so only the minicosleeper would fit (the full sized models are just too big, we've measured). One more think is that I've seen bassinets where the top part is removable so it functions as a moses basket type thing so I can easily move my daughter from room to room with me. What do you think? What worked for you? thanks!!
K.
I'm using the mini cosleeper right now and did for my second child...until they were 5 months old...it's wonderful, plenty big and perfect for when you are waking up to feed the baby throughout the night. We also have moses baskets, but the baby doesn't really use them...although I hear they are wonderful to take to hotels if you plan to go out of town and need a place for tiny ones to sleep.
Take care!
I absolutely love the idea of co-sleeping! However, I have found great rewards in sleeping apart from my last two (set of twins, mother of 6). They have both slept on their own all night, since 4 months! Until then, I had heard the stories, but did not think it was possible. :) Really, my point is, I think about it for the future and the sleep habits that you could be developing, not for the comfort of right now necessarily. Again, loved co-sleeping with 3 of mine, yet it caused problems with healthy sleep habits and sleeping apart later. Good luck.
PS Love the idea of moving her from room to room in the same familiar sleeping spot!
I only used a bassinet for a couple of weeks with my daughter. She was a great sleeper and started sleeping through the night in her crib at about 2 months. I breastfeed also and just bought a very nice rocking chair and nursed her in her room. I know their are benefits to cosleeping, I did it with my son and it was nice to have him close but, it was a horrible transition to get him to sleep in his crib. Every child is different so do what works for you. I personally didn't think the early benefits are worth the months of screaming to get him to sleep in his crib! Good Luck!
We've used the minicosleeper and liked it. It worked until she could pull herself up around 6 months. I don't think I would have gotten use out of the moses basket feature. If the baby was asleep I wouldn't bother moving them. Good luck with your decision.
When my son was born I got a bassinet with the piece that folds down for easy access from my bed and I loved it. I also loved the idea that if I was in the living room I could roll him where ever I needed to be. Plus my son stayed in the bassinet until he was almost 6 months old which worked out great for me since he wasnt very far away. Good luck on your decision!
I have a baby boy almost 5 mos. old & my husband & I have a very small bedroom. We have been using the Arm's Reach Mini-cosleeper. It has worked very well for us. Briefly we had it set up as a bassinet (not attached to our bed) so we could roll it into our living room. Mostly we used it as the co-sleeper attached to our bed. This has worked perfectly as he was right next to us, could be easily seen, pulled into our bed as needed or easy for one of us to pat him, give a pacifier, etc. He's starting to grow out of it now. We are going to miss having him so near to us!!!
Once the co-sleeper was attached to the bed, I found it annoying to detach it. Our house is quite small, so I always wished that I had purchased a moses basket so that I could have easily carried my son from room to room when he was really tiny.
Good luck.
This is a great question K. and I'm glad you asked it. I'm due with my second and have been weighing what I want to do with this baby. After reading the responses, I think I'm going to go with the mini cosleeper myself. We had a bassinet with my son and as it was mentioned here, he woke up everytime I tried to put him in it. Good thing was it was portable. We could take him out on the deck in it, to the backyard, around the house. Therefore I think I'm going to get a moses basket too for doing things like this (got rid of the bassinet) and I want to get a sling this time. I had some wrap thing I never got the hang of so this is my plan: cosleeper for the bedroom, moses basket for around the house and a sling for carrying the baby with me.
By the way, if you look on Babies 'R Us website, the mini cosleeper is rated very high, 4.5 out of 5 with 58 votes and the full-size cosleeper is rated 4.0 with 56 votes. So it must be a good product. I'm excited to get ours. Best wishes with your babies!
I inherited a co-sleeper and have used it for 2 kids now. We quite like it and it doubles as a travel crib. I haven't ever used a bassinet, but please make sure if you get one that it is safe. A week or two ago one of the more popular ones on the market was recalled because it was dangerous, and I read in our newspaper that they were still available in stores. Actually, make sure WHATEVER you get is safe :)
I used a bassinet with my first and the mini co-sleeper for my 2nd/3rd child. I LOVED the co-sleeper and would highly recommend it to anyone. It is so much easier-especially if you are nursing. I never had to get up out of bed and my daughters slept wonderfully in them until 3-4 months.
I think a cosleeper would be your best bet. We had a basinett but everytime we put the baby in he woke up. If I had been able to I would have bought a cosleeper
I had a bassinet for my first and she lasted two days in it and then went to a crib in her room...I just nursed her in her room or the living room in our apt....with DS he was in a bassinet in our room as he was on oxygen for 2 months but then he went to his crib too/our new home has plenty of room but it seemed fine to have him sleep in his crib....my bassinet never rocked and it wasn't a concern...they seemed to fall asleep fine without rocking (so not sure if that's a necessity and I avoided developing any of the prebedtime rituals like rocking so they would learn to fall asleep on their own...a few friends had told us not to get sucked into the "traps" of nursing to sleeping, etc..but hey whatever works for each baby I think!
I didn't mind getting up to nurse, for me I didn't nurse in bed...so a crib in their rooms worked for us. I loved nursing my DS in a rocking chair in his room in the middle of the night...only he started sleeping throught the night so quickly that our quiet time ended....good in some ways but with it being our last baby it was kinda sad too!! Ah..this is making me misty-eyed....
B.
We had both and preferred the bedside co-sleeper, we used it until she was 5m old, I liked it b/c my husband would get her for me to nurse her in the middle of the night. We used the bassinet for our lower level, it lasted about 3m, then I just ended up putting her down in the co-sleeper around 4m. I would sometimes nap with her too! But it sounds like you may have thought out your answer? Blessings to you.
I'm a SAHM of a 5 month old and we used the bedside cosleeper until he was 4 months old. We loved it! We will definitely use it again for our next baby. It was so easy to feed him in the middle of night. We bottle fed and I still loved it. It also comforted me to know that he was so close and I could just reach over and touch him. Hope that helps! Good luck!
