Sleeping Arrangements

When I was pregnant I waffled over getting an Arm's Reach Co-Sleeper or a Graco Pack-n-Play. We knew we wanted baby to sleep in our room, next to the bed, but the question was how best to arrange it in a convenient and budget-friendly way. Initially I had fallen in love with the Co-Sleeper, but after reviewing the features and noting that the similarly priced pack & play came with a newborn napper, bassinet, changing table, and could turn into a play yard too, I eventually decided we'd get more bang for our buck if we went that way. So we got the one with the newborn napper and installed it by our bed.

I'm sure that at some point I read about the 15 lb weight limit on the napper & bassinet, but since I didn't know that much about babies, I didn't think much of it. I figured that by the time Miles was 15 lbs he would be old enough to sit up and reach for me from the floor of the play yard and we'd be all good. Yeeah, not so much. I haven't had him weighed since for a couple of weeks, but he was 11 lbs then and gaining about a pound every two weeks, so at that rate he would outgrow the bassinet around 4 months. Not likely to be sitting up by then.

Most people begin to transition a baby to the crib in his room at that point, but that's not what we intended to do. When Mr. Ibis and I first had a conversation around where we wanted the baby to sleep and for how long, he said matter of factly that he figured we'd have him in our room for at least 6 months and maybe a year. That is perfectly fine with me, so once again, the question is how.

At 3 or 4 months he'd still be a little young for full time bed sharing, at least for us, because Mr. I is kind of a heavy sleeper and a toss & turn -er. Some people get something like this but I don't find them terribly appealing or even that convincing when it comes to safety. I do fairly often bring Miles into bed and have him sleep in the crook of my arm, but having no option to set him down elsewhere would limit my sleep choices, ability to read in bed, snuggling opportunities with Mr. I, and so on.

So Mr. Ibis looked on Craigslist and found an Arm's Reach Co-Sleeper, used for one month, for $90 - it's the Clear-Vue which retails for $140. The weight limit is 23 lbs, a fact that we apparently overlooked when comparing it to the pack & play... although I will say that the newborn napper was great for the first two months so I don't regret getting that thing. I think Miles also really liked the vibration feature on the napper and bassinet.

We dismantled the pack & play last night and set up the Co-Sleeper. I put Miles down in it while he was already half-asleep... turned on the Sleep Sheep and he was out in a minute. However, after one of his late feedings he just kept fussing and flailing in there (he's also only half-swaddled now that it's too warm for the full deal, which doesn't help) and I had to bring him into bed with me and cuddle him for the rest of the night. Not that I mind.