Matt and I knew from the very beginning that we wanted to co-sleep with Henry for a couple of reasons. First, we figured it would make breastfeeding in the night infinitely more easy if I could just roll over and satiate his appetite. Secondly, we wanted our child to feel safe, secure, and close to us after leaving the coziness of the womb. Finally, we wanted to be able to more closely monitor him and make sure he was okay through the night.

Since I wasn’t sure what kind of co-sleeping or bed-sharing situation would work best for us and our queen-sized bed, I had two different systems ready to

Matt and I realized that our Summer Infant Rest Assured Sleeper is great right next to our bed (since our bed is a platform MALM bed from IKEA and is low to the ground), but it’s a little too bulky to fit between us on the queen bed. Further, it’s up on little legs, which means we would have to go up and over to see the baby.

I decided that I wanted to have an in-bed co-sleeping option. We don’t feel comfortable having the baby directly on the bed, primarily because we have a pillow-top pad that we don’t want to remove (it makes sleeping heavenly!), so we went

Our co-sleeper

Our baby’s Montessori floor bed is ready to go (not pictured above). Initially, we bought a quasi-eco-friendly mattress from Costco, but it was approximately five inches off the ground. We decided to return it (which has been the story of this whole nursery process!) and instead purchase a simple foam mattress from IKEA, which is only three inches off the ground. We covered the mattress with a quilted waterproof pad and a simple sheet from Dwell Studios. We have a second set of both the pad and the sheet, so when we need to wash them, we can simply slip the next set on without delay.

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