Esther Grunis wrote:
> Recently in our hospital, a mom was sleeping with her baby and the baby
> fell out of  the bed.  Hospital beds are not ideal for sleeping with
> babies, so now we have a setback.  Any suggestions?

Co-sleeping in the hospital is difficult if not impossible, but it can 
be done.  I find the best solution is a side-car arrangement.  I think 
in the hospital one is likely to be too tired to sleep next to an 
infant, and putting them in the uncomfortable pleather fold out chair 
isn't always practical and could result also in a fall.  One can't put 
anything on the floor to break the fall, and the rails are too large to 
hold the baby in.  But when you have a brand-new baby, that even feels 
too far away.

When the mother is the one in the hospital is to take one of those 
hospital blankets and secure it with pins or clamps used for picc lines 
(not sure what they're called) around the rail making a padded and to 
prevent space that the baby could fall out of.  I would also shove one 
of those blankets between the bed and the rail so there isn't space at 
the bottom of the rail for the baby to fall out.  Sometimes, depending 
on the type of rail, the baby can fall out toward the bottom, but 
generally a newborn isn't moving around that much.

When the baby is the one in the hospital and all you have is the 
pleather chair, here are some ideas:	*get one of the strollers the 
nurses have and have the baby sleep next to the chair
	*move the chair as close to the baby's bed as possible.
	*sleep on your side with the baby in a maya wrap type sling
	*if the baby is hooked to monitors, you can put the baby next to you 
swaddled and then with a larger blanket (again standard hospital 
blanket) and create a sort of a cocoon (or a big sling) with the bottom 
under the mom and babe, then aroudn the baby's back, and then over the 
baby, and then over the mom, and tuck under the mom, or into the back 
of her pants/skirt.

Co-sleeping will depend of course on the staff, on the mom &/or baby's 
situation, and how accommodating both are to co-sleeping.  I find most 
nurses are more willing to put up with me pulling the chair as close to 
the baby's bed as possible; even if more of them than not would give me 
a small hard time about it.

Can you tell I've co-slept a lot in the hospital?

Katie Bredbeck
mama who hasn't been to the hospital with her babe since getting donor 
milk Nov 1st, 2004!!!

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