We have set up our Arm’s Reach Co-Sleeper Bassinet as such since Darius was born:

Using this setup, Darius could be conveniently reached from our bed. This was especially useful in the middle of the night, when Catherine only needed to turn her body to help adjust his blanket or to pat him back to sleep.

However, it appears that this setup is no longer safe for Darius. Yesterday, after we placed him on the bassinet while Catherine and I were doing something in the room, he showed us something that led to this conclusion.

From his original lying-on-his-back position, he flipped over and grabbed onto the sides of the bassinet. He then pulled himself up into a sitting position, followed by leaning his body forward against the sides.

His pulling up feat actually started to show while we were in the living room yesterday, where we discovered him standing by the sofa after we placed him sitting on the mat just moments ago. Of course, we were pleasantly surprised that he had started to pick up this skill but on the other hand, we had to be more concerned about his safety upon this discovery.

Back to the bassinet, we felt it would no longer be safe to leave it as the co-sleeping configuration, as the dangers of him falling off the low sides and injuring himself have now become real and present. I’ve read about head-injured children and I will never want to regret compromising Darius’ safety after something unforunate has happened.

So by dismantling some of the parts of the bassinet, I managed to convert it into a play yard. This way, Darius won’t be able to climb over the sides anymore.

"Hmph. I can't climb out now..."

Unfortunately, with this new configuration, patting him back to sleep in the middle of the night would no longer be as convenient, as we would need to get off our bed before being able to reach him in the play yard.

Also, carrying him in and out of the play yard would be tougher and more strenuous to our lower backs. Furthermore, as we are practising night time elimination communication with him (see Diaper-Free Journey Wk 14), we will have to wake up at least once every night to bring him to pee when he signals for it.

In order to minimise the stress on our backs, we have to keep in mind to straighten our backs when bending down into the play yard, while keeping him close to our chests to reduce the relative weight he is bearing on us. Also, we will change him (i.e. taking off his cloth diaper before the pee and wearing it back thereafter) on our bed instead of doing all these inside the play yard.

Another concerns is regarding the standing fan. As our fan is currently placed on the other side of his bassinet, having him sleep lower in the play yard now will deprive him of the wind blown from the fan. As such, we have shifted the fan closer to him to ensure he will not end up sweating from the heat during his sleep.

Since yesterday, we are glad that he has been sleeping well in his bed’s new configuration. We sure hope he will keep it that way. ^^

Darius seems to like the new setup of his bed

Related posts:

1. Better Safe Than Sorry We have been considering buying/renting a play yard for Darius...