SWEET DREAMS

Learn how to make a foldable and compact co-sleeper

- Jack Karouta

Last year we learned that we were pregnant, and we started to discuss the ways in which we would like to raise our child.

One of the first topics we discussed is what to do at night... Preparing the baby room and having everything in there seemed strange if baby needs to be fed every two hours. We both felt that co-sleeping would be a good thing for both parents and baby, but unfortunately, we have very limited space in our bedroom, and none of the off-the-shelf co-sleepers would fit in our room.

We therefore decided that making our own would be the best way forward. Due to its limited size, we might not be able to use it as long as off-the-shelf solutions, but I think it's the best of both worlds, especially to pass the first couple of months.

The first step is to do research... There are two sides to the story and you'll find contradicting information on whether to co-sleep or not. However, a lot of articles use co-sleeping and bed-sharing interchangeably. We were not looking to sleep in the same bed, but rather to have an 'extension' such that the baby has its own space to sleep in. We outweighed the risks and benefits and decided that at least while my wife is still breastfeeding, it should be completely safe to co-sleep using an external co-sleeper.

Style: Several co-sleepers models are available using boards or slats. After some more research we decided that more ventilation is better to minimise the risks, and therefore we decided to go with the slat design.