Nine years ago I had my first child, he started sleeping in his crib his first day home. Recently I gave birth to my third child and for some reason the thought of him sleeping in his room alone terrified me! Plus I'm breastfeeding and I knew every time he woke up I'd have to go get him and feed him. I also knew I didn't want him sleeping next to my husband and I in our bed. I tried the pack and play (also known as port a crib), but constantly getting in and out of bed to feed him and lay him back in the crib once I was done was exhausting!After a few nights of me falling asleep with him in my arms while feeding him I decided I needed to look for something else! That's when I stumbled upon a bunch of co sleepers. They had a few different options but I went with The First Years Close and Secure Sleeper
I cannot even try to lie to you, the reason I picked this one was because it was the cheapest one. I kept going back and forth between this one and another one.. The other one was just a tiny bit more expensive, but both had good and bad reviews so ultimately it came down to price. I seriously went back and forth for a couple hours on multiple websites before I finally purchased the item. I am pretty sure I even paid for faster shipping because I knew I wanted it ASAP!
My husband was away the first week I started using the co sleeper so Beau slept in it on his side of the bed and I pulled all the covers to my side of the bed. Once my husband got back we had to figure something out because my husband likes to sleep with the covers over his head sometimes and I didn't want to risk the covers going to high and covering Beau. At first I read online where some people used 2 different blankets but I thought to myself HEY!! I'm short why not just scoot down? So my husband sleeps up in his normal spot by Beau's head and I sleep down by Beau's feet at an angle kind of, that away the blanket never comes above his co sleeper.
Here is why I love this co sleeper and would strongly recommended it to anyone! Not only is it a great price it's also a great size! My son is 3 months old and he still sleeps in it, he has never rolled or scooted out of it. I like that I don't HAVE to put him in his crib just yet because him sleeping in this makes breastfeeding so much easier in the middle of the night! THANKFULLY he only wakes up once a night! But I feel like this helps both of us with that middle of the night feed. Another way it helps with breastfeeding is it has a small nightlight on the head barrier, instead of reaching for my phone to check on the baby I can just turn the nightlight on real quick. It also travels well! It folds in half and fits perfectly in my suitcase. Plus it's waterproof!!!!!!!!! That's a big deal for us because Beau spits up a LOT! It has a sheet and we'd wash the sheet and just wipe down the mattress part of it.
Now here are a few of my concerns with this item.. The foot barrier for some reason doesn't stay in the upright position and bends down into the bed area but sometimes my son seems to like it and just props his feet up on it.
Another concern is space if you don't have a big enough bed. We have a king size bed so I have no issue with how much space it takes up but I have read a few reviews where people in queen size beds or smaller don't like it because they don't have enough room in the bed once the co sleeper is in there. So that is something you'd need to consider.
Even with those two concerns I would still give this item 5 stars!! I seriously LOVE it. This is one of my top 5 favorite baby items. I haven't been as sleep deprived as I expected to be and I fully believe it is because of this co sleeper. We are still able to practice safe sleeping but in the comfort of our own bed.
*Disclaimer I was not paid to try this item.
