Co-Sleeper Design

Co-Sleeper Design
During the holiday season and being out of school, my wife and I decided that it was time we find a way to get our son out of our bed. He really doesn’t enjoy sleeping in his cradle at all and has been cluster feeding on and off the last 3 months. During those times, it’s easier if my wife can feed him every hour or so and not have to get up to do it. He sleeps better, she sleeps better but there’s always a danger in sleeping in the same bed as a child. We would rather have him in his cradle but he tends to wake up if my wife leaves his side for any amount of time. Most recently, as I’m writing this she got up to grab a snack and he woke up.

After doing a bit of research online and seeing a few other very expensive designs, my wife figured we could make one, which means, I can make one. It’s truly a win win, she can move him into his own safe area of the bed when he’s sleeping and he’ll learn to sleep on his own. This is the hope but in reality, everything I thought I knew about kids went out the window the second both of us had him in the car heading home, after he was born.

I started with an AutoCAD drawing of a 3 sided crib, then started in on structural reinforcements and a few visual design additions. I’ll be updating the legs and braces depending on how they handle when the cradle is mounted. I’d rather not have to move up to a 4×4″ post for the legs but I will if it doesn’t seem stable enough. Below are a few pictures of what I’ve mocked up so far. I’ll most likely have the lower leg support box hooked to the frame of our bed and there’s a really nice elastic safety strap we will add to hold the Co-Sleeper firmly against our bed. The Co-Sleeper mattress height is the same as our bed. With the safety strap, the offset inside legs and the support which hooks on the rail, it will avoid movement away from our bed.

**On a side note, the AutoCAD drawing doesn’t have any legs yet. I’m still deciding what wood to use for it. Also, the proper names for the wood, may not be right, they were all pulled from Lowes.com. I’m a very far stretch from a proper carpenter but do alright working with wood due to my mechanical background.