I couldn’t resist the title! You see, I have a dear elderly friend who used to correct my children every time they said they were “done” with something. He’d tell them,
Turkeys are done. People are finished.
So, since today is my official due date, it only seemed appropriate to talk turkey. 
OK, maybe not turkey, but how about we talk sleeping arrangements when a new little one arrives? I have yet to meet a family who doesn’t find themselves reworking some aspect of nighttime as they prepare for a new baby’s arrival. We are no exception.
I have gone back and forth over what to do. I’ve asked other moms of many, I’ve peeked in other people’s bedrooms to get ideas, I’ve scoured the internet, but in the end, the only thing I can do is try a few ideas and see how they work. Here’s our current sleeping arrangements…
Mommy & Daddy in rather smallish Master Bedroom.
12 year old son in a small basement room of his own.
9 year old and 6 year old girls, along with 4 year old brother in largest bedroom.
20 month old in toddler bed in a room of his own with the crib still set up.
A new baby always gets the honor of sleeping in the bassinet (for at least part of the night…until mommy brings him/her to bed):
The bassinet is moved from living room to mommy’s bedroom as the day progresses, but eventually, baby outgrows the bassinet and moves to the crib. At times we’ve sidecarred the crib to our bed, but in this house, that is impossible for lack of room.
This is where my dilemma comes in…
The crib is set up in Micah’s room. There’s really no other place for it but in that room. My original thought was to move Micah to the girls’ room and move Keian into the room with the crib as he might be less likely to wake baby or be awakened by baby, but then I had a hairbrained idea…
What if I didn’t use the crib? What if I used a Pack N Play instead? What if I put my little boys both in a room together? What if I stuck with this idea until I could figure something else out?
So, I moved K’s toddler bed back into the room with Micah:
They are thrilled with the arrangement…at least for now. And yes, I did leave the crib up, because frankly, it’s in use:
I’m on the lookout for Pack N Play sheets (didn’t even know they made such a thing until some other moms enlightened me!), and for now, the plan is that baby will continue to sleep in our room in a Pack N Play after outgrowing the bassinet.
And since I can see both my mom and my mother-in-law cringing at the reading of this, let me address their concerns (sorry folks to bring all of you in on this little family affair, but I’m guessing there might be a couple more of you wondering the same things our family members are wondering…might as well address it publicly!)
*****
Dear Mom,
Yes, our bedroom will be crowded. And yes, there is a good chance I will eventually ditch this arrangement, but it’s worth a try until I figure something else out. If you’d like, you are welcome to come brainstorm a better solution…I’d gladly listen to your thoughts on the matter.
Love, me
*****
Dear Mother-In-Law,
Yes, the un-cushioned Pack N Play seems like cruel and unusual punishment, but from researching this matter I have found that un-cushioned is actually best for baby. Cushy bedding is dangerous. Apparently, lots of people have slept their children in Pack N Plays with no adverse side effects. If you’d like, you are welcome to come brainstorm a better solution…I’d gladly listen to your thoughts on the matter.
Love, me
*****
Oh, and to all my lovely readers…
If you’d like, you are welcome to brainstorm a better solution…I will gladly listen to all your thoughts on the matter as well!
I am particularly interested in hearing from any of you who have used a Pack N Play instead of a crib, as well as those of you who have found creative solutions to a sleeping arrangement dilemma similar to mine.
Once upon the time the seven of us lived in a two bedroom house for 7 years.(until a year ago, now we are in a 3 bedroom) My five children (1 girl, and 4 boys) shared a room. She had a twin bed and the boys shared a bunk bed. Now she has her own room and the boys share. I still wake to find my boys in her bed at times.
And in regards to the pack and play I say go with what works. My first child (my daughter) at times would only stay asleep in the swing. And my fourth child slept wrapped as tight as possible with a blanket in his car seat the first few months. ( Again, the only way he would sleep) We mothers have to do what works.
There have been times that due to space or having the crib still utilized by another baby that our new born baby at the time slept in a pack and play…it worked fine and they slept well! Hope all goes well with your delivery I will say a prayer for a fast easy delivery!! I’ve enjoyed your blog
We’ve used pack n’ plays with all four of our children. We did have a crib for a little while, but I preferred the more easily movable bed. They work just fine. With the last two I’ve actually used the smaller pack ‘n play and it works just as well as the big one and takes up half the space in our bedroom. By the time they start to not fit in it any more, it’s time for a toddler bed (so far).
In general, we move to a toddler when they either start to climb up the side of the pack ‘n play or when they start to potty train.
I used the pack and play with a thick blanket folded up for padding. This blanket was very heavy so it did not move around at all. You could also order a piece of dense form to fit for some extra padding.
My son’s been sleeping in his pack’n play for a year now (since he was about 8 months old) with no problem. He doesn’t sleep as well in it as he did in his crib, but it definitely gets the job done. My only complaint about this arrangement is that the pack’n play is harder to keep clean than the crib is…but that’s what husbands are for
Just wanted to add that since we use the pack’n play for sleeping, we don’t use it as a play pen at all. We do use it for “time outs” though. We just don’t want to send him mixed signals–just like with a crib.
Hello, I read often, but, never comment, I just wanted to say that we used our pack n play for a bed from my daughter until she was one. Cribs and their bar spacing scare me. She was my 5th child, and I have gotten over the comfort thing. LOL You are right, flat is best. No squishy, it could cause problems. And I have been very protective of her since she is my rainbow baby. She graduated to her crib when she turned one and has only been sleeping in it now, for 3 months and did great with the transition. She still sleeps in her play pen for naps, and knows when she goes into her crib it is out for the night. But, a pack n play is an awesome idea. plus, when you need the extra room for a minute it is sooo easy to just fold right up. Our pack n play had a bassinett with it. I love it. I still love it. It is my favorite piece of baby furniture. Anyway, just my 2 cents and you can get pack n play sheets from Walmart, Kmart, Meijer or any other department store. Have a great day!
My husband, two children, and I moved to Florida into a furnished corporate apartment when my youngest was two months old. A pack-n-play was our only option due to packing/space limits. She is now nine months old and though we are now back in our home state after six months away, she is still sleeping in it.
i couldn’t get to the comments to read them first, so this might be a repeat.
we have our twins in pack and plays from the start b/c it was the only solution for space. they sleep in the room with their 5 year old brother, who was four when they were born 15 mo ago.
i use a sound machine and a box fan every time they sleep to drown out the noise between siblings.
it has worked very well. i also bought a twin size egg crate and cut it down to pnp size so they would have cushion under their sheets. i was concerned about this lack of cushion long term b/c they will be in them until at least 2.
if you are using a bassinet attachment (as the top layer for 3-4 months) then they make quilted sheets with cushion that are nice. I find when i try to use those quilted sheets on the regular pack and play it makes the ‘mattress’ squish in and leaves gaps on the sides. i don’t know if that makes sense.
good luck. we like using the pnps and have no issue so far. it’s really nice that pacis don’t fall out.
Our 5th took all her naps in a pack n play in our closet (until she figured out how to climb out of it). It worked for us! We got many strange looks and comments when we mentioned she napped in our closet, but oh well!
We have a very cozy (tiny) 3 bedroom home that 6 of us live in
My littlest, who’s now 4, slept in a Pack-N-Play for 2 1/2 years or so. She was in my bedroom and we never had an issue. After 9 months or so, I put a folded quilt in it for her to lay on, just to make it a bit more comfortable looking. But I truly don’t think she cared one way or the other.
Praying your little one joins you soon~
After I stopped co-sleeping with our son at 3 months we used the Pack ‘N Play. In fact, we used it until we moved him into a toddler bed at 1 1/2 yrs old (yes- we are crazy). It worked totally fine! The only drawback I found was we were unable to use it that well when we wanted him stationary- because he associated it with sleep instead of play.
I almost always put my little people in a toddler bed by 1.5 yrs old, so nope, not crazy in my book! I rarely use a play pen for play…too many hands around here who LOVE to play with baby and are WAY too big to be in the play pen w/ him/her! Thanks for the input!
Wanted to reply that we use a cosleeper that is very similar to a pack n play. I was able to find (locally) a pnp mattress several years ago and use that in the bottom on top of the ‘mattress’ that folds up. I also take a regular sheet and sew it into a pillow case to slide onto the mattress. I find it easier to fold and slip on and off when changing sheets. Also it can’t ‘pop’ off and is more snug. One last thing – once they are older and during cooler months I use a snuggle wool – purchased with first child and still looks new after #4. I don’t own a crib – takes up too much room and it seemed unsafe to me (though my MIL used a cardboard box with blanket for husband so a pnp hardly seems like torture right???). Little ones sleep in the pnp until a few months before next one is due. Congrats on your newest addition!
we use the arm’s reach co-sleeper for our kids, at least for the 1st year and traveling. there are quilted fitted sheets you can get for more padding if you haven’t found them yet…i hear for babies it’s better to have a harder surface anyway to avoid SIDS.
I had a wonderful friend read this post and buy me one of those! They are wonderful!!!
I know this is an old post, but I still thought I’d reply. Oh, and I didn’t read all the many other comments so I’m sorry if I repeat. Anyways, we use a “mini crib” which we were blessed with as a hand me down. They are the size of a pack n play, but are made like “real” furniture (with wood). So they look identical to a crib, just small. And since they are the size of a pack n play, they take pack n play sheets. It came with a thin mattress (but way thicker than a pack n play) but then my friend ordered another thicker mattress as well, which she also passed down to us. We use both mattresses together. We like it b/c it can fit at the end of our bed easily, and, it looks nice. But we LOVE it b/c we have very small bedrooms in this house, all of which are occupied. We live in Ca ON a fault and we do NOT put beds under windows here, which lessens floor plan options. Frankly, there was no way we could fit a twin bed AND a full crib in the boys room when our second boy came along. But we CAN fit a twin bed and the mini crib. Now the boys are in stacked bunks so if we have another boy one day, we can again set up the mini crib in there (once babe is out of our room) and 3 boys will fit in that small room no problem. With a full size crib, it wouldn’t even be an option. Anyways, if you ever have another, it might be worth checking out. Ours was graciously handed down so I have no idea how much they run in price. But I sold our full size crib so maybe you could do that too and use the money to replace it with the mini crib.
oh, and our 2 babes who have used it slept in it fine until 2 years old, which is when we move them to a twin. So its not just for tiny babes.
Thank you so much for sharing! I’m not sure I can part with the crib, but I am using a pack and play right now. I love the idea of a mini-crib!
OK I know I’m getting really ANNOYING by commenting so frequently, but I just had to. Last time. Promise. : ) I started using a pack n play for baby #7. I wish I had done it much sooner. What finally drove me to do it was not space, but the fact that I was tired of them getting their little or not so little legs caught between the slats on a crib. I tried all types of bumper sets but they all managed to get stuck at one point or another. Not to mention the bumps on their head when they’d be upset and throw themselves back. Maybe I just have really wild kids, but a play pen has worked so well for us. You can also buy foam to place over the mat and just hold it in place with the fitted sheet.
I’ve been using the pack and play for quite some time now with Garin and it’s been a great thing!
Love the foam idea!