Is your co-sleeping family rapidly running out of room to sleep? Elizabeth Boyce’s clever IKEA co-sleeper just might be your perfect solution!
When my own kids were babies, co-sleeping was a literal sleep-saver for me. Before co-sleeping came along to my rescue, my nightly routine was something like this:
- breastfeed child
- swaddle child
- place child in cot
- silently celebrate that child is asleep… for all of five minutes.
- Repeat steps 1-4, on a loop.
Co-sleeping solved all these problems for me. I just breastfed in bed and both baby and I drifted off to sleep. Baby number two came along and I didn’t even bother with the cot — he too came straight to bed with me and my husband.
Now, I face a slight problem. My boys are not tiny babies anymore. Aged four and six, they are big boys and love sleeping in starfish position with their limbs spreadeagled in every direction. Needless to say, our family bed is a bit too “cozy”.
So when I saw this awesome co-sleeping hack by Elizabeth Boyce, who blogs at Wandering The World Below, I was intrigued and delighted.
Boyce and her husband have five children and they co-sleep. In order to accommodate them all in one sleeping space, this crafty mummy used sheer ingenuity and brilliance to design this clever IKEA co-sleeper.
She says “It came completely out of necessity! We had kids sleeping on the floor on blankets every night.”
So clever! Image from Elizabeth Boyce, Wandering the World Below
A clever mum’s brilliant idea
Boyce already had IKEA’s Kura beds at home and realised, “if I modified the Kura beds we already owned, we could fit everyone in our room, where our bed was already. It wouldn’t take up any more space than it already did, and I would have rooms empty for other things!”
So, she thought of a way to make one low-cost unit with space for each of her five kids, as well as herself and her husband. After creating her co-sleeping masterpiece, Boyce shared pictures of it on Facebook and Instagram, where it went viral among fellow co-sleeping parents, and we can understand why!
Promoting co-sleeping
Boyce’s creation shines a spotlight on co-sleeping, which is a topic that causes much debate in parenting circles. Those against it argue that it may create sleep issues in children, and those for it say that it encourages mother-child bonding and promotes breastfeeding.
For families who do co-sleep, but are running out of room in the bed and in the room (like myself!), Boyce’s nifty co-sleeper presents an awesome solution to the space problem.
If you would like to get your crafty hat on and recreate Boyce’s IKEA co-sleeper, she provides a step-by-step tutorial, especially for you!
Co-sleeping mums and dads, is this IKEA co-sleeper something you would consider recreating for your own brood? Let us know what your own sleeping arrangements are by posting a comment below.
Featured image from Wandering The World Below, Elizabeth Boyce.