Arm's Reach Mini Co-Sleeper: For a Good Night's Sleep

One of our experienced parent-friends highly recommended that I get a co-sleeper when I was pregnant with my first child. This is a friend my husband trusts, so it was the only item he insisted that we get for the baby. Asking my husband to go shopping for baby gear is painful, but telling him I needed him to carry the co-sleeper to the car was enough to get him to the store.

We have a very small room, and after reviewing our options we decided that the Mini Co-Sleeper was a good fit for us. It was definitely a good buy.

No Assembly Required
Unlike cribs and some larger toys, there is no assembly required for the co-sleeper. The experts at Arms Reach have taken care of that for you. In the box we found:

1 already assembled, but collapsed mini-co sleeper
1 co-sleeper carrying bag
1 anchor plate (bed attachment piece)
1 mattress
1 sheet
1 instruction manual

Setting Up
Unfold the co-sleeper, snap the locks into place, and you're almost done! The finishing touch is adding the mattress. There are specially designed sheets that tightly fit the co-sleeper mattress, and you'll probably want to purchase a second sheet. (More than one if your baby spits up a lot.) The mattress attaches to the co-sleeper with Velcro straps that fit through the bottom of the mattress support panel.

I should point out that the mattress is not a spring mattress. It feels like a piece of heavy cardboard (about 1/4" thick) with a little bit of padding. It's covered with a plastic material. I'm not sure if it's waterproof.

Add It to Your Bed
In order to attach the Mini Co-Sleeper to your bed, you'll need to get the straps of the bed attachment plate between your mattress and box spring. The straps attach to the co-sleeper and when you pull them taut, the attachment plate helps to secure the co-sleeper to your bed.

My husband did this and it lasted about one day. I had to move my bedside table and had no place to keep my water glass, and I found it to be a pain to get in and out of bed.

Use It As a Bassinet
We detached it from the bed, lifted the side, and it's been used as a bassinet ever since.

I moved the co-sleeper a couple of feet from the bed and our first child slept there for six months. I also rolled the (empty) co-sleeper into the living room and put my child in to nap while I did other things. (It has two wheels that make it easy to move around the house.) It made a great portable bassinet. I've used it through two children and am finally ready to retire it. It's still in beautiful shape.

Is there anything else?
The Mini Co-Sleeper has two pockets on each short side for all kinds of storage. With a 3 year old in the house I find it filled with old cups of milk, shoes, flatware, and toys. There is also a large zippered storage area beneath the mattress that I use for diapers, wipes, burp rags, and receiving blankets. It frees up some of my drawer space and I always have diapers handy.

The mini co-sleeper can only be used until the child begins to push up on hands and knees or reaches maximum weight (23 lbs). This is estimated by the manufacturer to be at about 5 months. My babies were both on the small side and I think I was able to squeeze about six months of use out of this for each of them.

I'm really glad we bought the mini co-sleeper. It's been a great product and I'd highly recommend it to any new parents who want to have the baby in their room for the first few months.