A few days ago I reflected on voice aloud about the colecho giving my reasons as a father to defend him and I thought it might be interesting to talk a little more extensively about different ways of schooling with children.
Practicing the colecho is not only sleeping with the children in the same bed, but there are different ways of doing so that they do not have to go through, necessarily by sharing the bed.
Family bed
Parents and children sleep in the same bed. If there is more than one child it is advisable to use a large bed (I would say at least 1.50 m, but better if it is 1.80 m).
If only parents sleep and a child in a bed of 1.35 can get to sleep well, although better than 1.50.
Obviously the measures depend on each family, since the size and size of the parents or the amount of movements that they or the child can execute during the night may make a wider bed necessary. If it is a single child, in a double bed you can get to sleep well, as I say, it depends a lot on each family.
If you choose to sleep all in the same bed you should always keep in mind the safety recommendations to sleep with them without taking risks (I will explain them extensively in a few days).
Sidecar cradle
It consists of attaching the baby's crib to the height of the bed and letting down (or eliminating) the rail that borders the large bed. In this way the child can sleep in his crib, expanding the available space, and be at the same time with the parents.
Since this solution is being carried out by many families, some models of cribs prepared for this solution are commercialized (without railing on one side, with the possibility of adjusting the height to the millimeter, ...)
It is very important that the mattresses of the bed and the crib are at the same height to avoid unevenness or gaps where the baby can be somehow trapped or where it can slide.
Cot near the family bed
We could say that it is a partial colecho. Initially, if the child sleeps in the crib near the bed, we would be talking about cohabitation (a way to call when sleeping in the same room), but if the mother breastfeeds at night in bed, the cohabitation becomes the partial colecho that commented.
When the baby wakes up, he takes himself out of the crib to be breastfed in bed. Two things can happen here: the baby falls asleep before the mother and she takes him back to the crib or else mom falls asleep first and both remain in the family bed until one of the parents passes him back to his crib (or not).
Mattress on the floor for the child
The baby sleeps on a mattress on the floor near the double bed. When the baby wakes up, mom goes down to the mattress to breastfeed and as in the previous case, she can fall asleep on the mattress or go back to bed if the baby falls asleep before.
I do not like this option personally, because I would not like to have a child sleeping on the floor while I was in bed (or all above, or all below), although I understand that for reasons of space, for economic reasons or simply for personal choice there are parents who choose this method.
In case of sleeping in this way, the precaution of lift the mattress during the day at least for a while in order to "breathe" and also lift it to sweep and scrub the house.
Mattresses on the floor for everyone
This is an option that has always seemed great to sleep all and avoid space problems. It is as simple as putting one or several mattresses on the floor to sleep.
Japanese tatamis mattresses can be a good option, since they sleep collecting on these mattresses.
If this option is chosen, the recommendations for a safe bed must be taken into account and it will be necessary to ventilate the mattresses daily if they are not supported on a grill.
