what age did baby go in their OWN room?

[duchessofdulwich]

Having a a slight dilema at present. baby duchess will not settle for long periods at night, she does not cry but squeeks and gabbles all night. Im having to constantly get her out of the cot giving her dummies etc. breast feeding her back to sleep just so i can get some kip! Imstarting to think perhaps she should go in her own room, however our spare room is quite far away from our own bedroom (wierd layout of our flat). the thought of constantly walking up their in the night to see to her would send me bonkers.

did anyone find that moving baby into another room helped improve night times??

[apenn]

I'm currently facing the same dilemma with my 10 month old. Will moving into their own room mean more sleep for me, or less? I'm thinking of trying it to see what happens, and we can always move the cot back into our room if it doesn't work out right now.

[womanofdulwich]

AT 2 weeks. Both children - I could not sleep with the constant gurglings etc. A room further away with the monitor set NOT to pick up gurgling a necessity.

[Ko]

also from a few weeks old. i couldn't sleep and my shoulders were hunched up with tension - wondering when he would wake each time he made a sound!! we used a monitor (the BT 150 i think its called) and that was fine for listening in to him (can put volume up when want to hear him).

[MrsMc]

We put my boy in his own room at about 5 months after he started getting restless in the night. A month later and after a few weeks of troublesome nights he's sleeping through (8pm - 8am, the holy grail!) I genuinely believe he sleeps better on his own, and slowly but surely, so do I!

The problem I found with having him in the room with us is that I plucked him out of his crib at the first whimper as didn't want him to disturb MrMc's sleep, so he never got the chance to self settle when he woke. Now he's a bit further away, I can let him have a bit of a grizzle without that worry and 9/10 he gets himself off to sleep without my help.

Good luck!!

[sillywoman]

For those who are safety minded; the current recommendation from the Foundation for the Study into Infant Death is that keeping the baby in their own bed, but in your room for the first 6 months significantly reduces the risks of cot death. Ergo if you do it before 6 months then you'd be increasing the risk (exponentially according to age) - the research this is based on seems to suggest that there's little difference between those who used a baby monitor & the few who didn't. 6 months seems a long time to me - mine mostly went at about 4 months, when they could roll over & so couldn't sleep in their moses basket any more. It's a personal choice though. Agree with the whimper thing MrsMc mentions too.

[Pickle]

We moved both of ours into their own rooms by about 6 weeks - they were both noisy sleepers, we were on edge, I was exhausted. In both cases the move into their own rooms (and into cots rather than moses baskets) was also the time that they started sleeping better.

It's a personal choice, but for us moving them earlier was the best option.

[craigy]

6 weeks for us but not really intentional (although i was never keen on the snuffling, groaning, snoring that came from him). Initialy used to start him off in his own room at 7 when he went to bed with the intention of bringing him into our room when he woke up- he just stopped waking up.... had a monitor (despite the fact he was in the room behind us) and was initially very paranoid about it but in the end i think we all slept much better for it..

[Layla's Mum]

All these answers show its such a personal choice! Both my kids went into their own room (and into a big cot from a moses basket) at 9 weeks. It was about the time they were starting to get through most of the night without feeds (ie. nearer to 5am generally - but not always) so I wouldn't have to get up too many times in the night. It DEFINITELY lets you get more sleep when they are in another room. All that snuffling, grunting and squeaking is impossible to sleep through as a hyper-baby-attuned mummy. I would DEFINITELY choose the better quality sleep you get on your own over keeping the baby in the room so I dont have to get out of bed at night. There's something about that trek to another room which makes you hold back slightly before rushing in - and therefore allows the baby to improve their self-settling skills. If you use a monitor, make sure you don't have it too loud otherwise it'll be just like having the baby with you except with the added anxiety of not being able to see them!!!! With my first baby I made that mistake and I ground my bottom teeth to powder with the nighttime tension! This time we don't use a monitor (as we moved and the baby's room is just next door) and it is so much better not to hear any noises. Having the monitor down low would have the same effect I would imagine. But thats just my personal experience...

[MakeHQ]

Baby 1 - about 3 weeks, baby 2 - a week. Just couldn't sleep with them in the room snortling and snuffling. Had monitor set to pick up when they cried (not every gurgle).

[The Nappy Lady]

As with MakeHQ for us. Had bed in baby's room for me if needed so could be in there for the bad times!

M

[apenn]

Seems like I am in a significant minority then with a 10 month old still in my room!

[Ruth_Baldock]

Not at all, Apenn, our son is almost 6 months and still in our BED, (first 5-6 hours of sleep are in the cot though, then he wakes up and comes in with us). I have a horrid feeling it'll be a long, long while until he's in his own room :(

[linzkg]

Our son also went into his own room from early on at 6 weeks - he out grew his moses basket so into the cot he went (we bought a good mattress, don't smoke, I dust and clean regularly and the room is well vented .. so I wasn't worried about cot death at all!) He sleeps better in his own bed anyway (I've tried having him with me when hubby is away on business but sadly not :-( hehe)

[bumpy]

Unintentionally our now 5 month old went in to his own room at about 3 months, he outgrow the moses basket & crib pretty quickly - if not literally then mentally as he likes to stretch out flat on his stomach when sleeping with his arms quite wide...! So yes not only was he in another room but he was also sleeping on his stomach - initially it was just day time naps and the first part of the evening, coming in to our bed at the 11am feed but stopped that after a week or so. He's now rolling both ways so don't feel as tense about him wanting to sleep on his stomach. I'd agree with the comments that it stopped me from jumping to every whimper/gurgle/coo/gabble/squeak which I did do when he was in the room with us, I don't think it did him any favours as sometimes he wasn't grizzling and really didn't need me interrupting whatever phase of the sleep cycle he was in. Good luck with whatever you decide to do.

[littleEDfamily]

I'd like to understand how having a baby in your room offers protection against cot death, and what the underlying factors are that make a move at 6 months safest. Does anyone know? I suppose I could google, but I am feeling lazy....

We moved our daughter at a few weeks and used a movement sensor monitor. I felt completely reassured and relieved for some mutual independence and snuffle-free sleeping.

[Dulwich Born And Bred]

My son turned nine months today and is still sleeping in my room, I don't intend to put him in a room on his own during the night until he is 1/2, as I personally feel I would not be able to relax otherwise.

They recommend babies sleeping in the same room as their parents because our breathing regulates theirs since babies can hold their breath.

I have to say my son did this a lot, he went blue at one point also, so I was very glad indeed that he was sleeping with me because I dread to think of the different outcome that could have had.

With regards to monitors it says on the FSID website that:

Do movement (breathing) monitors prevent cot death?

There is no evidence that movement monitors (also known as apnoea or breathing monitors) prevent cot death. Babies can and do die whilst on a monitor. They are designed to sound an alarm after 20 seconds if they can?t detect a baby?s breathing movement. They cannot detect a blocked airway until breathing movements stop.

Its all a personal choice, as it seems like there are lots of healthy babies in Dulwich despite being in their own room from a young age or staying in the same room as their parents.

[littleEDfamily]

I see, I see - I suppose it makes some sense that they pick up on our breathing patterns. I know not every one is sold on movement monitors, but ours did go off on a few occasions when it appeared she was in a very deep sleep. Who knows what may have happened - I suppose we'll never know if it was just normal baby sleeping or something potentially more sinister. It says something about my level of neurosis that now, as a 3.5 year old she still has the same monitor! She now switches it off herself when she gets up.

How does it work in terms of getting ready to bed with an already sleeping baby in your room? Do you have to keep the light off and creep around, or does baby just sleep through your normal routine?

[Indiana]

Our 7 month old went into her own room on the floor below us at 10 weeks. She had outgrown her moses basket and was also starting to sleep through so we thought it was a good time. We have the BT 150 monitor which is brilliant as we can hear as much as we want to (!) and she was starting to be disturbed in her sleep by us coming in to go to bed etc.

She went straight to her cotbed (which seemed huge when she was 10 weeks!) and has slept so well since then - woken only a handful of times in almost 5 months and sleeps happily til 7.30am ish. I think we would have had her in our room longer if she was not such a good sleeper as I didn't fancy going downstairs in the night to feed her but we are lucky that she was sleeping through from 10 weeks. One thing I did find very useful were those little wall fixed night lights that come on when you sense movement. Great for hallways/stairs when you need to see your way in the night but don't want to turn on the bright lights.

It is a personal choice but for us, our little one slept much better in her own room and we were then not disturbed by all of her own gurgles etc. She now also sleeps very well at other peoples houses and on holiday which is great.

[Dulwich Born And Bred]

My son can sleep through anything ( when he does sleep! He likes to go down late and get up late!) I don't believe in making a house too quiet for baby as it means the slightest noise and they are up. I do live by a main road and have no double glazing so he has had to learn to sleep through the traffic noise, sirens blaring and the rest.

He can sleep with the light on or off. I just wish he would go down at a reasonable hour like 8pm, 10-midnight is NOT fun!

After sleeping next to a man that snores like a pig in pain, the noises my son makes are mild compared to his father.

[jollybaby]

Whilst the FSID website does recommend that children sleep in the same room for 6 months -in my quick search on the subject I haven't come across any strong evidence for this- unlike other factors such as sleep position, co sleeping, smoking, birthweight etc. I could quite easily be missing something but I'm not convinced that this would put me off moving baby JB out of our bedroom way before this time . . . . . will be interesting to see how my thoughts change when she finally makes her appearance

[Dulwich Born And Bred]

Jollybaby

It says on here that:

75 percent of babies died in a room without an adult in it, hence the advice to have baby in a room with you for the first six months among other things.

http://www.babycentre.co.uk/baby/sleep/cotdeathdaytimenaps/

[hpsaucey]

Am I in the REAL minority then? First was in with us - our bed and then his own until he was 2 and a half (Years that is) and the second has just gone into his own room at just under 2. Really loved sharing with them. Soon got used to the snorting and gurgling (and snoring and farting LOL) and wouldn't have had it any differnetly for all the world. Think we all benefitted in many ways but each to their own, horses for courses and all that.

Any one else leave it that late?????

[Helen GV]

Baby GV went into his own room at about 8 months, mainly because we moved from a one bed to a two bed flat and our new room wouldn't fit both our bed and his cot.

[marscapone]

We moved our first into his own room at 7 months. Like OP, he had a dummy that he kept losing and we were replacing it up to 10 times a night. Like MrsMc, I was going to him at the first stirring as I was very aware of husband needing sleep. But after he went into his own room, we only had to go in about half the amount of times and that gradually decreased.

Second son still in with us at 10 months and will be for some time yet I think. We only have 2 bedrooms and can't put him in with his brother until he can sleep through (most nights he wakes once for milk, sometimes twice)