when did your lo sleep separately?

[RiotBecky]

how long til you put your lo in their own room away from you at night? guidelines say at least 6 weeks but I've heard people doing it before that and it working well.

[MamaWren]

Don't guidelines say 6 months??

[RiotBecky]

I've heard 6 weeks from people :/ May be mistaken though.

[BadgerBumBag]

Guidelines say 6 months. I put dd in her own room at 7 months

[NorthEasterlyGale]

At 17 months, DS1 is still in our room! Mainly because his still isn't painted yet (which I really need to sort as I have to evict him before DS2 arrives in 16 weeks!).

Think guidelines are 6 months - I probably would have moved DS1 somewhere between there and a year old, if things had been ready for him as he does sleep better when he's in his own room when we stay with family.

[MrsHowardRoark]

The guidelines state 6 months but I was not ready then.

We co-slept but DD went into her own room at 9 months for the beginning of the night and slept through alone at one year.

[ExBrightonBell]

The guidelines say 6 months in the same room for all sleeps (due to reducing the SIDS risk see [[this for details)

[ExBrightonBell]

...oops toddler pressed post!

see this for details.

We kept ds in with us until 7 months ish.

[trice]

I Co slept for 4 years ds then 6 years dd. Ten whole years of morning cuddles. Lovely.

[crazykat]

Between 12-18 months. DS2 is 1yo and still in with us as The room he will share with DS1 is too small for two beds and DS1 isn't quite ready for the top bunk.

[ilovepowerhoop]

guidelines are 6 months. Mine both moved around 7/8 months

[wintersdawn]

9 weeks for first and 8 for second. both of mine were the noisiest sleepers as babies and the oldest one can still give her dad a run for his money in the snoring stakes when she gets going at 2.8 years!
I did it as I am a light sleeper and would lay listening to their sleeping rather I than sleep myself, with them in a separate room I'd actually sleep between feeds and still wake very quickly when they started fussing.

[GrandPoohBah]

I moved DD out at 6.5 months, and slept well for the first time, but it really depends on what works for you. Guidelines are 6 months though.

[Famzilla]

Still co-sleeping at 7.5 months.

The guidelines are to have baby in your room until 6 months to reduce the risk of SIDS. Not a risk I would take personally.

[RiotBecky]

ds is a very noisy sleeper and likes letting the world know when hes farting, and im a very light sleeper and absolutely exhausted, he's 4weeks old.

[RiotBecky]

I don't know if it's just me but I can't see what the difference is of the baby being in a cot in your room to a baby being in a cot in a different room? If you can still hear them with the aid of baby monitors and still check on them, what's the difference?

[BerstieSpotts]

They don't know why but it has been shown to reduce the risk of SIDS. One theory is that the baby hears you breathing and this instinctively triggers them to breathe.

However it's just one piece of advice. Friends who moved their babies early said they felt that they had covered all other bases (sleeping on back, feet to foot, not too hot etc) and they felt it was an acceptable increase in risk for the benefits. It's about twice as dangerous but the risk factors are very small and you must take other factors into account.

[RiotBecky]

Neither of us smoke or drink, we do feet to foot, no chance of anything covering LO's head or face, no chance of him overheating (he always kicks the blanket off anyway!!) etc etc. Just trying to weigh up the pros and cons really, I snore like a trooper and this might be disturbing him, and as I said he's very very noisy when asleep!

[Handbagsonnhold]

Op think its something to do with them hearing you breathe. SIDS guidelines say 6 months. My dd went in own room from about 4. Although I'm a ridiculous constant checker....am still now and she's 3.5!....

[YukonHo]

Hmm, my youngest is 3.5 (years :) ) and still in with us. Dd was the same, went into her own room at 4 and has been a brilliant sleeper. But co sleeping just works for us, not for everyone I know.

Huge difference IMO between sounds on a monitor (which you can often write off as interference) and having your baby close so you can hear them properly. It's other things too though, when dd was about 3 momths I once woke and turned over to dd who smelt 'wrong' as weird as that sounds she was burning up with a fever. She smelt Ill, and had a huge temp. I'd never have known that if she were elsewhere.

[sillymillyb]

DS was about 10mo I think, and we both seemed to sleep better for it, but god I missed him!

I had an angel care monitor that sounds an alarm if they stop breathing or roll off the mat, or hold their breath for fun It was the best £100 I ever could have spent for the peace of mind.

[loopdaloo]

Dd1 went into her own room at 11 weeks, very noisy sleeper and was disturbing us, plus was sleeping 11-5. No monitor as she was just the other side of the wall, and no problems. Dd2 is only 7 weeks so still in with us but looks like she's very similar to her sister so probably will go into her own room around Christmas. I weighed up the risks and did what works for us.

[muppetthecow]

DS1 was about 4mo. He'd grown out of the crib and we couldn't fit anything bigger in our room. He was much happier within a few days of it so I think he must have been being disturbed by DH's titanic snores! DS2 will probably be with us for as long as it takes him to grow out of it too (he's a very good sleeper so I don't think the snoring bothers him )

[dyslexicdespot]

DS is two and co-sleeps. I'm from a country where children usually co-sleep until they are in primary school. Years of cuddles to look forward to!

[traininthedistance]

riotbecky I think the current theory is that your breathing, changes in carbon dioxide levels and sound etc. helps regulate the baby's breathing, and being able to hear and respond quickly if anything is amiss may also be a factor.

In the most recent metastudy baby in separate room was more risky than safe cosleeping; the risk to the baby if parents had consumed a lot of alcohol or prescription drugs went up massively even when the baby was in a separate cot or room so parental awareness presumably does have an impact as well as the breathing regulation theory. FWIW I coslept from 3 weeks (and was totally paranoid about safety, read a lot of studies on SIDS risks) and when DD was between 5 and 8 months she had occasional choking/aspiration episodes from reflux, at least twice I woke up because I "knew" something was wrong even though she was silent and red in the face, and was able to help clear her airway. My GP was convinced she'd have started breathing anyway on her own which might well be true but I'm very glad I was near her in the room! A friend's DD similarly stopped breathing for over a minute during a nap when she was 4 months, my friend was in the room and similarly said she immediately "knew" something was wrong because the DD wasn't moving and was able to get to her, do artificial respiration and phone 999 in time. The A&E staff said to her that it's not unheard of for babies to have one episode of not breathing and most restart on their own, but she said it was horribly scary. I hope that doesn't sound like scaremongering as I have several friends who moved DC into separate rooms early with no problems and I am a bit of a worrier anyway but I was very glad I was close by my DD when she choked just for peace of mind.

[stowsettler]

DD was in her own room at 5 weeks. It worked for us and I'd do it again.