Did your baby (6M) sleep better/worse in their own room?

[user666555]

Hello,

So I'm currently in the process of setting up my DD's (6M) room for transitioning her to her own room at around 7ish months.

I'm going back to work soon and she's a very light sleeper. Her moving around/making noises makes me wake up and likewise a single cough or sneeze will startle her so I believe that before I return to work is the perfect time to make that transition. I am however, extremely anxious.

What was your experience like with your baby sleeping in their own room? Any tips?

Thanks

Bump

Mine didn't even notice the change.

We all slept far better once we were in our own rooms, both us and DD's! - (with a monitor on, and the room was only next door).

We all slept much better - we were really struggling with the 4-month sleep regression, and he was sleeping so restlessly. We ended up trying him in his own room just before he reached 5 months, and it was like magic. We were definitely waking each other up.

@Mortima I think that's the case with us too. I think we wake each other up! But I feel like I might be being mean/selfish putting her in her own room. But then I also feel like it might help us both. Ergh!

@movehimintothesun yes we'd defo use a monitor too. I'm just really nervous about it x

@MajorMischa what was sleep like prior to the change?

I moved all my babies out very early, so they were all in their own rooms by about 3 months tbh. (Yes i know the guidelines, this was 21+ years ago).

My husband and i barely slept with a baby in the room and neither did they tbh. We were all a lot happier in our rooms - mainly because i didn't wake and peer into the Moses basket the second the baby stirred. In their own rooms they could stir, snuffle and wiggle and go back to sleep naturally without me sitting bolt upright assuming they needed me.

They were in the room next door with the doors open so i would obviously hear cries, but not stirrings. Also they had always napped in that room alone in a cot so were used to it anyway.

I did this with mine two weeks ago and overall I would say the sleep has been much better (aside from the first couple of nightmare nights when he just wanted to play with the slats lol). My only real difficulty is that he loses his dummy and starts stirring from around 4am. When he was next to me I could just pop it back in and kind of shush him back to sleep but it's a bit of a ball ache now having to get up and do it, and he's generally wide awake from 5.30am! I really recommend blackout curtains if you don't already have them because the early morning sunrise might end up waking them up. I will say that the length and quality of the daytime naps has been a million times better as well!

They were both the same, sleep was rubbish. Waking maybe four times a night to feed. Moving rooms made no difference for better or worse. It was nice having our room back but I did then have to walk down the landing to BF!

My DC slept in their own room after the first couple of weeks. We all slept fine.

Do I start by putting her in her own bedroom for her naps and then overnight sleep or do I just cold turkey do all sleep in her room?

Much better. We moved him earlier than is advised (4.5 months) because we were all keeping each other awake. It took a couple of nights to get used to it, but after that he started waking up a lot less in the night (and so did we!).

Mine moved into their own rooms at 4.5 months and we all slept better for it. It was far more mean/cruel to prevent us having the best sleep we could.

To do this, we just moved the cot into the new room one morning and that was that. Easy peasy.

How often did yout babies wake up before and after the transition? Sometimes I wonder if my baby 'feeds' for comfort/soothing.

She goes down at 6/6:30pm (I've tried later bedtimes to see if she'll sleep in a bit more but she doesn't so stick to the 6:30pm for now - can sometimes be later as she doesn't just 'go down'. She'll usually cry for ages before she sleeps)

She'll then wake up after 40 mins. Again, will need soothing. She'll then sleep until about 9/10pm maybe 11pm if we're lucky. Will then need a feed and will sleep until 2/3am and then will need a feed - she'll then sleep again until anywhere from 4:50amish to around 6:30am or if we're really lucky once in a blue moon 7:30am.

I know the above might be classed as 'normal' for her age but I feel like I'll be a dead rat returning to work with the above.

Not sure if I need to do (gentle) sleep training and break associations or put her in her own room?

My son didn’t seem to notice. We moved him to his own room at 6 months and his sleep didn’t change at all, not even for the first night. I’ve always breastfed him to sleep and then put him down in his crib/cot. As long as it’s night time and he’s asleep when he’s put down he doesn’t seem to care where it is. But he will not be put down during the day at all. Even if he’s fast asleep he will wake up. Come to think of it, he may not be the best example because he doesn’t make any sense.

We were living with family at the time I'd have wanted to start DD in her own room, so when we moved into our house she moved into her own room almost immediately (7 months ish). We were definitely waking one another up, and her sleep took a massive improvement from being in a proper cot in her own room.

@Strawberrycheesecake7 oh no. Did things get better? How are things now? x

@hulahoopqueen hope we have a similar outcome. I'm so exhausted 😔

He’s 12 months old now and I still have to hold him for every nap. He usually sleeps through the night in his cot though so I can’t complain too much. Comparing his day and night sleep he’s like two different babies. He sleeps very well in his cot at night but will not sleep in there during the day no matter what I do. Bizarre.

Mine slept terribly next to us and just as terribly in the next room... no difference! Though I did sleep a bit better when he wasn't near, I was always on edge trying not to wake him.

DD1 slept the same if we were in the room or not, absolutely shit. We didn't move her out till she stopped walking in the night so much (only once or twice) when she was 2.5. No way would I be getting up every 1-4 hours and walking around.

DS I think he'd basically have slept the same in the garden shed as in our room. He slept sooo much better but still woke in the night till nearly 2 so not moved till then.

Eldest went from waking every two hours to waking once or sleeping through. Transformational, for all of us - she was so much sunnier because she was rested.

Made zero difference to youngest, but she was only waking once anyway. And then it all went to shit from 18 months to 3 years.

Good luck!

I’d moved both my girls by 6 months, they are both good sleepers, so the move was more for my own sanity as I am such a light sleeper that they would move in their sleep and I’d be awake.

I gradually reduced night feeds, until they stopped waking during the night before the move.