6 week old ready for early bedtime but too young to leave sleeping alone?

[MaryAnnTheDasher]

Hi. Just as title says, my dd is 6 weeks and definitely ready to start going to bed at around 8. She wont sleep properly downstairs with us and id struggle to go to bed with her as have 2 other dcs who are being settled for bed at that time too, plus the usual evening housework that needs doing, plus eating something, plus having some sort of adult conversation with dh! (dh does lions share of bedtime for other 2 but it is chaotic and lengthy)

What have others done in this situation? I'm pretty sure with older dc I just put them to bed but even though its only 4 and 2 years ago I can't remember! I am aware of govt guidelines on having baby sleeping in sane room as parents and i think j might be unduly worried but am not sure. With previous dcs I had pnd and i think that I was so demented in my mind that I didn't even consider the risks so I'm sort of coming into this scenario like a first time mum if that makes sense.

Is 6 weeks too small to be put down for the night with regular checks until I go to bed myself? ( would only be about ab hour later, I am exhausted myself for obvious reasons!)

Be kind :)

Hi, I put our ds to sleep & then my dh sat in the room with him whilst I ate dinner, tidied etc then I went to bed (early cos he woke up all night long & I needed an hour or twos sleep before the nighttime shenanigans started!).

To be honest I'm sure she'd be fine if it's only an hour & you're checking her regularly (& yes I know what the guidelines say!). You need some child free time to yourself. Both my sisters have 2 children each & they put them to bed & left them, & they're all fine. They really laughed at dh & me for the whole sitting in the room thing!

I put DS up stairs from 7 weeks and in his own room from 10 weeks. I was aware of the guidelines and risks however decided it was the right thing for us. People have said I'm neglectful and selfish but it was best for us the risk of me sinking deeper into PND if I didn't have some space was greater than the other risks.

I always put my DS to bed on his own, it never dawned on me that you were meant to sit with them all night - he learned to self settle and sleep has never been a problem for him - he is 13 now .

I put both of my dd's up to bed at 7 from about 8 weeks or so. DD2 has been going up for naps too since around then because she can't settle with a noisy 2yo around!

I'm with Ragwort, I didn't realise that people sat in the bedroom with babies.

Do guidelines really say that they can't be left alone? If so I'd say the guidelines need to be changed, how does anyone manage a family life like that?

I also just put my babies down to sleep in our bedroom upstairs right from the start. Successfully with DS, rather less so with DD. I thought that was what baby monitors were for? What do you think might happen??

I think they say that babies have to sleep with someone else in the room until 6 months because they can sometimes (very very very rarely) forget how to breathe/ the rate at which to breathe and they will pace themselves with you.... However, I didn't know this with dd and just chucked her in the Moses basket in our room and she was alone until we went to bed, 18mo and now in her own room. Due soon, and will probably do the same with ds..

If your worried is there a quiet corner of living room you could put the Moses basket in?

Ragwort - research on reducing the risk of SIDS may not have been as advanced 13 years ago, numbers of deaths have been greatly reduced over the last two decades.

Op. I put dd in our room in the eve to sleep and we were downstairs. Baby monitor was on. She was fine. Only you can decide if you feel comfortable. If you do then go for it. Sounds great that she is getting into a routine herself!

I never kept them downstairs for longer than the first few 6 weeks, and I definitely didn't spend my evenings sitting in a darkened room, how ridiculous. we did use a breathing monitor.

We started a bedtime routine with DD when she was about 6 or 7 weeks. She'd be asleep by about 8pm when we'd go downstairs, stare at each other and eat dinner before heading to bed about an hour later. We'd check her at least twice in that time and have monitor on.

Thanks all! I'm actually quite a relaxed parent in real life I promise...

It only dawned on me recently that I never really considered the SIDS risks with my other two and i think I've felt quite bad about that which made me question putting dd to bed on her own this time round. Taking everything into account I think.i'll just be grateful shes finding her own routine and be happy for the 'adult' hour in the evening!