What age was baby napping in a different room?

[NewMum54321]

DS is 7 weeks. He sleeps really well at night (wakes every 3 hours for a feeds but goes straight back to sleep) but he doesn’t really sleep during the day... just odd catnaps. I get the impression he’s tired but things just distract him or wake him too easily. He’s really good, he doesn’t get grizzly or overtired, but will fuss if I leave him awake in his Moses basket for too long.

I know the advice is for them to sleep in the same room as you for 6 months but I can’t see him lasting that long! And I’m struggling to imagine many parents have their babies sleeping in Moses baskets in the living room for that long.

So I’m wondering what age DC were when they had day naps in their cots in their bedrooms?

I just sat in her room with her while she napped until six months.

Lots of people will say they didn't and baby was fine, and statistically that's the most likely outcome, but I know I couldn't have lived with myself if I ignored the advice and something bad happened.

I think I started putting DS upstairs at around 5 months. You are right he did start to struggle (he has always been a hard one to get napping and most certainly will not nap around distractions even now). I used to with him for a while but then I just had the monitor on and he was fine. You are right the advice is until 6 months but your baby and you do what you feel best.

We had the pram in the living room for daytime naps until 6 months, or else I would take her upstairs and read or do some bits and bobs upstairs.

Day naps not until much later but only because I tended to hold him for them. We put DS2 to bed in the evenings without us from about 3 months.

No other country interprets this advice as "including all naps and evening sleep" - they just specify the longest/main sleep stretch should be in a room with you.

Particularly in the day if you're popping in and out I would not worry about it.

3 months with a video monitor. I’m normally one for following guidance but she just wouldn’t nap in the living room and having time to just do bits around the house while she slept really helped me mentally.

I wish my 18mo napped in a different room! It’s not very often he can be persuaded to go to sleep. Mind you, a lot of the time I’m so exhausted I just nap on the sofa in his room while he’s asleep anyway.

I genuinely didn’t ever consider sitting in the room! (Can I blame baby brain for that?!) I’m definitely not against sitting in the corner reading a book. When he does sleep in the Moses basket I don’t sit glued watching him, will happily get on with jobs but am never far away and glance in every now and again. So I guess I can just do the same upstairs! Genius.

Also... he sleeps in one of those next-to-me cots in our room overnight but he has a proper cot set up in his room. So do I put him down to nap in the same thing he is in overnight or should I put him in his room? I’d prefer his room because it has a comfy armchair that I can sit it!

My kids never slept in my room. But their rooms were on the second floor so naps were either in a travel cot in the living room (always too big for moses basket and also lasted longer) or more likely in pushchair when out and about. I had strict night time routine but more loose during the day, though would put them down mid morning and mid afternoon generally. It was only when a bit older and more light sensitive did they have to go to their rooms to nap but don’t remember it being too much of an issue.
I was never quiet when my kids napped - regular noise (obviously not vacuuming etc).

Six months had a travel cot in front room. It baffles me how people can be risk their babies lives for convenience.
If you can’t fit a travel cot etc, then sit with them in your bedroom.

I don't see why you can't put him in his room. It's good they can sleep in a variety of places. Take it from a mother of a baby who cannot haha 😂

We also had her nap in a sling at times, in a pram on a walk, sometimes we contact napped downstairs and sometimes she napped in her cot in my room so I could nap too.

It's also worth noting that SIDS can occur in a nap of any duration, but the risk is low even if you actively ignore all safe sleeping guidance- you have to weigh up relative risks vs inconvenience and work out if it's worth it to your mind.

What @BertieBotts said! I think DD was four months when we started putting her down in her cot at night and then coming back downstairs, and that was mainly because she had decided 7pm was bedtime and I'm not going to bed at 7! For naps it was a similar time, maybe slightly earlier.

I think sleeping in the same room until 6 months is pretty unrealistic tbh - especially in a Moses basket, my DS outgrew that at about 4 months. When he was about 3 months we started putting him upstairs on his own in the evenings as the sound of the tv/ us talking was starting to keep him awake. He would sleep in the day in the same room until about 4 months because I would rock him on his bouncy chair - I think just put him in his cot upstairs. We had a monitor with a camera so I could still see him.

As with all things baby related, you have to do what you are comfortable with. My babies were in their own room from a very early age, and had all their sleeps in their cots or outside in a pram, weather dependent. No monitors either, just regularly checking. I am old school though.

@MyDcAreMarvel I'm not really talking about inconvenience, I'm talking about my poor DS being able to get some decent sleep during the day without being woken up by the dog barking and whatnot.
(I genuinely don't care if minimal housework is done! Not a fan of it anyway so any excuse )

From day 1 his day naps were in his own room, I put the Moses basket in the cot. He was absolutely fine. At night he was in a next to me cot

Also, people will sometimes interpret and quote SIDS risks as though leaving your child in a different room/ sleeping on anything other than a flat servace on their backs = high likelyhood of death. Obviously that’s not how it works. I think the chances of having a car crash are still higher than SIDS when there’s no smoking/drugs/alcohol and your baby sleeping on you while you fall asleep in the mix - and yet most of us still happily drive to places with our babies in the back

Those people who stayed with their babies in their rooms for naps, what did you do with the elder DC?

I have DS1 who is 3 and DS2 who is 16 weeks. When DS1 is at home I do tend to put DS2 into the cot for naps with the video monitor as otherwise he is woken constantly by DS1.

I try to adhere to the guidance where I can but it isn't always possible, it's not about "convenience".

From about 2 months old my son wouldn't nap if there were things going on. So from that point I would sit on the bed whilst he napped in the cot next to it. I would get chores done when he was awake as luckily he was quite happy to be put down.

I realise this is only a possibility for the 1st baby lol!!

Ds1 napped in the same room as me until he was about 1. Ds2 had to nap upstairs by himself since he was about 2 months old as it was just too loud for him with ds1 around and he was getting no sleep at all in the day and I was getting annoyed at poor ds1 for just acting like a normal toddler. Obviously the advice is 6 months for a reason but we all have to weigh up the risks and for us it was much better to have ds2 happily napping upstairs with the video monitor on than no sleep downstairs and getting increasingly upset and overtired every day

From probably about 4/6 weeks I would try to get DS down in his moses basket in the nursery for at least one nap in the morning so that I could have a shower. The majority of naps were still on me or at least in the same room but it was important to me to try and get showered and dressed each day for my own mental health.

He never slept very long by himself, but it did also mean that he was very familiar with his bedroom once we came to move him into there for all sleeps.

Interesting you mention showering Calamity... I've got a fair few sisters and SILs with DC and there has definitely been mention of putting babies in bathrooms while they shower. I definitely don't do that, he's always put in his cot (sleeping or awake) and I often wonder if I'm being way too relaxed with the guidelines. I literally think I'd go mad if I was constantly staring at him.

It's really useful to hear others experiences so thank you everyone. Motherhood definitely involves some second guessing (even though I'm a believer in the "you know your baby best" school of thought)

DS had lots of his naps in the pram from 4 months. The pram is in a dark hallway at the bottom of the stairs. As its a small house the living room and kitchen are both next to this room and I leave the doors open and check often.