When did you start putting your baby 'down'?

[blondie887]

How old was your baby when you started putting them to bed early in the evening, then just using the monitor? I.e when did they get their own bed time?

At the moment we keep our 5 week old down with us in the lounge and only put him to bed (Moses basket) next to our bed when we go to bed. Not sure when this will (should?) change!

I did this from around three months but I had antenatal friends who did it by 6 weeks. I think the current SIDS advice is to have them with you when asleep in the first 6 months so they can hear and copy your breathing.
Is there a compromise where you put the baby down in an adjacent room with the door open so you can have tv on etc without disturbing them?

We kept her in the same room as us until she was about 5 1/2 months as she started to get very restless with the tv on while she was downstairs with us. We wanted to keep her with us for as long as possible due to the SIDS risk!

1 month

I put her down upstairs probably around 2 months but I was going to bed when she was (simply out of exhaustion and maximising sleep), then at 6 months she went down in her own room and we put monitor on... This didn't last long as she was waking every hour so ended up coming into bed with me... She properly started going down in her own room at 8 months... I was VERY happy to have evenings back!!

About five and a half months.

It’s a bit of a pain but it’s not forever. Plus, I went to bed at the same time as DS because I was tired 🥱

Just after 6 months. The advice is same room as you fir sleep until 6 months to reduce risk of sids

About 8 months for DS1 as I was a bit overly attached and liked having him with me :o

3 months for DS2, started trying at 11 weeks with DS3.

You will get people saying guidance is to be in the room for all sleeps until 6 months. That's technically true but it's splitting hairs a bit. Yes, the hours of 7pm-11pm are not magically less risky than the hours of 11pm-7am. But for me putting the baby down at 8.30/9 and having a couple of hours to chill out without them is of huge benefit and I'm ok with the small increase in risk over those couple of hours. I plan to keep them in my room for the majority of the night until well past 6 months (did with first two). And they don't always settle on their own every night anyway, sometimes I ended up falling asleep by accident etc.

If you would like to wait until the overall SIDS risk reduces there is a big reduction at 4 months.

Don't make a decision that you wouldn't make otherwise, because you have something like a breathing monitor. Those products don't reduce any risks, they just give you peace of mind that nothing has happened. That's fine if you find out helpful, but don't use it to make a decision like oh he's only 4 months but it's ok because we have the monitor. That's a false reassurance and it's not a good way to make a decision.

About 6 months. They were both downstairs with us til 3/4 months then they became more alert so I’d basically go to bed with them upstairs/watch a bit of Netflix on the iPad in bed. It’s such a short time. I liked to be near them and wanted to stick to the sids guidance.

Six months

8 weeks (and she’s only 4 months now) All the guidance says to reduce the risk of SIDS keep them on the same room so they can mimic your breathing/ heartbeat but then I realised they can’t hear that over the TV, can they?!

She slept much better upstairs in the dark.

I have an 8 week old and I'd say we've been putting her down at 7pm in the next to me in our room with the monitor on since she was about 3 or 4 weeks. It gives us all important time as a couple and we can see her breathing on the monitor. I think we'll move her into her nursery in Jan, so just over 3 months. She sleeps well through the night - wakes at midnight, 3/4am and again at 7am.

Our babies ‘told’ us when they were ready. DD1 it happened at around six weeks, where one night we realised we could stop her screaming all evening by turning the tv off, putting white noise on and letting her sleep in the dark. We did bath, bottle and bed the next evening and she’s been great at bedtime (though not overnights) since.

With DD2 we recognised the signs and started her bedtime routine around two weeks old. She has been an excellent sleeper so far, but is now ill do overnights have gone to pot but evenings are still good.

It depends on the baby I think. Ours only catnap in the day, so I think they are ready for a decent bedtime. Friends with better nappers were able to keep theirs downstairs longer as they weren’t so overtired.

We didn’t start until after 6 months. I am quite an anxious person though!

DS never had a strict bedtime. When he was a baby he napped but didn't go to bed until I did. I was up earlier than him so I could shower and dress, get breakfast started before him. From about three he went to bed when he was ready, usually earlier than me, but otherwise when I did. He was a child who didn't get overtired though, from age two if we were visiting friends in the evening and he was tired he'd just put himself to sleep on a sofa.

6 months as he was outgrowing his side cot and started to wake more overnight - I thought maybe we were waking him. Moved him to his own room and he slept much better! We have a video monitor too so we can see and hear him

@blondie887

How old was your baby when you started putting them to bed early in the evening, then just using the monitor? I.e when did they get their own bed time?

At the moment we keep our 5 week old down with us in the lounge and only put him to bed (Moses basket) next to our bed when we go to bed. Not sure when this will (should?) change!

4 weeks was when he developed a regularish napping routine but even then I often liked to hold him while he slept.

Around 6 weeks, but we were in a flat and the living room led to the bedroom, and we had the door open - so it was more like putting her in a darker, quieter part of the same room. By the time it was a proper bedtime routine she was probably about 4 months.

@Just10moreminutesplease

We didn’t start until after 6 months. I am quite an anxious person though!

Six months and I'm not an anxious person. There's SIDS advice that says not before then, I don't understand why people would do anything else?

10 weeks. She started to want to settle to sleep earlier at this point (7-8 as opposed to 9-10) so it seemed a natural step to take. As others have said, the 1-2 hours of peace in the evening to spend together as a couple/have some downtime is much needed for us and I perceived the increase in SIDS risk to be small, plus we have no other risk factors. She settles better upstairs and we keep an eye on the monitor. However, if you're not comfortable with the risk, guidance is to be in the room with them when sleeping until 6 months.

6 month

Around 8-9 months. It was easier to have them with me and when I did start putting them upstairs they’d wake up when I went to bed anyway so it was a pain

Around 7 months, I’m really shocked by how many people have done it with such tiny babies. My DS was happy to sleep on one of us while we watched TV until we went to bed. It was a relief to get our evenings back but looking back it went very quickly really. The highest risk age for sids is between 2-4 months so I would certainly stick to the guidelines at that point.

I didn’t have one of those babies who would sleep in a bright room with a TV on, but I was quite glad to go to bed with him!

It isn’t forever.

7 months, when she outgrew the Next2Me. It would be more interesting if people stated when they had their baby - advice has changed a lot over the years. My children are under 5 and I don't know anyone who put their baby upstairs to bed before around 4 months, and the vast majority didn't until 6 months as per SIDS advice.

Around six months.