Transition baby to own room - how will I know?

[Dipsydoodlenoodle]

How do you know when is the right time to transition babies to their own room?

I know the age will be different for everyone and people will have different experiences...but how did you know the right time?

We planned in advance to move DS to his own room at around 7 months because we both had leave booked from work so knew we could catch up on sleep if things went wrong.
We knew we were all ready when we were disturbing each other more. DS grunting/ fidgeting kept me awake, mine and DH's snoring woke DS up, and DH's early starts affected us all as well. I think that was around 5 months. But we held out till our planned move as I wasn't ready.

With both of mine, it got to the stage where we were disturbing each other. So if I rolled over in bed or got up to use the loo it would cause them to stir. My first went in his own room from around 7 months and my second was older, nearer a year. Both slept better and for longer once they were in their own rooms, so I knew it was the right decision.

With my DD, it was pretty obvious that we were disturbing her. Especially if DH was late to bed - she would wake and need resettling. Her nursery had been our spare room and we had kept the double bed in there, so it was more a case of us moving out of her room. She was generally a good cot sleeper anyway so we tried it at around 7months and we all got a much better night's sleep (at least until the 8month sleep regression but thats a whole different story!)

I’d intended to send DD off to her own room at 6 months but when it came to it, I felt like I wasn’t ready to do it and that I wouldn’t sleep well for worrying about her. I’ma very heavy sleeper and wasn’t convinced I’d wake up straight away if she needed me.

DD and I didn’t disturb each other though as we’re both quiet sleepers so it felt no detriment to either of us to room share.

Another factor is that I’m a single parent so no partner to consider.

In the end, DD was just over 1 when she went into her own room. We spent a lot of time in there during the day so that she got used to being in there and she slept in the same cot in her own room as she had in my room which I expect smoothed the process a bit.

One day you'll realise you just didn't need to be close by anymore, you may still get up once or twice but the immediacy won't be there anymore. You'll also realise they're bigger and would be better in their own room.