Advice on moving baby into own room

[Louatkin]

I would like some advice on moving my baby over into her own room please. She is 5.5 months and not sure when we will try this but possibly from 6 months. She is full
tome breast fed in next to me crib and still waking every couple of hours. I do respond to her quickly before it wakes my partner and before she makes too much fuss incase she is harder to settle back down.
I am so tired of being awake through the night now, I have read things that say not to respond to every grumble a baby makes but like I say I don’t want her getting worked up too much as although she wakes regular she goes back to sleep easy without hassle at the moment.
I’m wondering if she’s put in her own room she might sleep better in case it’s a case of her smelling me and knowing I am there?
has anyone that full time breast fed got experience with this please?
I don’t mind comments from those that didn’t breast feed too but I know formula can fill them for longer so may have better success?
we did try formula as a top up but she has suspected cows milk allergy so stuck to the breast and cutting milk from my diet. I am however going to try a hypoallergenic formula as a top up even if for one bottle on a part time return to work soon, I won’t need to work long hours.
anyhow she is due to wean so I am hoping this may help her sleep also?

so any advice on any of those things would be great but mainly looking for help on how to transition into cot in her room. If she’s going to carry on needing me lots it’s probably best to keep her with us!!

thanks

Mine did, still wakes up a lot, but it was every hour 😂 i found the min i went loo, or tossed in bed she would wake herself up and cry for me.

She sleeps better having no disturbance. (I do have a night light and soothing sounds on throughout the night, it helps drown out the creaky floorboards haha)

I have a baby monitor so i can watch, if she cries she sometimes just rolls around pops a dummy in her mouth and goes back to sleep. I use to leap in there at every grumble and then she would just want cuddles, so i wait and watch, if she rolls she will settle, if she grumbles and her arms go up she wont.. so i dont leave her crying as i have learnt her signs.

All depends on the baby though so just have to see. My LO has always liked her own space and not been much of a cuddler. So she took to it quite well :)

Oh i did it at 8months, but she was really ill at 6 months so got into a rut of cosleeping for a bit.

Yes did this from 5.5 months, babe woke less - and when he was asleep I was sleeping better as not listening to him breathing! Also learned to take longer before responding, he often went back to sleep after a few minutes and didn't need a feed

My first didn't improve from going in his own room at 7 months but my second improved massively! We moved her into her own room, stopped the dummy, stopped swaddling and stopped the sleepyhead all at once at 5 months and she slept great and only woke twice a night after that. We did leave her to fuss (not full cry) for short periods of time but always went to her if it went on or it was crying. Often she'd just go back to sleep after a few minutes. It was incredible, I couldn't believe it.

My baby was breastfed and always breastfed to sleep, picked up straight away. She started to wake a little bit more maybe 4-5 times a night around 6 months so once she'd had a few daytime naps in her cot in her own bedroom I decided one night to try her in there for night time around 7 months. She woke up 2-3 times so much better, she slept through for the first time at 8 months and has had a few ups and downs but did sleep well overall in her own room

Following with interest. My almost 4 month old is EBF and completely refuses a bottle, and wakens a lot through the night. I thought it would have improved at leady a little by now, but nope, still waking like a newborn!

I completely understand responding quickly before the grumbling escalates but I’m not sure it helps.

My DS is only 11 weeks but I’ve been deliberately ignoring grumbles the last few days and just feeding him when the grumbling turns into a cry. I’ve woken a few times with him grumbling and then we’ve both fallen back to sleep for another couple of hours.

Putting her in her own room probably will help because you’re less likely to get out of bed and go in every time you hear a little grumble, you’ll probably naturally wait to see if she’s going to carry on sleeping.

We’ve all slept so much better since baby in their own room. We did it before 6 months. I think we were all disturbing each other, and now I only go if they’re actually crying rather than just making noise or moving,

I found that putting DC in the cot in their own room for daytime naps was a good way to start the transition, then after a few days (I don’t really remember how long) putting them in there at night as well. As PPs have said, they slept better probably due to it being quieter and not every noise turned into a cry that required feeding.

Classic 4 month growth spurt coupled with 4 month sleep regression. It'll get better! Helps to know it is biologically normal for pretty much ALL babies

In my experience, moving them doesn't make a difference. Especially when you're breastfeeding. Have you considered co-sleeping instead/as well as the crib next to the bed? Otherwise you could still be up just as regularly, but now having to go into her room, feed in a chair, pop her back to bed etc. Much more disruptive to your sleep.

Mine always started off in the crib, and I'd move them in with me when they woke in the night. Followed the safe co-sleeping rules from the Lullaby Trust.

Also, giving a bottle does not guarantee sleep. It just sits heavier in their stomachs and is digested a lot slower than breastmilk, hence why some people find this.

I'm co-sleeping at the moment with a baby and a toddler, both breast fed still. My toddler starts out every night in their own room in a single bed but invariably wakes and comes in here. My baby is a far better sleeper and is in a side car large cotbed. What I mean is a cot that we've taken the side off so it is level with my king-size bed.

I would say that five months is still so little and so much is down to baby, not anything you do or don't do. You only really appreciate this when you have multiple children. So what's going to make your life easier?

The research shows that bf babies actually sleep longer but that the majority of babies will wake up in the night at least twice until 18m. Both of mine do.

https://www.instagram.com/lyndsey_hookway/p/C4D7ne2oeqF/

I have infact been leaving her in our bed from time to time, but have been worried about it. It is easier than lifting her in and out of her next to me crib though! She does seem to sleep slightly better if I leave her in our bed but just by a fraction but it does help a little.
Thank you for the response, like you say getting fully up out of bed to go into a nursery and sit on a chair etc is more hassle! I would only really think about moving her if she were to sleep better! My mother seems to think she may sleep better if can’t smell that I’m there, I know all babies are different though and I don’t want more hassle definitely not.
I was also worrying that if she was in our bed more it would make the transition harder in long run they were kind of my thoughts.
Thank you.
Breast feeding is so hard because of the lack of sleep and regular feeds isn’t it! I do hope a little food may help fill her tummy and go longer!

My midwife, said to wait until he was 7mths, as until then he would not remember and to choose a weekend when we didn’t have much on. I was dreading it, but it was really easy, I put him in the cot in his bedroom, he cried for a minute or so, then went to sleep. So much easier than I thought it would be. Good luck OP.

Mine is just 6 months and we moved her 2 days ago. First night wasn't great, last night was better (4 wake-ups as opposed to every hour) but she also napped much better yesterday so improved nighttime sleep could be down to that. Like your LO mine is capable of resettling herself after a short fuss so I am trying only to feed every 2.5-3 hours and if she wakes before that then either let herself resettle or try other methods e.g. patting, rubbing back. Won't leave her to cry for any longer than a couple of minutes though.

Thanks for the comment! I might hold off till about 7 months also just to see mainly if the food and weaning starts to help a bit before making the transition. This comment gives me hope! Someone also said to let her fall asleep in her next to me crib first then carry her over but after seeing your post I might just give it a go properly first time. Out of everything she’s been really good at settling at bed time due to her routine (unless she is still
hungry!). I see and hear of so many babies crying for a long time and not settling well once moved and I really don’t want to try the cry it out methods.. Not saying I never would leave her to cry when the time comes I may, I am not keen on idea if a stressed hysterical baby though!

Thanks for your comment.

In this case you were correct, moved into own nursery 2 nights ago and she woke the same amount if not more than usual. However the actually putting down to bed part did work a treat, she has been used to being in her cot through the day for play time (not sleep as for some reason she will only sleep in car or pram which is annoying as I always said I would never let my baby only get used to motion sleep through the day as I think it creates a problem but what do you do when she will only fall asleep on the go so I just take her out now!)… but yes she fell asleep after a feed and I lifted her into her cot, no cries or fuss that she was in a different room to usual but the first night she woke 4 times before midnight, I was so tired from getting up and going next door that she came into our bed after that. Last night she was asleep for 6.30 then woke at 8.30, 10.30 and then 11.30 so back in our room again. I do leave her to see if she will settle but she’s always been a regular feeder. She has been on food for a week now and starting to swallow food more so I’m hoping if she start off the night she’s in her own room eventually she will sleep better. Probably making a rod for my back bringing her back in but hey ho it’s tough when need sleep isn’t it!! So I do hope over time she sleeps for longer spells resulting in being in there longer but yea you were very right about what would happen I knew it would be just my luck that this would be the case haha.
due to her being out of our room though she didn’t get woken when we went to bed at 9 so that was a bonus I suppose!

Moved DD at 5 months. It did help with sleep. We also added a bottle once a nice so DP could feed her and I got more sleep. The formula didn't improve her sleep but it helped mine! Then night weaning from about 7-8 months. By 9 months she was doing 10 hour sleeps.

hey OP, how did the move go?