7 weeks - too young to go into her own room?

[Ghostie]

I am in a chronic state of indecision about moving our dd into her own bedroom.

She is generally a good sleeper and only wakes for two feeds in the night (one if we're very lucky) and goes down without a fuss. But, she is a very noisy sleeper and is trying to find her thumb at the moment in a very loud way. She often wakes me up and then I get her up to feed her, thinking she is awake, when actually she could probably of slept a bit longer. If she does go into her own room, am I going to suddenly find we are up and down all night, it is so easy to just reach over into her cot at the moment?

It would be really nice to get our room back, but is she just a bit little to go it alone? I think I might also miss her just a bit!

I think she's too young. My son was a noisy sleeper, and I used to put my Ipod in, just one ear was enough to drown out the snuffles and grunts.

Advice is to room in with you until 6 months. Personally I was too lazy to even consider making the trip across the corridor at night!

Too little at the moment. All guidance suggests 6 months as being the youngest age to move child into own room.

It's great being able to reach over into the cot, isn't it. :)

Way, way too young imo. I wouldn't even consider it before six months.

We moved ds1 at 6m and ds2 at 5m as he never came into bed with us (didn't want to). We had a breathing monitor and normal baby monitor in his room which was next door and his big brother was in there as well so he wasn't alone (some SIDS research indicates that sleeping with other people in the room is better I think?) and he also had a dummy by that stage which is also supposed to help with breathing/SIDS etc. It worked fine for us and, if necessary, I would probably go down to about 4/5m with all that in place for peace of mind. Any younger is a bit too little I think maybe - I wouldn't feel comfortable, though my SIL put both hers in their own room from the day they got home from hospital! which I was a bit at, she said it is pretty common where she comes from in France. Maybe eke it out for a few more weeks?

I put bothh dds into their own room from day 1. They both slept briiliantly and still do (dd1 5.5 and dd2 15 weeks)

I'm going to buck the trend here and say that if you are comfortable with it, and think that DD and you will both sleep better, then you should go ahead and move her into her own room.

We moved all three of our babies into their own rooms at about that age and I have never regretted it. We always had a monitor and I could hear them breathing, but I found I really couldn't sleep properly with a baby in the room, and was happier to get up and go into their rooms to feed them, than have that heightened sense of wakefulness/alertness that came with having them right next to me.

Sorry if that sounds heartless - but at that age they are not aware that you are in the room or not, and you need the best quality sleep you can get.

I am prepared to stick my head above the parapit and let you know that my dd went into her own room from day one.

I know it goes against all the advice, but it worked for us. With ds I slept in his room for the first two weeks as dh is self employed and could not take leave (so needed sleep) but then moved back into our room and ds stayed on his own.

With both children, I had a baby monitor at my head and we live in a small house, so not like I had to trudge over to the 'west wing' or anything for feeds.
Actually, they were both sleeping through by 4-6 weeks so did not need to do much trudging at all

Ah, alexw, I see I'm not a lone voice after all

Mine have generally been very good sleepers too.

Cross posted and agree with insertexpletive

I moved DS1 to his own room at approx 8weeks as he was a very noisy sleeper and I am a very poor sleeper,

so he would wake slightly a number of times during the night and kerfuffle a bit (or fart) and often then put himself back to sleep but this would wake me up,
sometimes this would then mean that I would need to get up and go to the loo before being able to go back to sleep and this would result in him waking properly and getting upset and then needing a feed to go back to sleep.

Also at 8weeks he was too long for his moses basket and there wasn't really room for his cot in my room, and I didn't want to co-sleep.

So I decided to try putting him in a cot in his own room, he loved it, as he slept through from the first night, (until the 4 month growth spurt but that is a different story). He slept far more soundly than in the moses basket and didn't stir as much

I kept the door open to his room which was right next door to mine, and I also kept my door open, so I could still hear him if he woke up.

7 weeks is far too young, you know that. It's a risk and a lot of parenting is about risk assessment. Look into the stats and make a decision based on that and your gut feeling. only you (and your DP) can make the choice.

For me it was a risk that I wasn't happy to take. Not because of the stats, but because I knew that if I went against advice and the worst happened I'd have a stick to beat myself with.

it is too young imo. Give it a little time and soon you will know inside out the different sounds your baby makes and whether it is a 'i need you' sound or a sound she is making her her sleep. Your body will be tuned into it and you will be able to sleep through the sleeping noises, but wake for the ones you need to wake for. You sort of sleep with one ear open .

She is still so little and new, she needs to be close to for now. And you need to be close to her too.

but it really is personal opinion/needs/desires.

But then, we are considering moving DS into his own room now, and he is 9 months so of course i would think that! (and DD around the same age).

Another one disagreeing here and saying that it is fine. I did it at 8 weeks, was going mad sharing a room with DS, and like others here, found he slept so much better immediately, as did I.

Like so much else you are told at antenatal classes, I find the 6 months/cot death evidence unconvincing. What is it exactly about being in a room across the corridor that makes cot death more likely? This has never been explained to me in a way that convinces me. The fact that there is a statistical correlation between one thing and the other does not mean that one causes the other. Who knows what other factors are in play in cot death cases. I'm sceptical. Of course it is about what level of risk you are comfortable with, but most thinking about baby risk is extremely muddled and unscientific in my opinion.

Just to give one example of why I'm sceptical about the evidence: if it's not okay to have a 7 week old baby in its own room, why is it okay to leave a small baby napping for 2 hours in a separate room, with only a baby monitor to hear it? Do cot death risks only apply in the night?

My DS was 3 weeks old when he went into his own room (advice probably different 16 years ago).

No adverse effects and better quality sleep for us.

I live in Holland and you get a kind of midwife come to your house every day for 8 days after the birth... mine insisted that my DS sleep in his own room and I didnt want to argue at the time but as soon as she left we put him in our room... I prefer him in with me but I really dont think it's a problem to have them in their own room, I think it's another one of those English hang ups like the home birth thing.... here in Holland I was considered "odd" for wanting a hospital delivery!!!

Not worth the risk.

My understanding is that the risk of cot death is highest at around 2 months so I think if I was going to do it before the recommended 6 months then I would wait til she was older than 2 months at least.

I had terrible trouble sharing a room with my first child and agonised over moving her due to the advice to keep them in the same room. However I literally woke at every single noise she made and then I'd lie awake for ages thinking "any minute now she'll wake up for a feed, any minute now" and would then remain awake until she DID wake. In fact the less sleep I had, the more neurotic I got and then the more tearful and on edge and it was becoming a viscious circle. My H was working full time, so our agreement was that I'd do all the night wake ups alone, besides he slept like the dead and never woke at all. So for my own sanity I moved her into her own room in the end. The room was very very close to mine anyway and I kept both doors open, but it was just enough distance to help me not to wake at every single noise. She slept well and so did I.

However when my DS came along, as I was living in a 2 bed flat and my DD was in the other room, he remained in with me until 11 months and I used an ear plug to muffle the noise a little. Just the one ear plug IYSWIM? When I moved him in with his sister once he had stopped waking for feeds, it was good to have my room back to myself However there are lots of amazing mums on here who love co sleeping or keeping the baby in their rooms for many many months, it just isn't for me, I sleep better and I think so do they

There are those mats that sense their breathing and good intercom systems out there, if you really do want to move her before 6 months, however I think if you can, it's better to keep her in the same room for a while longer. I can see both sides of the coin though, however perhaps it's not worth the risk and an ear plug is a solution for you as well?

I've probably x posted with lots of you, as in between my 2 DCs needing me, it's taken me ages to write this.

its meant to be that the noise of you moving around, breathing etc stops your baby falling into 'too deep' a sleep where the risk of cot death increases.

If you're happy with going against the safety advice on cot death then great, that's lovely