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!

Although I wouldn't put a baby that young in another room alone at night I do doubt that the keeping them in the same room thing is as straightforward as some people on this thread are making out.

DD2 sleeps in the corner of the lounge in a crib til we go to bed. It's a big lounge, DH watches the TV very loudly, or we listen to music. I would be very surprised if she could hear us breathing.

Bowing out of this thread now coz of all the judgey pants

OP - you do what your gut instinct tells you - and your DC wont die just because you put them in their own room

withorwithoutyou, who's said it's straightforward? Babies are a huge challenge, and whatever parents choose to do baby in the room or out, it can feel like you've made the wrong decision grass is always greener etc. BUT, as LadyintheRadiator says, it is risky to avoid these particular guidelines.

I always saw the SIDS guidelines as a numbers game.

In so many ways nobody has any idea why it happens, but they've looked at the statistics and seen that a higher number of the poor babies have been in x situation than z situation, so we should do z to minimise the risk. But we don't always know why we should do z. It's purely about numbers.

Slhilly, I mean comments like this:

"Babies stay in the same room as their parents for the first 6 months, whatever they or their parents are doing"

Make it sound straightforward - baby somewhere in the room, risk of SIDS halved. I doubt it's that clearcut, you probably have to have them very close to you, and realistically I expect that even for people who do keep baby in the room for naps/early evening (like me) probably some of them aren't close enough for there to be a full protective effect.

Only just caught up on this thread.

I honestly was not miscontruing, or being intentionally difficult or argumentative. Genuinely, in real life, I do not know anyone who keeps their baby in the same room as them every second the baby sleeps until the baby is six months old. If you are all doing this and it works for you, great. (And I'm not saying this in a sarcastic/stroppy way, but genuinely mean it.) It would not have worked for us. My baby wouldn't have slept and I would have got postnatal depression, which would have been a definite and actual risk to both of our physical and mental health.

The only point I was trying to make earlier is that we all take risks with our babies/children, and it is up to each of us to calculate what level of risk we feel comfortable with. I did not intend to criticise anyone's choices, so apologies if it came across that way.

DS went in his own room at 7 weeks. He's a long baby and got too long for the moses basket, and the cot won't fit in our room. He was, and still is, a fairly good sleeper. At the start I used to leave the baby monitor on and put it next to my side of the bed so I could hear him if he started to cry, etc. But now (21 weeks) I don't bother.

IMO you should do whatever you think/feel is best. For me, it helped me get a much better night's sleep and I was therefore more able to deal with DS during the daytime. We still ocassionally bring him into our bed in the morning if he wakes early...

There are 10 key points on the FSID website about reducing the chances of cotdeath. Sleeping in your room is only one of them.

My 3 kids have all been horrendously noisy sleepers ....and awake every few hours for a feed. All have gone in their own room 6 weeks for DD then 2 weeks for both DS's. The noise was unbearable.

I decided since I was doing 9 out of the 10 recommendations then I had to get some sleep somehow. I didn't trust myself co-sleeping and feeding as I figured this could be just as dangerous....as it turns out when i do this i can't relax and sleep anyway. I always bf my kids in a chair in their room and have never fallen asleep with them.

Read the facts and make a reasoned judgement you can live with.

Good point littlemiss - one of those ten points is to use a dummy for naps. I never did this - both of my DDs hated dummys, I suppose that makes me a mother who takes unnecessary risks because I've never persevered/forced them to take a dummy.

DD never took a dummy but was a thumbsucker! I wonder how many people get new mattresses for every baby - my family think i'm crackers with my selection of moses basket, carry cot and cotbed mattresses!!!

I don't know why the cosleeping mothers are getting so judgey about this anyway - the guidelines are that the baby should be in your room in their own cot.

Ghostie, I was told that the recommendation for 6 mo is because the sound of your breathing can help your baby to regulate her breathing should she get into difficulty.

I used to have soft classical music playing which muffled any baby snuffling.

OTOH I was in my own room from day one and the outcome of that is fairly obvious!

Of course it's fine to point out that the guidelines exist, just seems a bit strange when you didn't follow them yourself.

Own room from day 1, all of mine and all happy and good sleepers.

DS went into his nursery at 2 months, because the air temperature in his room is several degrees lower than in our room. My GP advised that the risk due to overheating outweighed the risk of being in a room by himself (his nursery is too small to move a bed in so that we could share the room with him). So, it's sometimes a matter of balancing different risk factors. I was actually quite unhappy about him moving out, as had wanted him in with me for the first 6 months.

I don't think anyone on this thread is ignorant that the guidelines exist. They are just questioning how high the risk is for this one factor alone (sleeping in a separate room) and are pointing out the inconsistency of applying some of these guidelines strictly and not others.

The OP wanted reassurance on what she clearly feels is the best decision for her and her family. My own view is that by making this one change alone in her life will not be exposing her baby to a huge risk. But obviously it's up to her to weigh up the pros and cons.

My Ds was in his own room from 10 weeks, but then he used a dummy so maybe that balanced out?

Seriously his every move woke me when he was in the same room. Moving to his own room and using the baby monitor meant I woke less, so less likely to have an accident whilst carrying him as I wasn't as sleep deprived.

Risk is about balancing risks. If you can't sleep with the baby in the same room, then maybe maternal need for sleep overcomes any slight risk of SID. But then unlike a friend of mine I didn't make all my kids accompany me everywhere, even the toilet until they were 4 or more.

(I was in favour of dummies as I had struggled to break a sucking thumb habit.)

The 6 months baby in the same room as you all the time as per several posts on this thread I presume? I have spend some time this morning pondering whether people have their baby in the toilet with them when poohing...

litr - give it up, some of the people on here are either incredibly thick or being deliberately obtuse

FC, from what I can see, most people on here are putting their views across but accepting that everyone has different opinions and does what suits them. Only one or two are being rude and offensive.....do you have a mirror??