Anyone moved baby to own room before 6 months?

[LindsayS79]

Hi all
My DD is almost 11 weeks and is the noisiest sleeper!! I feel so terrible but I took her Moses basket through to her room and put it in her cotbed the other night (at about 3am) because she was being so noisy and I had not slept a wink. She slept like an angel and woke up smiling at 7am! I got some sleep in between going through to check up on her!
So, for the past 2 nights I did the same. She (and I) slept really well and I've gone through to check up on her several times.
So, her basket is getting on the small side now and I don't have room for a cot in my bedroom. I'm now wondering that instead of trying to find something that will fit her for a further 3 months in our room, should I put her in her own room before the 6 months..? If I were to do this I know I would have to get one of those movement monitors though, even though her room is right across from mine.
Has anyone moved their LO into their own room before the 6 month guideline?

No, and I can't understand why people do, given the known risks of SIDS. Surely you expect your sleep to be disturbed when you have a baby?

My eldest children are 22 - 27 and they were all in with us for 6 months too. I don't think things have changed that much.

That's horrific stargirl.
I'm going to have a look at the angel care monitor tmrw as I think John Lewis have them at a good price. TBH I probably should have one already as even if they are in the same room as you they can still stop breathing.
I'm such a paranoid first time mum as it is!! Hopefully that lessens with time and experience..!

No, but I did wear ear plugs!

Yes, at around 10 weeks for each.

'you expect your sleep to be disturbed when you have a baby?'

what sleep. at least with ds in another room one of us got some.

Dd was about 3months...ds literally 4weeks!

From birth. She's always been a great sleeper. I know the risks etc but made an informed decision and it worked for us.

Yes we had to! Our room isn't big enough. Ds was moved at 4 weeks because he was too big for his basket. Dd room is right next door to us and we can still hear her breathing etc if we leave the doors open.

Yes, at 6 weeks, for all the reasons listed above (not getting to sleep myself, even for the 90 minute stretches when he was 'asleep' - snorting and snuffling about etc etc - close to losing my shit during the day, so tired not safe to drive etc etc).

Do read up on the SIDS risks before making the decision, but do be aware that having baby in your room is just one of the many factors than can help prevent SIDS, and if you follow all the other guidance (not smoking, making sure LO is not too hot, cannot get tangled in bedding etc) then you might feel like you can move LO into own room. We put DS into a grobag when we moved him into his room, so we wouldn't be worried about the bedding. I remember feeling sure he would never sleep without being swaddled, but he did. And that first night in his own room, I got 3 blocks of 2-2.5 hours sleep and I could have wept with relief.

Ultimately, you have to do whats right for you and your little family. Guidelines are there to advise you what's optimal in terms of baby care, but they are not laws. Like all other things with parenting, you weigh up all the factors, risks and benefits, and make a decision that suits you, and don't let anyone make you feel judged.

ps for the first few weeks in his own room, we put DS in his moses basket inside his cot. Then when he grew out of his moses at around 10wo we put him just in his cot.

Because it's a cot bed, it's massive and the first night he went to bed in there I had a really big cry cos he looked so small and lost in there, and I felt really terribly guilty like I had let him down :( So I think it's natural to feel quite conflicted and unsure about these decisions. But we stuck with it and it was the best thing for us. He was sleeping through by around 4.5 months and has his daytime naps in the cot too.

Incase your're wondering, I had always thought when pregnant I would be a co-sleeping, breast-feeding, baby-wearing, attachment parent type, but things just didn't work out like that for us - epic BFing fail, couldn't get on with my moby wrap, fiercely independent little boy who wanted to face outwards in his buggy and look at the world from about 3mo...I beat myself up about having 'failed' to be the kind of parent i wanted to be for months, but have let that go a bit now. He is 10mo, delightful, happy, curious, confident little boy who is always cuddled when upset, loves his mummy and daddy very much, but goes to bed in his own room at bedtime. You can't always predeict what kind of baby you'll have!!

Yes, we moved DD into her own room at 8 weeks and ALL slept much better afterwards. Having said that we were putting her 'to bed' in her moses basket in our room at 2 weeks old which is effect the same thing I guess. We had a babysense movement monitor and obviuosly checked on here regularly.

Same as busylizzie76

A few people have mentioned the angelcare monitor. Just had it delivered from Amazon who had a good deal on, cheapest place I could find bought for about £60.

Not used it yet as baby not arrived yet....

Thanks again everyone. I put her through in her basket at 3am again and she slept soundly until 7.30am waking with a huge smile on her face!! DP and I were checking up on her at least every hour!
I'm going to try and get a movement monitor today and try a sleeping bag tonight. Fully expecting her to wake up a good few times but it's worth a try!!
On a related note, how do you know if they're overheating? My grow egg was showing 19 last night but I thought it was quite chilly! I'm paranoid about her overheating and I'm not aware. I have a wee feel of her and she's nice and cosy but is that too warm?!

Hi OP, with regards to temperature, if you slip your hand down the front of your LO's baby grow and feel their chest, they should feel warm and snuggly but not clammy or sweaty. If the hair at the back of her head is sticky and sweaty she is too hot.

At this time of year, it's unlikely that your baby would get too hot at night, as long as you don't have a massive radiator in her room, which is on all night. We have a GroEgg thing as well, and although I think it's quite helpful to see if the room is reaching dangerous extremes of temperature (we had a 28 degrees in DS's room this summer when it was really hot: that night he just slept in a vest and nothing else, with an oscillating fan in the corner of the room), I sometimes think the 'angry' red light can make us new mums panic if it's 20 degrees in there or something. Also helps me to remember that in hotter countries not everyone has air con and millions of babies are ok in much hotter places than the UK. Just be sensible as to how you dress them for bed.

I am just adjusting DS's nightime clothing on a daily basis at the moment, depending on how cold it's due to get over night: so for the last 2 nights he has been in vest, babygrow and 2.5 tog grobag. It's going to get a big warmer over the next few days so I will probably ditch the vest and just have babygrow + 2.5tog bag. I have a 1.5tog bag in the wardrobe which I will use if it's going to be a 'warm' night.

NB we don't have our heating on at all yet.

HTH.

From birth,ds was so noisy and I was so anxious his noises kept me up all night. It was doing neither of us any good.

We moved DS at 4 months. I wanted to keep him with us, but our house was tiny and he had outgrown the Moses basket. There was no way we could have fitted his cot in our room.

DS was fine, but I wasn't really aware of the SIDS risk at the time. I thought you were supposed to keep baby with you so that you could be aware if they were not breathing/in distress.

The reality is that most babies do sleep better in their own rooms, but some fall into such a deep sleep, they stop breathing. By keeping baby close to you their breathing will sync with yours.

All parents make the decisions they need to make for their families - just understand the risks or benefits and make your choice.

Stargirl how awful for your friends. Truly horrific. I'm so sorry.

I have to say, like nancerama, we moved all three of our boys into their own rooms around the 4 month stage because they'd outgrown the moses basket and similar issue with bedroom being too small to fit the cot in. DS1 and DS2 had been sleeping through from an obscenely young age anyway, but DS3 continued to wake at night for feeds until close on 7m. I think he'd have woken more, though, if we'd kept him in with us.

I do think that some babies sleep better in a room on their own and, like all risks, you have to weigh up the SIDS risk alongside everything else. It is a guideline and every family has to do what they feel is best for them.

I just cry every time I think about it. They are living with her parents as they can't face going home to their house. It's so hard to know what to say.

Kept my first born with us for a year, but 2nd was a snorter and a snorter. Moved him into the e suite ( shame). Then onto the landing for a week then into the nursery with a sleep monitor. Different strokes for different folks. That was 11 years ago and he is the most affectionate child i have ever met so dont think it harmed him.

ds 1 at 7 mo because he'd outgrown his basket and was sleeping through.

ds2 at about 10 weeks because he was much bigger and had practically outgrown the basket already, and because he showed me the difference between having your sleep disturbed by a baby who wakes you up; and not having any sleep because your baby is a snuffler and wriggler who keeps you from sleeping at all.

This is an interesting thread as I have read a similar one before with very different answers - most people here seem to be saying they did move their babies earlier. I didn't move either of mine, and also kept them with me for daytime naps, till 6 months as SIDS was and is about the worst thing I could imagine. Following all the guidelines doesn't mean it couldn't happen to you, but if I hadn't and it did ... well then I would blame myself as well as suffering the awful loss.
Our bedroom "didn't have room for a cot" - except we squeezed one in, just lying next to our bed. Didn't look nice but it worked. Or, many cribs and things like a bednest will do up till around 6 months. You may well both sleep better when apart, but it's sleeping deeply that seems to be a problem for babies, perhaps they are just not meant to. Perhaps you could put a bed/mattress in the baby's room, then one of you (if you have a partner) could get a night's sleep and you could then swap round.
Sorry if I am seeming negative but I really don't get the "I did it and my baby was fine" approach. I was weaned at 4 weeks but I'm certainly not going to suggest others should do that, just because I survived!

I moved my first son at 5 months but with my second baby I will keep him as long as 6 months, partly because he was premature (so at increased risk of SIDS) and partly because I am more aware of the benefit and think that I can give that, and know I would regret it if I didn't and something happened to him, because I'd always think I hadn't done everything I knew was possible to prevent it.

I learned one reason to have them in your room is that unconsciously they copy your breathing - a bit like copying sticking out your tongue - and I found several times I took a deep breath and noticed he 'copied' straight after. Possibly a coincidence, possibly not. But I have no reason to disbelieve the research.

Having said that, after extensive research I front laid him because he had terrible reflux, was able to move his head independently, and I'd bought an Angelcare movement monitor for £40 off Amazon to make this safer.