Age to put baby to bed alone?

[horse4course]

DS is 3 months. Currently he's downstairs with us til we go to bed about 9, he's usually fast asleep and I have to wake him to get him changed etc.

I know the advice is not to let them sleep alone until 6 months, which is why he's with us, but the advice also seems to be to get them in the habit of going down awake into their cot from a fairly early age.

I feel like he might go down for a long stretch if put in his cot earlier. I don't want to go to bed earlier than 9.

What age is it ok to put them down? How are you meant to get them used to sleeping in a cot alone if they don't do it until 6 months?

Advice can be hard to follow when theres a million ways of doing things.

Our little one sleeps with us in her cot in our room. Shes 9 months and goes to bed between 6 and 7 and we dont go to bed until 10-11pm. We just get up and check her periodically.

I felt happier having her in with me until shes a certain age and she sleeps well enough most nights.

Theres monitors you can buy so you can hear everything and video monitors so you can watch them too but we didnt fancy that idea so just got up to check her every once in a while.

Dont overthink it. Have you got a travel cot to use in the mean time to sleep in your room or moses basket etc?

DS went into his cot at 2.5-3 months as he'd outgrown his basket.

We had the evening routine of bath and bottle and then put him to bed. We used a video monitor while we had dinner/watched TV etc elsewhere.

I was the same with my DS he used to stay up with us until around 9 and sleep in a next to me crib. I’ve no idea how it came about but one day I just decided to put him in his cot in his nursery. I hadn’t planned to but just tried it out, he was about 4 months. He slept through the night and gradually he started to go from 9pm bedtimes to 6.30pm! He is now 8 months and he has slept through the night since I put him in his own room! I don’t know if I’ve just been lucky but I’ve never had any dramas with his bedtimes and he sleeps so much better alone! He wakes about 5am and I go in and cuddle him but then goes back to sleep until 7.30.

With all 3 of my dc we went down the 6 months route. But put baby down to sleep in moses basket downstairs with us until we were ready to go up. And then VERY CAREFULLY carried the moses basket and baby to bed and put it inside the cot (apparently helps to settle babies into cot easier).

Thanks all! I'm not a newbie at this, have a toddler too but she was in with us until after 1yr and want to do things differently this time round!

At mo I feed him to sleep, put him in cot about 9, he sleeps til 1ish then he co sleeps by me. Not awful but not ideal either!

The six month advice is SIDS related. Them being in the same room as you reduces the risk of it happening. If waking him to change him is the issue, can you get him changed early evening before he falls asleep so you don't have to disturb him when you all go up to bed?

Why are you changing him if he’s asleep? Unless he has had a poo there is no need to do this.

My little one would fall asleep downstairs and then wake up by the tv or the lights on and just be really miserable as he just wanted to sleep. So I went out and brought a video monitor and did his routine the same every night, bath bottle and bed. He goes down in his next to me bed in my room and it's nice to have a couple of hours downstairs child free lol. I had the video monitor to check on him which put my mind at ease.
My little boy really benefited from this, you've just got to do what's best for you and your baby x