When did you start putting baby down for naps alone in another room?

[MarshmallowsOnToast]

Hi,

At what age did you start putting your baby down for naps alone (for instance in their crib/cot upstairs whilst you get on with something downstairs or have a shower)?

DS currently has all of his naps in the living room where I am for most of the day. Either in his swing or bassinet. Usually don't shut the curtains until about 7pm so it's always been bright during the day & he's generally slept fine.

However, I've noticed recently he seems to be waking up quite easily after a short-ish period and almost seems to be being disturbed by us making noises such as coughing or dropping stuff in the bin. I now find myself tiptoeing round or talking at a really quiet volume & feel reluctant to get on with any household chores incase I wake him.

My partner has made comments about not being able to live in our own house as if I have rocked baby off to sleep for 20mins & then he sneezes or opens a can of pop I give him "the glare" which is unreasonable of me.

Wondering whether to put DS down for daytime naps in the bed he sleeps in at night (a crib) in our bedroom so I can shut the curtains & close the door to. DP thinks he's too young for this though at 9 weeks as he believes if babies need to sleep in the same room as you at night until 6 months, why is the daytime any different. And I actually can't answer that!

Interested to know what you did for daytime naps around this age.

Thanks!

I personally would leave him in a room on his own.

But you will get lots of responses on here saying its fine.

Its a risk you take with your own baby.

One i wouldn't take ever...
But each to their own

We kept DD in the room with us when sleeping day and night until around 6 months, either in her basket/swing in the living room or crib in our bedroom if we were in there.

It’s a bit of a pain and takes a lot of your freedom away but I believe it’s important your close by, especially as young as your baby is. A little light won’t keep a young baby up usually. We just carried on as usual when she was asleep, I would run the hoover round sometimes so she must be a heavy sleeper!

When we did put her in her crib to sleep upstairs without us we used a video monitor which could be an option for you? But personally I would wait another couple months x

I started putting my DD down for naps in her cot in her room at 2/3 months ish. Then she had a crib in our room for her night time sleep.
It worked for us as she struggled to sleep downstairs for naps.
You will find that the overall majority of MNetters will say they must stay in the same room as you for the first 6 months.
It’s a personal choice, just like every aspect of being a parent. Someone else will always do it differently to you.

I started putting him in his crib upstairs around 4 months, he's now 6 months and all naps are upstairs xx

My kids always slept in their own rooms. They generally napped in a travel cot downstairs but I made no allowances and carried on making normal amount of noise. But if i was upstairs i put them in their rooms for a nap. There wasn't the current recommendation for sleeping in your room for first sox months then, but I don't think I would have had them in anyway. A recommendation is not a law. I used a baby monitor and kept my door open.

Mine was pretty much always in the room with me until he started napping in his cot at 6 months. Prior to that he would only nap in the buggy, INDOORS. We live in a very small flat so that was basically just me in the living room with him in the buggy. Or he would be in the sleepyhead or bouncy chair in the same room as me.

All sleeps up to 6 months are supposed to be close to you. I would keep him downstairs but not necessarily in the same room e.g. sometimes mine were in the pram in the hall or in the dining room when I was in the living room.

About 9 months. There is no way I would leave a 9 week old to sleep in a room without an adult.

Sorry if this is a stupid question, but how is napping in a different room with a baby monitor different to being in the same room at night whilst you're fast asleep?

I'm not doing this by the way, just curious!

Scientists don’t know the exact reasons why it reduces SIDS but it does. The main theory is adult breathing regulates the baby’s breathing. Babies who die from SIDS don’t make a noise.

Thanks everyone. Some good advice & nice to know where others are at.

I think I will keep him with me for now. It will be easier when DP goes back to work as I'm generally a quieter person than him anyway.

Sounds daft but I sometimes forget how young DS still is because he's a big baby for his age and has already grown & come on so much since he was born. Tried to put a 3-6m outfit on him yesterday that would just not fit! DP often has to remind me, he's just a little baby still.

I did right from day 1.
But my stairs is in the lounge and his room was at the top of the stairs so I was only a few metres away in reality.

I'm pretty sure I never did. When I was at home, the baby was always with me (& I used to nap with them :-). My mum looked after when I returned to work part time and she put in carry cot in same room as her.

I had DD napping in a Moses basket downstairs for first 8-10 weeks and checked on her constantly. At first I could have the tv on, hoover around her and talk on the phone without waking her but then all of a sudden she became more alert and even turning the kettle on in the kitchen would wake her so I moved the Moses basket to our bedroom upstairs where she napped perfectly with the blinds shut and door slightly ajar. I watched her on the monitor constantly the first few weeks, but then relaxed a little, although I would still check if her chest was moving every few minutes on the monitor.

At night I tried to stick to the sleeping in same room as baby for first 6 months advice but every little noise (even us turning in bed) caused DD to stir plus she was getting too big for her Moses basket. It wasn’t fair on us or DD so at 4 months I moved her to a cot in her own room for naps and night time sleep. I slept on the floor next to her the first few night, but since she was in a sleeping bag with nothing but a cuddly toy in there with her she didn’t move around and there were no suffocation hazards so I went back to my own room and would just check the monitor every couple hours during the night. It made life so much easier for all of us and DD is safe and well. I felt guilty for ignoring the 6 month advice but it didn’t work for me or my DD. She sleeps in her cot and I don’t hear from her between 8pm - 7am whereas she was constantly up in our room

3 months. Was a gamechanger in terms of her nap length (and my mental health as a result) but yes, most people on here will say a strict 6 months

At that age mine used to nap in the pram on the same floor of the house.
Have you tried background noise like music/TV/white noise? It helps disguise the coughs etc.

Three months. Not ideal but she loves being out down, on her own and falls to sleep on her own . We have a video monitor. I couldn't keep her downstairs during lockdown with two older children and a husband working from home!! I think she loved going upstairs on her own for a bit of peace

The SIDS guidance is that they have all sleeps including naps in the same room as you until 6 months. The exact reasons aren’t known but there is a difference between you being there and having a monitor. A SIDS baby just stops breathing - there is no sound and a monitor won’t pick that up or stop it happening, whereas there is some evidence to suggest that they sleep a bit less deeply with background noise and/or parents’ breathing helps them regulate their own.

I know lots of people who put their babies in different rooms for naps from around 4 months ish, which is roughly when they start to get more aware/disturbed by background sounds. 9 weeks is really very very young though, whatever size he is.

Mine was downstairs in the day until about 6 weeks then in her cot in her own room for all naps and overnight.

We were around 3 months, she had hit the 4 month sleep regression early (absolute hell!) and I was trying to get her out of the habit of cat napping. To be honest I needed those nap times alone downstairs to save my mental health, and I just watched her on a video monitor. In my sleep deprived state I had actually forgotten the guidance was for all naps to be in the same room as you until 6 months, and when I realised a couple of months later I felt so guilty but she was almost 6 months then anyway.