Got the heebie-jeebies about 17 week old ds in his own room

[Jane7]

In terms of sleep, our decision to move him into his own room which is right next door to ours has been a fab one. He sleeps better; we sleep better and it's lovely not having to creep around the bedroom at night, fearful of waking him. But now i've got the heebie jeebies about SIDS. Suppose I'm looking for reassurance from others who moved their lo into own room earlier than the 6 month guideline. Our ds is turning four months next week. What I'm finding scary is that he's sleeping so deeply now and for much longer, sometimes from 8pm until 7am and I'm not sure whether I should check on him lots. Worrying about this keeps me awake!

We put both of ours in their own rooms earlier...and they are both fine! Sometimes I'd wake thinking why has he stopped snoring (eldest did), has he stopped breathing...but no - he was sleeping peacefully.

I'm afraid it makes no sense for anyone to say "I did it so fine for you to as well". The guidelines are there because that's what the evidence is. Of course it's highly unlikely there will be a problem...but....if it's worrying you that much I'd have him back in...It's not for long and will give you peace of mind - if not sleep....!

I agree with dilbertina - IMO it's something that just isn't worth the risk!

I'm just pausing to imagine having had a baby that slept 8 to 7....

How about one of those sensory mats that beep if they stop breathing? Not sure what their false alarm rate is like mind.

Or, we had a video baby monitor when we finally moved DD1 out, so when I woke up in a panic I could turn it on and watch her til I saw her move. Saved staring dry eyed at ceiling until irrational panic made me go in and check her and of course accidently wake her.

Please please please follow the guidelines,

check out www.fsid.org.uk

Please keep ds in your room as per the guidance, its only another 2 months, is that really soooo bad?

I worried when my DS grew out of his moses basket but I wasn't ready to put him in his own room so we ended up moving our chest of drawers and wardrobe etc out into the spare room and moving his cot in with us. We also got one of these - well ours is an older model and I got it for far cheaper from ebay. I will use this when he goes into his own room too whenever that is as i'm a panicker!

I moved my 1st DC into the next door room when he was 12 weeks - stupidly, just because everyone else at my baby group seemed to be doing it and I thought I 'should'. I think I had 2 nights of terrible sleep with my ear glued to the monitor before I moved him back in with us. I was so much happier after that.

I would agree with others that in the grand scheme of things, 2 months of extra creeping around quietly is not that much. I would suggest instead changing your bedtime routine - keep any toiletries/nightclothes in the spare room or bathroom so that you can just get ready for bed before going into your room.

don't know if this owuld interest you?

When we moved our DD into her own room we bought a movement sensor monitor. Works very, very well and gave the other half the peace of mind she needed to be able to "let go" at night and not worry herself awake every 5 mins.

We got one of these:

www.amazon.co.uk/Angelcare-AC401-Movement-Sensor-Monitor/dp/B0013FW5G8/ref=sr_1_5?i e=UTF8&s=baby&qid=1233149460&sr=8-5

...although I don't remember it costing nearly £70!

Message withdrawn

I previously saw a thread on MN that included information about the 6 month guideline being one of the weaker (and not proven) factors involved in SIDs...maybe worth searching for that thread - it refers to a single scientific study researching this.

I'm not trying to influence you either way but just saying that you may feel better about making a decision if you've been able to weigh up all the risk factors.

We moved DS into his own room yesterday at just over 5 months on the basis that the cot death rate decreases significantly at 4 months and we felt that we would all sleep better. Obviously there is still a risk and there will still be a risk after 6 months too. We have a breathing monitor but we are also aware that babies have died even when one was in use.

I'm not sure I am being much help but I guess I'm trying to say that there is no point making the move if it makes you worry, check on him more and it keeps you awake...you have to make the decision that is right for all of you.

bumping as am also interested in an answer to christiana's question. Have recently moved our DS, 18 weeks into his own room - we all sleep much better now.

Hopefully someone will be along soon with the references, but from when I looked into this there was evidence that having the baby in the same room as the parents was helpful, this was felt to be because the parents, even when asleep would be more likely to hear any noises of a baby in difficulty, and also that the baby benefits from hearing the parents breathing, in terms of the timing of its own breathing.

Message withdrawn

www.fsid.org.uk/editpics/612-1.pdf here is a link to a research paper which sheds some light onto the recommendation of keeping the baby in the same room, it takes a while to filter through it.

My best friends child died at 12 weeks, he was in his own room, she was advised that at that age the baby can turn themselves onto their back and poss choke, if their ds had been in the same room they may have heard him.........they didnt. It was one of the worst periods of my life having a friend going through such pain, please please follow the guidelines

i must admit, i'm surprised my many of these posts, i didn't expect people to feel so strongly that a four month old baby shouldn't sleep in his own room. but thanks for the responses. i thought there would be more people who had been happy to have lo in separate bedroom earlier than the 6 month guideline. but thanks to everyojne who replied to my original post.