Separate room - why do it?

[elk4baby]

Hi,
We are currently sharing a room with our LO and actually have his cot next to our bed. We're thinking of moving him to his own room (well, almost), now that he's almost six months.

Why do it? What's the push, what's the pull? Do you find it improves baby's sleep? I know quite a few parents who make the move around six month mark... why this age? Why not later?

We don't really have a 'spare' room to make it into a nursery, but if we find that it's the best thing to do and we absolutely need to do it now, we'll put his cot in the office. Or, what I thought might work to make a 'separate' room is to put a room divider in our bedroom. Do think this would work?

our ds is 8.5 months now and still sleeping in cot next to our bed. I am expecting for it to just feel 'right' when we move him into his own room, which may be next month, or next year! At the moment I like having him next to me as its lovely to wakr up in morning to his happy little face and also, as he still wakes during the night, it means i don't have to get out of bed. which works for me as io am lazy mummy!
i know other people who have moved the lo's earlier than this because they felt they needed to for various reasons (sleep, getting privacy back etc)... not sure if it helped with babies sleepiung through though.
i guess everyone feels differentky and you have to do what feels right for you and your baby.
HTH

BTW i think the 6 month thing is due to the risk of cot deathg b eing reduced at this age so it is safer for baby to sleep away from you....

both dd and ds were around 8 months when we moved them. They both slept through the night by then so there were few middle of the night trips to another room. We did find they slept better for it too as at our bedtime we used to disturb their sleep a bit when we got ready for bed/brushed teeth, etc (we have an en-suite bathroom and that is where we do teeth)

Hi,
We moved our DS into his own room at 11weeks, he was sleeping all night from 6weeks but had started to wake up when we were going to bed, and wouldn't go back to sleep.

Moving him to his own room was best we have done for him. He now sleep all night 18:30 - 07:00 every night. He is now 13month's and we have only had 2/3 bad night in all that time.

Don't do what other people say you as a mother will know when it is best for you and your child

im glad this has come up as me and dp have been discussing whether this would help dd sleep, i think me being next to her may encourage her to wake up more, last night she was sleeping fine and then as soon as i got into bed she woke up, has anyone else found they wake up less in a different room?

DD is still in bed with me at 21 months and it's DH that sleeps in the other room Well, we take turns sometimes but it sure ain't dd that's moving

Actually, the above is a very good reason why moving at 6 months is a good idea. I think we'll have dd until she leaves home...

My DD is only 4 months and moved into her own room this week. We HAD to move her because we could only fit a crib in our bedroom; she had grown out of it (arms and legs everywhere!) and the cotbed simply wouldn't fit alongside our bed.

I checked with the health visitor and she said that if you don't fall into any of the high risk groups for cotdeath then its reasonable to move your LO into their own room B4 6 months... after all, for some people have no choice, even from birth.

I thought I'd find it hard to move her, I thought I'd really miss her; but with the baby monitor on I can hear all her wriggling in the night and I seem to wake up when she does... don't know if thats the baby monitor or just our bodies in tune with one another?

She seems to be happy so far and her sleeping habits haven't changed. It seems that my DP actually misses her more! He is often getting up in the night to check her and won't miss his goodbye kiss in the morning B4 he goes to work. Sweet.

ds3 is still in a cot in our room and he's 2

He sleeps from 7.30pm - 7am, no problems

We are planning to move him into a room with one of his older brothers over christmas..

So I don't think there is any rush. Do what you feel comfortable with.

I put both of mine in their own rooms the first night home from the hospital.
I had no problem hearing them during the night and it gave us our own space.
I have had no sleeping problems with either of them.
For me, it was the right thing to do. But everyone is different.

We did it because we were waking him up and thought that as a growing little person he needed his sleep as much or more than we did.

And yes, we also needed some time to catch up with our sleep and with each other, and considering most of the waking time was spent taking care of the baby we just thought that that was fair. He seemed fine with it, no crying or anything, but full nights of sleep.

Now, move forward 7 years and DS navigates between his room and ours freely. You put him to bed in one room and do not know where will you find him the next morning

The youngest any of mine were was about 13 months.

As everyone says it's your baby so your choice, do what feels right for you

we moved ds1 into his own room at 6 weeks and ds2 at 2 weeks because dp and I weren't getting any sleep.

Their snuffing/coughing/moving drove us bonkers and we decided that it was more important to get some sleep and try to keep our sanity....

DS (pfb) moved at 6 months and DD at 4 mths. She was (& still is) a very light sleeper so we kept waking her up - she slept better in her own room. Also for us it was great to be able to get ready for bed, read, have lights on and chat etc again (yes, even to have sex occasionally !), rather than creeping around using mobile phone as a torch, dreading disturbing a sleeping baby.

wow I thought we were the only people to actually 'creep around using mobile phone as a torch'

But we rarely end up waking DS (even with occasional sex ). The creeping around is not great, but we're managing I think. Although we had to master the art of mime ... makes us understand each other better, doesn't it? or does that sound crazy

And, to be completely honest, I think I sleep better with DS close by. Every time DH tried to take him during the day so I could nap, I tossed and turned but didn't fall asleep. It's really silly, I know, but for some reason no matter how tired and sleep deprived I was I just couldn't sleep without DS next to me (well, in his cot, next to our bed). [note to self: I should see a therapist]

My dd is almost 9 months old and still in with us. I love it and agree with elk4baby - we rarely wake dd and I sleep much better with her curled into me. She also sleeps better in with us than alone. If she wakes when I am next to her she just closes her eys and goes back to sleep but if I am the other side of the room etc you can see the panic in her face and she doesn't settle until I pick her up.

elk I experience that exact same feeling of tossing and turning and it only went away when we started full time co-sleeping. I think part of me needed dd there so I could settle properly.

It works for us but I realise it's not for everyone. She'll stay in with us until she wants to sleep in her own room which won't be anytime soon I imagine