Newborn in own room??

[mats01_99]

Hi all. We are due our first in a few weeks and was looking for a little advice re. sleeping arrangements. My wife is planning on breastfeeding. Would it be best to keep the baby in our room or straight into its own room? If we keep the baby in our room for the first few months, will it be difficult to move to its own room afterwards? Sorry for the naivety!!

[babalicious]

i had a baby a year ago now but didn't breastfeed. we had him in our room at the bottom of the bed in a moses basket for the first 6 week, then we put him in his own room still in the moses basket but the basket in the cot for a few weeks, then took him out of the basket and put him in the cot with blankets rolled up on either side of him which we took out when he started to move about a lot more! hope this has helped, good luck!

[frangale]

Hi, have breastfed all 4 of my kids and kept them in our room until they were 6 months old (this is the recommended age as helps prevent cot death). Had no problems at all moving them into their own room after that. But everyone has a different story and maybe we were lucky! Good Luck!

[Why??]

From experience, you will probably not want to put your baby in another room from such an early age.You will want to watch every little movement they make. We had both of ours in our room until 5/6 months old. It will be much easier from a feeding point of view too, especially if like mine did they go through phases of wakeing every hour for a feed!

I used to put them down far a nap during the day in their own room as they got older just to get them used to being in there.

Just wanted to add, please make sure your wife doesn't get into the habit of bringing the baby into bed to feed whilst she is lying down. It's so hard not to be tempted to do this as the early weeks are so exhausting. But it could be dangerous and it gets them used to sleeping with you which could be difficult to stop. I used to make sure I sat up in to feed them during the night.

Hope that helps and good luck.

[Sparkles3]

We did more or less the same as bablicious, moses basket in our room (about 6-10 weeks, can't quite remember now), moses basket in cot in his/her room (same for both of our children, I'm not confused about their sex!), then put them into the cot under blankets tucked around. We all actually slept better when the babies were moved to their own room - we weren't disturbing each other.

Also, you will not believe how noisy a baby can be when sleeping in the same room as you!

Good luck for the big event!

[noxlumos]

We had our newborn kids sleeping in our bed actually although they've suddenly had a big fit about that and decided that it's unsafe for some reason despite it being the customary sleeping arrnagement for all new born things all over the world.Our newborn daughter of yesterday is sleeping as did the others in our bed and we've never had problems with persuading them at a later stage to go to their own rooms, as being with their parents makes them feel secure, and a secure baby is a happy confident baby who will adapt to most things including their own rooms, so I'd go with having him/her in a moses basket in your room initially.Good luck with your new baby:)

[jules1968]

i kept my newborn beside my bed in his moses basket, very easy to check on,(i breastfed and this is easier) and then when he got too big for that we put him in his cot in our room untill he was 6 months old. This is what is usually recommended.I agree with why?? regarding you not wanting to put baby in their own room at such a young age, because i was contantly checking on mine! I had no trouble moving him into his own room when the time came but i wouldn't leave it any longer than that. Good luck with your new baby, enjoy every minute of it!

[Pippa68]

My babies always had their own cibs/cots in our room, but when it came to feeding time I would always end up dropping off to sleep with them in the crook of my arm.

I know this is frowned upon nowadays, but it was so easy for all of us ~ no sleepless nights, the baby could feed on demand & it developed a fantastic closeness. We don't smoke, drink or take sleeping pills so it was considered safe at the time. Actually I still believe it is safe, but there you go! as for moving them into their own rooms ~ I never had any problems. They had the same bed to sleep in with familiar bed linen etc.

[stoo_pid]

Just as an aside, while the number of incidents are low, sadly, there are babies that would still be alive to day had their parents not chosen to bed-share. Not surprisingly, the risks are greatly increased if you drink & smoke. We don't smoke & I can't remember the last drink either of us had, but in our case, my wife was so exhausted at times that I couldn't wake her even by shaking her. For that reason alone we chose not to bed share. Click here for more info.

As it happens, we're moving Pid Junior into his nursery tonight. He's not quite 4 months old. I don't think we'll have any problem with him getting settled in his own room (I've painted lots of cartoon farmyard characters all around the room to keep him happy & we've always changed him in the nursery to get him used to the surroundings). In fact, now the days are getting lighter, we think he'll actually be better in the other room because it's much darker.

The only thing we'll have to guage is feeding him. Mrs Pid breastfeeds & when the cot is next to the bed it's been nice & easy. There's a nice comfy chair in the nursery but it's not as comfy as a warm duvet!

[little coojy]

i kept all of mine in my room in there moses then moved moses into cot etc, i found it easier when they were waking in the night for feeds if they were in my room could get to them before they screamed the house down and woke everyone up, plus they looked to little to be on there own, nothing nicer than laying in bed listening to you little loved one snoozing away.

[kick3m0n]

kept mine in his cot, at my side of the bed as it was easier to check on him, and for night time breast feeds. Moved him into his own room at about 6 or 7 months and had absolutely no problems at all (except that I missed hearing him snuffling away and snoozing beside me) :o)

All the best to you and mrs mats when the time comes.

[OBonio]

My very first bit of advice : ROUTINE. It's key to getting them to sleep well. We didn't have a routine up until Amy was about 2 months and the night times were very difficult (as were the daytimes due to lack of sleep). Pick a time to get her bathed, ready for bed and stick to it close as you can. This'll probably be nigh on impossible for the first few weeks, but worth doing after that.

But to answer your question, we had Amy in our room until 6 months. We bathed her in her own room and done changes in there too so she got used to it but she slept in our room.

Night time feeds Mrs OBonio found a nursing chair in the bedroom to be handy. The times she breast fed on the bed I had to keep prodding her to keep her awake so the chair was there to ensure she got out of bed.

There were some teething troubles getting Amy to settle in her own room as she was used to being able to see us when waking up. She got used to it after a few nights though.

Hope this helps!

[kick3m0n]

mats - great advice re a chair from OBonio.....I used a chair we bought from Ikea which wasn't too expensive, and it rocked very gently with just light pressure from my toes on the ground. It moved into wee guys room with him and his cot at 6mnths, and used it for all his ngihttime feeds then too. I think he liked that it looked and smelled familiar at feed times. We still use it to his day to give him a cuddle and a bedtime story on our knee before we put him down for the night.

[lou 26]

I was adamant when I was pregnant with my daughter that she would go into her own room from the word go. So first night home from hospital I put her in her cot in her own room and was in there every half an hour to make sure she was ok!!!!!! That was besides the times she woke up for a feed! I just couldnt cope!! So next day my better half was packed off to the shops for a moses basket!! Speaking from experience I would make sure you have the moses basket ready in your own room! Good luck, hope it all goes well for you all and Congratulations!

[mats01_99]

Thank you all for your words of wisdom!, I will take them all on board. Many thanks