[Grace Bellis]

I plan to have my daughters (a 2.5 yrs and a new born, currently 7 weeks' old) sharing a room. The new born is currently put in a separate room because she needs to have 2-3 times night feeds per night and she cries really loud when she needs a feed. I'm wondering when is a good time to put her into the same room as my older daughter. Any advice is appreciated.

[odm_post]

I'd wait until at least she's slept through the night. 'Cause with you going back and forth for the feeding, you might disturb the first one. Well..... depends also on how well the first one sleeps.

My girls' age gap is 14 months. They started sleeping in the same room when the second one was about 9 mths.She started sleeping trhough the night when I stopped breastfeeding and started giving her formula (when she's about 5 nths). But I waited until she's really settled with her sleep pattern before moving her to her sister's room. The second one has always been a good sleeper, unlike the first one :-P The first one always woke up in the middle of the night crying and I had to rush to her comfort, with fears that she might wake up her sister.

Eventually they just learn to sleep with one another.


Good luck!

[barbwong_130]

It is recommended that a baby sleeps in the same room as its parents for the first six months. This is to reduce the possibility of SIDS.
Barb

[mamamei]

We are planning to start with the baby sharing our room to begin with, but at what stage should we move the baby into it's own room without it being too disruptive to it's routine?

[saralee]

Both my kids slept in their own room from very early (first few weeks) and any attempts to sleep in the same room together left me feeling 10 times more sleep deprived than if I was in my own room, and they were too! My little babies made a lot of grunts and groans which I understand from others you do end up getting used to.

I found a baby monitor invaluable and managed to turn it down each night until I could hear the baby without the monitor and thereafter I slept much more soundly.

If you are worried about SIDS this site has some good recommendations:
http://www.sids.org/nprevent.htm

[mamamei]

Thanks Saralee. During the first few weeks, how did you avoid disturbing the baby's sleep when you and your husband go to bed at a later time? We have an ensuite bathroom in our room, and my husband and I like to read before we turn our lights out -- will we disturb the baby with our lights and our moving about? Perhaps I am being naive to think that we will have the energy to read at all?

[Grace Bellis]

We kept our baby in my room for the first 5 weeks. I don't think she's interrupted by our movement in the bedroom. We had to keep the bathroom light on for her (she didn't like the room being completely dark!). Once we had some ideas of her tempermant, i.e. I'd know that if she's hungry or wants a nappy change, she could really scream and yell, we put her into a separate room. I find that I slept a lot better since we moved her. It doesn't help me get up a few times a night for night feed though.

[terry]

We had our baby in her own room from the minute we got home from the hospital. We also used and still do, the AngelCare baby monitor, but with the volume down and the lights on. We found with the volume up, we could hear all of her noises, grunts etc and got no sleep as we kept thinking she was about to wake. She still sleeps in her own room and has been a great sleeper since about 2 months.