Ever since Hayden was born she has slept in a co-sleeper right next to our bed. She has a crib in her own room that she has never slept in. She is outgrowing the co-sleeper, BIG time. Every time DH & I talk about putting her in her own room we BOTH get tears. I hate the thought of my baby being away from me. We just returned from vacation & we had agreed that we would make the switch after our return, but she still is in our room!
We live in a ranch house & her room is kind of far from our bedroom- hence my hesitation. I know that it will be better sleep for both of us if she is in her own room. I'm really concerned about making the move soon because I go back to work in about a month and I know this is also going to be a big transition for her, plus I don't want her whining to be picked up in the morning if she can see me while I'm trying to get ready for work (if she were still in our room). Even our pedi has said to put her in her own room. DH wants to move the crib into our room or even start a co-sleeping family bed (which I am not comfortable with bc of SIDS risks).
HELP!!! Tell me that I am making the right choice by putting her in her own room! Also tell me any experience you might have with this... I am heartbroken over it!!!
Re: I can't bring myself to do it....HELP!
Wow, how funny..we are going through the same thing right now!!! Except Gianna sleeps in our bed, and my back can not take it anymore!! Plus I do not want her to get in the habit of sleeping with me all the time......Our house is a ranch house as well, and her room is on the otherside of the house and DH is not comfortable with her going in there yet, SO.....we have the pack and play in our room and we tried last night to put her in that....She cried for what seemed like hours....(however it was probably a good 20 mins or so), I sat in there the whole time, holding her face (which is what she liked) and making the shush sound...she finally passed out and did sleep in there through the night, despite her normal times she wakes up to eat.....
I know how hard it is!! Trust me I know....Could you put her pack and play in your room, which is bigger than the co-sleeper and let her sleep in that for awhile, until you and DH are comfortable going into her room?
PS....We worry about SIDS too, especially since G rolls over and sleeps on her stomach now!!! I am always up checking on her...But she loves to sleep on her stomach...
You can do it!
Caroline slept in a crib in our bedroom for the first month. At her first month appointment the pedi recommended that we move her into her own room to help get her on a schedule. I'll admit it was tough. The thought of her all by herself in her own room was upsetting to me. I felt like I was making her grow up too quickly. But I'm glad I made the transition because by 6 or 7 weeks she was sleeping through the night like a champ.
You can do it!!!
Everything that I've read so far seems to say that you should really break certain habits by the 5-6 month point because they just get more difficult once they get to that age so you are probably right to do it now. (Obviously I have no experience yet.)
Seriously, how is she 5 months old already?!?!? Love the new pics!
I don't have any children so feel free to ignore my response. My BFF has a "family" bed. Currently her 4 y/o and 18 month old sleep in bed with her and her husband. They can not get the 4 y/o to sleep in her own room. Personally, I think it's better to either never have the kids in your bed or curb this before they get older and completely dependant on it. I can't imagine having a healthy relationship with your husband with your children in your bed every night. Because the kids have to sleep with them, they don't have any sort of normal schedule. If the parents are up late, so are the kids. I think the whole situation is not beneficial to anyone and causes very grumpy children. I will deal with this tomorrow night first hand. I'm babysitting them until she gets home from work at about mid-night. Both kids typically cry from about 10pm until they get so exhausted they pass out. Not fun!
Likewise, my co-worker's two kids sleep in bed with his wife. They are 4 and 7. He sleeps on the couch.
This is coming from someone who's now 11 month old STILL sleeps in their room/bed. I'd make the transition now.
Soph will not sleep in her crib at night. She'll nap in it during the day and will go down at night for about 2 hours and then she is up every hour until we finally give in and bring her to bed with us. Then she sleeps amazingly until 9 or 10am. I thought I would never say this because I was totally and completely against it before we had Soph, but I absolutely love her sleeping with us. I just know that we're creating a monster here!
I know it's hard. I really do. I would try to make the transition now, like you said you, since you'll be going back to work shortly. Good luck with it
It's so hard!
Oh, I've been there too. Moving Kasey to her crib was THE hardest thing I've ever done as a mom! I kept coming up with excuses - she's sick, or wait until after Christmas, or not yet - she's just starting solids and I don't want her to have too much going on at once. I even convinced myself that she had to stay in our bed because we had just switched over to her winter wardrobe and she wasn't used to her new sleepers yet. But in my heart, I knew it was time. Our queen sized bed was just too small for me, FI, and an 8 month old wiggler.
What we did was sleep with her crib sheet laying over our bed for a few days to get our scent on it. Then FI picked a day and that was it - off she went. I cried and cried and I don't think I slept much at all that first night. But you know what? Kasey slept like a ROCK - didn't wake up at all that night and slept almost 2 hours later that morning than she had been. She LOVED having more room to move around during the night (she's a restless sleeper, like her mommy) and slept SO much better from night 1.
There will always be a reason not to switch over, but the sooner you do it, the better. Let her get used to the crib for a month so she's nice & cozy before you head back to work. If you're worried, get a baby monitor or even an angel care monitor. But it sounds like you KNOW in your heart that it's the right thing to do. So pick a day and stick with it. You'll be happier in the end and you can "celebrate" getting your bed back.
I guess I should be happy that I did this when she turned 4 weeks old, ahhhhhh!
Just do it, you will sleep sooooo much better!! Plus, I'm sure you have a monitor, this is what it's for!!
YOU CAN DO IT!!
We moved Kellen to his crib at 4 weeks. It was especially tough b/c we have a first floor master and K's room is on the second floor. It was hard to have him that far away from us, but he started STTN shortly after we moved him, so I was super excited about that. I am also sleeping much better since I don't hear all of K's squeaks and grunts throughout the night.
If I were you, I'd try to move H now so she can get adjusted in case her sleeping pattern changes. You don't want to be dealing with that once you go back to school. GL! You can do it!