Nursery in master bedroom? (long)

JandS99 · December 2012

Hi everyone. I am mostly a lurker, I have not yet posted yet in second tri. I am 17weeks along with our first and due in May. Shortly after LO is born, we are moving out of state to where my parents have a vacation home (we will be living there permanently). We are planning on staying at their house for the first year while we save for a house/decide exactly where we want to live in the area.

It is a 4 bedroom house, so there is plenty of room, and it is fully furnished. My parents insist that we take the master bedroom, so that we feel "at home" there, which is incredible nice of them (on top of them letting us use their house). It is a very big room, with extra space that could very easily be turned into the nursery. We would be able to have all the necessary furniture and even decorate in there, so there would be space that is devoted to LO.

I don't want to displace too many of their things or have to put any of their current furniture in storage to turn one of the other bedrooms into a nursery. For those of you who are second timers (or third or fourth), do you think it is good to have LO in the room with you the whole first year? Or better to have a separate room for the baby? pros/cons? Thanks for your input!

RussianMommy · December 2012

you're going to be living in their house, things are going to get moved around. I, personally, think babies need their own rooms after a certain amount of time so they can be without the distraction of the parents and learn to sleep on their own. 1 yr is a long time. I'd make a separate nursery.

sucrets4 · December 2012

AAP recommends keeping baby in your room for a year, but that's just not possible for many people. Babies are pretty noisy sleepers and many times everyone sleeps better separately.

Personally, I would set baby's stuff up in another room but you don't need much - a crib and a low dresser that you can use as a changing table with a pad on it. I know it sucks not to be able to decorate (we were in an apt. and most likely moving when DD1 was 4m old) but it's not really necessary.

You can keep baby in with you in a RnP or a bassinet/PnP for awhile and see how it works for you and take it from there. If you are fine with it, then you can set the crib up in there.

mommajewels87 · December 2012

We share a room with our kids for the first 2 years, and then we transition them to their "big girl/boy" room. We've done it with all 5 of our kids with no issues and we will do it with LO6 as well. It's what we're comfortable with and our room is plenty big for both our things + their things. None of my 5 kids have ever had any sleep issues, nor have they had a difficult time transitioning to their own room.

CynthiaC1213 · December 2012

I'm moving in a couple of months, and it is very likely that we will end up in a 1-bedroom apt. So the baby stuff will probably end up in our room anyway. I think in your situation, you should ask your parents if it's ok to move so much stuff around. I'm sure they wouldn't mind, and to be honest, you would be moving just as much if you set the nursery up in a separate room.

SandiaPinaMama · December 2012

DS stayed in our room until 5 months. At 5 months, then I started putting him down in his crib at night, then bringing him to our room after he woke up the first time. He started STTN around 10 months or so, and then he stayed in his own room all night.

Moral of the story: you can totally keep your kiddo in your room the whole first year. Lots of people do this. It's called co-sleeping. Check out the AP board for more info.

Unknown · December 2012

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ippichic · December 2012

We had DS in a bassinet in our room until he was 4 months old. After that, when I went back to work, we really NEEDED to move the baby to his own room, so we could get more sleep. DS was a great sleeper and STTN at 3-4 months. You could share your room for the whole year, but I think it can be disruptive to your sleep, DH's sleep and baby's sleep if you are not a fully committed AP type (no offense meant). You'll probably start out with LO in the room with you anyway, so maybe just go with the flow and figure it out as you and s/he bond and adjust.

emolm · December 2012

We had B in our room until I think eight months and then periodically after that.

I may have snapped if I hadn't been able to move him across the house bc he moves so much in his sleep that I couldn't sleep.

JandS99 · December 2012

Bliss+Berry:
Is this really a decision that needs to be made right away? Why not just try a wait and see approach?

I agree that we can wait and see how things go. The reason for wanting to make a decision is more the "nesting" and wanting to buy furniture/set up a nursery. We will probably end up doing whatever is most practical, though. If that means waiting to set everything up until the baby is a little older, thats what we'll do.

BekW2009 · December 2012

My DD only shared a room with us for two weeks. Our room was too cold for her an he slept better in her room. With that said would I do it differently? Probably not. I'd be afraid she would have given us a fight at 1 or 2 if we had decided to move her then.

SkyBee · December 2012

For us it would have never worked to have DS in our room....... as soon as he was old enough to know we were in the room, he refused to sleep and wanted to be held instead. We also would wake him up when we would move, cough, or sneeze. In his own room he has always slept through the night and in the end we sleep better too.

babymaker22 · December 2012

I think sharing a room is great. I had intended to keep my LO in a separate room after the first few months, well that turned into far longer. Everyone will have a different experience. For us, we had a great sleeper. There were a few times that I moved the bassinet out of the room, and I slept by her when my DH had to wake up early the next day. Most of the time it was not an issue, but he went back to school and work when she was two months old, and she didn't start sleeping over 10 hours at night until 3.5 months.

This will be a decision that may change depending on how well your LO sleeps with you in the room, or whether one parent needs to sleep 8 hours w/o interruption. Our decision changed. We transitioned to separate rooms. At a certain point I decided to move her crib in our room, then she went through a tough teething phase, and daddy let her sleep in our bed. She still sleeps in our bed & is now 18 months. She can nap really well in her crib, too.

I wish you luck. Fingers crossed that you are blessed with a good sleeper, and that co-sleeping (not necessarily meaning bed-sharing) works for you.

This article is great

HoolahZinger · December 2012

We made it work when we stayed in my in-law's granny flat last year. If I had a choice back then, I would just have LO in a bassinet for the fist few months and then transition to his own room after that. Everyone sleeps better that way.

Pro - baby is right there for middle of the night breastfeeding (if you do that)

Cons - Being able to be intimate with DH is hard with a sleeping LO in the room, baby can be woken up by sounds you are DH may make during the night (even just tossing or turning in bed), it's very hard to sleep train (if you plan on doing so) if LO sees you from his bed.

vegemom302 · December 2012

mommajewels87:
We share a room with our kids for the first 2 years, and then we transition them to their "big girl/boy" room. We've done it with all 5 of our kids with no issues and we will do it with LO6 as well. It's what we're comfortable with and our room is plenty big for both our things + their things. None of my 5 kids have ever had any sleep issues, nor have they had a difficult time transitioning to their own room.

Same here, little baby will be in our room for at least 2 years. For us, it is so much easier to have them in our room, either in the co-sleeper or in bed with us. Especially with a baby like DD who was awake all. the. time. Really, I was just way too lazy to wake up and walk to a different room every single time she woke up.

UberBiz · December 2012

Bliss+Berry:
Is this really a decision that needs to be made right away? Why not just try a wait and see approach?

This. And also, I'm biased, I bed-shared with DD for a LONG time, mostly because we were in a very tight space and it was just more convenient, and also because we EBF and then continued to nurse until she was 2 1/2. I also didn't have a SO to share the bed with, which also made it easier to bed-share.

I see no reason to put baby in the same room if you're comfortable with it. And if you're not, well then, your parents gave you free reign of the house, take advantage if something isn't working out for you right away.

jlpev · December 2012

I moved DS into his crib at 2 weeks. He slept better in his crib than the bassinet or pnp in our room.
Plus I even slept better with him in his own room. I don't know why but it was nice!! I have a video monitor which eased my peace of mind. Good luck!!

botanicalbliss · December 2012

I plan on sharing our bedroom with our LO for at least the first year. Mostly, it's because our bedroom is upstairs and the nursery would be downstairs, and I just don't feel comfortable having LO down there all night w/o us.

I think it's up to you what you want to do. Lots of families share rooms, and it's actually a great way to bond. Humans are social creatures, and I think there are a lot of benefits to keeping your family together.

Ana0927 · December 2012

Me DD slept in out room until she was 2 months and started sleeping through the night. Then she went into her own room and we all started sleeping much better. We plan on doing the same with #2. She will go into the third bedroom downstairs. We are tight on space. The room she is going into will be my DH's office/guestroom. We are going to convert the closet into a space for her.

jteneback · December 2012

We set up the crib while I was pregnant and wound up not using it at all for a number of months, but I can understand the nesting instinct! I found it handy to have a separate room for LO and her stuff even if she never slept there.

If it is a 4bedroom house I think clearing out 2 rooms is OK, you can leave the other 2 intact and store things from the other 2 rooms in there as well.

Schell2013 · December 2012

It really depends on your but I would personally say you would probably want to have a seperate room for him/her. If you baby is sick or super fussy you would both be awake and nobody would get any sleep at all. It would be better to have a seperate room that you can be in with the little one then at least whoever's turn it is the other one won't be kept awake too, so hopefully everyone will get enough rest.

nyki06 · December 2012

In my experience I decorated my daughter's nursery and made a big deal about it and she didn't end up going in there until she was 8-9 months old. I REALLY wanted cosleeping to work out but she was a light sleeper so every time we would move/roll she would wake up. She ended up wanting her space and once I moved her to her own room she slept way better. I am still in the camp that it's totally ok and natural to keep your kid close to you as a baby but they don't all prefer that. With all of that said I think you could try keeping them in your room and see how long it lasts. If they love it and you guys don't mind (it is really convenient for night time feeds!) then keep it up. If you hate it and want space you can always move them to another room at that time. All that's necessary for a baby to sleep is a place for them, as long as you have that then all of the other stuff is extra.

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Nursery in master bedroom? (long)

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