Where to sleep - in our room or in own baby room? Cradle or cot?

[Nix76]

Hi All,

I'm a first time Mum and still got a while to go til I meet our little bubs, but I was wondering what do people do in terms of sleeping locations with their babies when they first come home from hospital?

Do you have bubs sleep in your room with you? What about when bubs cries in the night and dad has to work next day? What about when we get up in the morning and don't want to make too much noise to wake bubs? What about changing in the middle of the night - I am going to have to go to bubs room anyhow?

Or do you have bubs sleep in their room straight away? For our house that is so far away! I know I can get a monitor but it would be hard I would imagine to not have them right there with you?

Also - do you choose cradle / bassinet or go straight into a cot?

Interested in anyone's experience's.

Cheers

[Purple Penguin]

Both DD's slept in a bassinet in our room when they came home from hospital, DD#1 went into her own room at 2 months old, she slept better and so did we. DD#2 is still in our room at 4 1/2 months old, she doesn't wake DH up at all when she wakes for her feed during the night.

I'm sure when bubs arrives that you will soon discover what works for you.

[Winter]

I'm sure when bubs arrives that you will soon discover what works for you.

That's the truth of it! We could all tell you what we did and what works for us, but they'd be a hundred different things and may not fit with how you feel, your circumstances and your baby's sleeping pattern.

You'll work out where you feel most comfy having bubs!

[onthefly]

I think it's generally recommended that you keep baby close to you to begin with at least - the closer they are to you the safer (from a SIDs perspective). I think it would be really hard to be separated from a newborn too - couldn't imagine doing it myself.

They can be noisy breathers and make all sorts of noises during the night, in addition to crying when they wake up. But, you'd be surprised what you partner can sleep through. In any case, baby comes first, so if he's not getting up to help and doesn't want to be woken up then he should find somewhere else to sleep.

And, the closer they are to you the easier the night wakeups are. Having them in bed with you = least possible disruption. It's not for everyone, but something to consider. You can keep nappy supplies by the bed and just do it there. You only need to change them if they're poohy (unless soaked through obviously), and may find it's not too long at all before you can leave them all or most of the night without changing.

Many little babies prefer smaller spaces to sleep at first, to mimic their containment in the womb, so you may find a bassinet or something like that works better.

Above all - you will find through trial and error exactly what works for you and your baby. You can't really know for sure till you're actually doing it. All the best~~

[Party-of-five]

DD1 was in our room in a bassinette until she slept thru at 4 months and out grew the bassinette and DD2 is currently in our room ...I have a wonderful DH who gets up to make her bottles and then he goes and sleeps on the lounge until he goes to work at 3am.

[Laiceysmummy]

I had DD1 in a cradle with me for about a week then put her into her own room, she was just to noisy and i had to wander around the house anyway to get her bottles.

DD2 was in my room for a few weeks in a bassinet then went into her own room, bassinet came off the stand and i put it into her cot. I put her into her own room when we got a rocking chair so i could feed her (booby) in her own room and then pop her straight back into bed, she was much more settled with not having to move from room to room at night.

Saying that, I was single having my DD1 so i had no one else to wake up and now DD2s daddy works nights so i could have her in with me and not have to worry about waking him up in the first few weeks while i fed her.

[Life is Good]

I kept our boy with me in the same room until 8 weeks. We slept in a separate room to DH because he really needs his sleep for the crazy stressful long hours he works. We would all be in the same room over weekends.

We had the same issue with his bedroom being on the other side of the house. For the first two weeks I slept in the spare room near his because I was so scared to be so far away. I then bit the bullet and used the monitor (volume turned right up! haha) and since then it has been pretty easy.

I think I will do the same thing again with the next bub, though I may move them into their own room sooner as DS slept so much better in his own room!

Making sure that you always have fresh back-up batteries in both your remote and base monitor units really helps!

Best of luck - just do what feels right for you