Moving to own bedroom

[Esme78]

I'm looking for advice in relation to, eventually, moving our daughter (currently just over 5 months) into her own bedroom and strategies to use for night time feeding and settling her down. We are not in a hurry but want to think ahead. We are not fans of sleep training/CIO method and are looking for a gentler approach.

She currently sleeps in her next-to-me but spends considerable time in our bed as I breastfeed her on my side. I believe that she is currently going through a five-month developmental spurt, which can affect sleep, and although she sleeps well, she wants to be close to me and on the breast more than usual. I feed her to sleep - she rarely falls asleep spontaneously. She has also started waking up earlier and does not settle back to sleep (but has an extra nap in the morning). She normally has 3 naps daily and regular feeds.

Any kind words of wisdom would be helpful. Thank you.

[Lovefood1984]

I did a lot of reading around the internet although I was blessed with a bottle fed baby that’s not keen on milk and would fall asleep at bedtime 3 1/2hrs after her last bottle refusing to take another before bed! (Caused it’s own problems but every baby is an individual!) I’d certainly start trying to put her down drowsy but awake after a feed, start with the daytime ones if bedtime would be too much. That way you are laying down the foundation for her to learn to drift off unaided but will take some time (but sounds like you are in no rush). Someone also posted on here about a month ago about a mumsnet post she’d found (a very long one!) where someone had described the steps to getting them to self settle but without the whole CIO thing. From what I understood you stop feeding to sleep even if you have to replace that through rocking etc. Then you move onto putting them into their cot but sitting with them with a hand on them or patting them etc and not going until they are settled and asleep. You then stay there for a few nights until you move away a bit more and so on until you can get out of the room. The lady liked that one as they do cry but you are with them reassuring them at all times. It may be worth you trying to find it 😊 it seemed like people had had success and no one was made to feel bad if they caved due to illness and teething etc they just re-started again when ready. I’m sure others on here will have some good advice too x

[kt_11]

I wouldn’t say it was really much change for us putting my little boy into his own room. I never tended to bring him into my bed although he did used to feed to sleep.

I decided I needed to change this as it stopped working every time and he then had no means of getting to sleep. Even when he did feed to sleep he started waking up shortly after with what I suspected to be wind so I felt he needed a gap between his last feed and bed so would feed him and then change/get ready for bed. I replaced the feeding with rocking him til he was nearly asleep then putting him down and gently patting him to sleep so he was falling asleep in his bed rather than on me and then getting put down. x