If you have been bedsharing or room sharing, you may have come to a point where you would like your personal space back. Although sharing a space with your baby can be beautiful and comforting, especially in the first few months of life, it is natural for you to crave the serenity and intimacy you held in your room pre-baby!
The transition can be more difficult for a mother than it is for her baby. Babies are highly adaptable and carry less emotional baggage than we do. Sure, they love the closeness no matter what time of day or night, but often bed-sharing and room-sharing equates to a baby who is waking numerous times through the night. They may have gotten used to your help to drift back to sleep and would go on to look for this help when transferred into their own cot or room.
Out of sight out of mind
If you are bedsharing and currently considering moving baby into their own cot next to your bed, you are making things harder for yourself. Baby will be waking to hear you, smell you, sense your presence and naturally want to move closer to you. If you’re going to take the leap, pop them into their own room. This will also mean you don’t have to make yet another change further down the line.
Tips to help baby transition:
1. Start with 1 nap a day in the cot
2. Sleep with the sheet you will use in the cot or a comforter
3. Introduce a lovey/comforter if you haven’t already (and baby is 6m+)
4. Try not to put your adult emotions onto your baby, consider their need to sleep soundly overnight.
5. Make a plan and stick to it (putting your baby in their cot one night and then co-sleeping the next is confusing and will make the process harder for baby)
If you need help making a plan for moving baby out of your room I offer sleep plans on my website. Go and view your options on the Shop page of my website. I offer ‘in the room’ and ‘out of the room’ techniques. An ‘out of the room’ technique in this situation will mean you are camping out beside your baby’s cot in their room, for the first night(s).
Need more info? Send an email to countingsleepbyhailey@gmail.com or text 0499 499 812 to organise a free 15 minute chat.
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