Transitioning Our Baby to Sleeping In Her Own Room
My latest motherhood adventure has been transitioning our 4-month-old daughter, Clay, to sleeping in her own room over the weekend. This blog post includes how we knew we were ready, how we transitioned and how it went! For those of you who are looking to do the same soon, I hope sharing our experience is helpful for you!
HOW I KNEW WE WERE READY
It is true when people say you’ll just know when it’s time. Clay has been sleeping through the night since she was six weeks old, so getting up multiple times in the middle of the night hasn’t been a necessary factor for keeping her in our room for a while now. She has also been starting to grow out of her bassinet and has been getting more and more sensitive to sound. She would stir if we accidentally dropped something off our nightstands in the middle of the night, when Lucia’s nails loudly hit the hard floor, etc. I knew she would probably get even better sleep in a room by herself and additionally, no longer having her in our room would also allow Justin and I to have alone time again. It just felt right and made sense!
HOW WE TRANSITIONED
Spent lots of time in the nursery
We’ve always spent a lot of time in her nursery — that’s where she gets her diaper and clothes changed, we play in there a lot and she naps in there (which I’ll talk more about in a sec). This room feels familiar and comfortable to her, which was the goal!
Had her take naps in her crib
Clay has been taking all of her naps in her crib in her nursery for the past month or so. I feel that this has helped her associate her crib with sleep and makes the space seem safe to her.
Replicated the same sleeping environment
I went as far as I could with this to ensure success (lol). I put her Hatch on the same sound and light settings that it’s always on in our room, and I put it off to the right of her when she’s sleeping, just like she’s used to. I wanted it to seem like the same room and setup if/when she was to wake up in the middle of the night. I’m not sure if the light positioning did anything but ease my own fears, but I’m sure the usual blackout blinds and sound setting that she’s used to helped a ton!
Performed the same bedtime routine
With the blackout blinds down and sound machine on, we swaddle Clay and I nurse her. Every night, she falls asleep during her last nursing session, I let her lay on the boppy with me for 10-15 minutes, then I lay her down. If she stirs a bit when I lay her down, I rest my hand on her belly and hold it there for several seconds until she relaxes.
HOW IT WENT
She did GREAT! She didn’t care and/or notice that she was sleeping somewhere new, and she slept her usual 9 hours. I was worried about having to use a monitor vs. her just being feet away from us all night, but it ended up being just fine. I actually did a little happy dance after I successfully laid her down to sleep and closed the door behind me. It felt like such a mom victory!
MY THOUGHTS
To my surprise, I actually feel much better having her in her own room. It’s given me some of my freedom back, and knowing she sleeps well and is comfortable in there makes it that much better. We can now watch shows together in our bedroom at night again, get up without worrying about waking her, and get ready in our rooms before she wakes up in the morning with all the lights on. It’s restored some “normalcy” in my life again, plus she looks so damn cute sleeping in the nursery. However, her bassinet was the first baby item I ever bought (7 months before I even found out I was pregnant and its been in our room ever since then), so knowing that she’s no longer going to use it and we’ve passed this special stage in her life is a little sad. Instead, I try to remind myself that her growth and development are successes that should be celebrated. Overall, the change is great and I’m excited!
CLAY’S SLEEPING ESSENTIALS:
- Lollipop baby monitor
- Ikea crib
- Love to Dream Swaddle UP Transition Bag
- Hatch Baby Rest sound machine
- Blackout blinds — we got ours from Lowes!
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That about sums it up! If you have any questions, feel free to send them my way. Thanks so much for stopping by my blog and check back for another new post soon!