how/when to let baby sleep alone?

[is it puppies?]

I currently co-sleep with my 12 week DD. She would like to go to sleep at about 7, what do I do now? I have ordered a monitor, but have no crib. Usually I end up eating dinner over her, and watching TV till 10 or so with her on top of me. I've never left her sleeping alone unless she wants to sleep in from a nap. I do have a bassinet on my play yard so should I try to use that? Or childproof my bed (on my to-do list anyways)? or get her a crib?

Then- do I just stay with her till she's asleep and leave her?

She would be sleeping so much better without me typing one-handed over her!

I just have no idea how to do this! I would still just bring her into bed after her first waking (between 2 and 4 usually) if I did put her somewhere else.

[MommaKitten21]

I have a 5 week old, and I nurse her to sleep, lay her in the crib, and then when she wakes up for her first night time feeding, usually I am ready for bed by then and just bring in to bed with me and we sleep together for the rest of the night.

Over all, it's really been a good system that's been working (mostly) well.

We probably wouldn't have this routine, but I'm doing it by myself right now as DH is gone with the Army....so I'm still trying to figure out a good system.

[Nicole730]

I put DD down around 7pm, wherever I am. So sometimes it's on the couch with a pillow next to her, other times it's in our bed - then I put pillows around her too. We have small house, so I can hear if she wakes up, if I'm not in the room - but I usually am. We have a crib, but it keeps getting filled with clean diapers - so she doesn't use that much. I do use her bassinet in our room occasionally, but she thinks our bed is a lot more comfy

I was able to keep DS in my bed for naps for a long time, even when he was mobile because he just didn't move a lot - sleeping or right after he woke up. DD appears to be the same way.

[Knitting Mama]

Generally I put Cecilia in the swing when she is sleeping and I am not ready to yet.

[PatioGardener]

i used a bassinet, and now he is too big i have babyproofed the bed

nak

[hakeber]

With DS I used a Moses Basket when we weren't sleeping together (during the day or if he slept before me) until he was about 4 months old. Then we switched to a crib when he was about 5 months, and he slept there for naps and night time sleep until he was almost 2.

DD just slept in her stroller in the reclined position with a thick blanket folded up in it (living in cities like we do it's the only use we have for the dang thing. That and as a grocery cart.)...she still does when we are not ready to put her to bed yet and I want her nearby.

I think you could use the bassinette function, or just the crib function with a mattress or a think quilt folded up on the bottom.

[P.J.]

I agree with the bassinett recommendation. We had one for the first couple months. We also have a baby hammock which worked pretty well, but sometimes he hates it and wakes up screaming in it so we don't really use it that much anymore (BTW talking about only naps here...he sleeps at night in our bed w/us). But now that he can roll we use sleep positioners (ours are like these with air vents) and just lay him on the middle of our bed in them, also with some firm pillows on either side just in case, and then when I'm ready to join him for the night I just gently remove them. I think this system will work until he can sit up crawl, and then I would like to transition to a crib because he would definitely end up falling off the bed otherwise. I guess once that happens I'll just move him into our bed at night when he wakes up for nursing.

[HeckedyPeg]

Once I got DS into his routine and found his preferred sleep time (10pm, fine with me, I'm a night owl) I started putting him down in the play-yard bassinet next to our bed. Before that, he'd just hang out with me until midnight when I went to bed ... I have a monitor so I can hear him, and it works well. He takes his naps out in the living room during the day, either in the swing, or the bouncy chair ... or on me, lol

[katelove]

J is 16 weeks and has slept with us since birth. Until recently we kept her with us, either on us or on the lounge until we were ready for bed. But, we just discovered that she sleeps *a lot* better if we put her to bed. So, she now goes to bed for all her sleeps. Sometimes I sleep with her, if I want a nap too but mostly she is there by herself. We check on her every 15-20 mins and lay down with her at the first signs of waking.

No specific babyproofing yet. I just move the pillows away from her head and cover her with a light bunnyrug. When she starts to roll we'll attach the bed rails.

[BetsyS]

Those bassinets on p&p's have pretty low weight limits. I pushed it with my second baby, but it ended up sagging pretty quickly. I think the limit is like 15 lbs?

I have a 12 week old, and he goes in a crib sometimes. Sometimes, I let him sleep in a bouncy seat instead. Just sort of depends on where I am when he falls asleep.

[Friday13th]

I've just started leaving DS2 in bed after nursing him to sleep. It's complicated slightly by the fact that DS1 also sleeps in our bed and I'm worried about a flailing arm or leg hitting the baby. But I'll leave him for a little while, to load the dishwasher, grab a snack, clean the bathroom, with the monitor on if I'm not in earshot. I apparently breed children who DO NOT transfer so the whole nursing to sleep and putting down doesn't cut it, it never did with DS1 either. With DS1 we'd just hang out in the living room and he'd nurse/sleep on our laps until we all went to bed but DS2 seems to prefer an actual bedtime routine.

[Hannah32]

nak

we're working on establishing a bedtime for our 11 week old. i put him in his nightie around 745 and then nurse him on the couch until he conks out. i wait 20 minutes for it to "take" and then he goes into his arms reach, joining me later in bed. until this past week, I had to be in the room or he'd wake up almost immediately, so I'm enjoying a bit of freedom now, even though I try to go to bed asap.

[snoopy5386]

With a 12 week old, I would put them anywhere - the bed, the pack and play, the floor, the couch, etc. They aren't going anywhere, so why not? My 1st DD slept exclusively in our bed for 14 months and I wasn't with her during most naps and the 1st part of every night.

[Abraisme]

Around 3mo I start laying my babies down in my bed to sleep (until I go to sleep for the night). I believe that babies need as much touch as possible for the first 3mo (some longer), including while asleep. My DD naturally started sleeping better if I left her alone around that age, so I went with her needs. If she napped or slept in a carrier she'd be up in 20min, which wasn't enough time. I always just left her on my bed, once she was rolling I'd put a pillow on either side of her. Good luck.

[ann_of_loxley]

We co sleep as well. Sometimes - I think so far it has happened four times in total (and hes nearly 5 months old! lol) - he has fallen asleep (at the boobie - where else? lol) whilst we lay down in bed and it has been early enough that I was not tired/ready to go to bed and I was able to get up and go about my evening with him still asleep in the bed. Mostly he just wakes up if I am not there though - but hes a pretty attached baby. Right now he is asleep in the ring sling on me! hehe Our bed is pretty safe though and he is not able to crawl yet. When he is able to crawl, I would be less willing to leave him to sleep just in case he wakes up and crawls off the bed - until I know he can safely get on/off the bed that is! Our house is tiny though - if we had a bigger house, I might not feel so comfortable with that.

[KellyandBean]

If she will tolerate being put down somewhere else to sleep then i highly recommend getting her started on being used to it now as it will make things a lot easier as she gets older. You'll probably notice soon that she will have a harder and harder time sleeping with things going on around her as she becomes more aware of her environment so you may find you need to start putting her down somewhere quiet and dark. If you plan to continue co-sleeping i wouldn't bother with the expense of a crib and would just put your mattress on the floor so it is safe for her.

[is it puppies?]

Yes I think part of the problem is that she is starting to pay too much attention to what's going on, and she has already started settling herself into a routine of passing out by 7 or 8. She (lately) has some trouble falling asleep for naps and I have to keep her on me usually for a good afternoon sleep, though sometimes I can get her to sleep in the swing (which is where she used to be able to conk out no prob, but now I think it's too noisy and busy in the living room or something). I'd love to be able to help her sleep better and consolidate her naps and sleeping time or whatever is going on- but she's just becoming so busy and aware now that things are becoming much more up and down.

I have to check what the weight limit is on my P&P... lots of good suggestions, thanks all!

[octobermom]

We partially cosleep I've found it best so far for both my kids.. Because of this we do have a "safe" seperate sleeping space so my LO goes dwn in her crib then joins me (I'm co-rooming with her) when she wakes.. She also naps in her crib "alone". Our home is small enough leaving the door open is enough to hear her.
I think you could eaither make the big bed safe with rails or puting the mattress on the floor and making sure you can comfortably hear her, or consider starting her out in a bassinett or Pack N play (or buy a cribs) but I don't think you NEED to buy something.
Deanna

[WildinTheory]

We have our crib side-carred to our king size bed but so far she hasn't really slept there by herself. At 8 weeks she usually sleeps in her basinette (which is in the kitchen/living room) for naps during the day and her first sleep at night. Once I put her in the basinette of the pack n'play in her bedroom. I kept checking her every few minutes because it felt so wrong to have her sleeping in a room where we weren't. It kinda makes me laugh because I can't even imagine her sleeping all night alone in her room!

[MsVyky]

Our DD just goes down into our bed when she is ready. She usually goes down about 8 PM, and is waking up for her first night nursing when we are going to bed (around 10) so it works nicely. She sleeps longer when we are with her, though.

We have moved our bed into the den (we used to sleep upstairs in a loft-type bedroom that wasn't safe once she started crawling), and there's nothing in there except the bed, her dresser and her diapering stuff (she can't get into trouble in there), so we just keep the door slightly ajar. If she wakes up she just crawls out and into the living room, LOL.