anyone have baby in a floor bed in a room alone?

[sunwise]

Hi all,

We are going to be transitioning to a new sleeping arrangement soon with our 10-month old DS, and I was wondering if anyone has done anything similar and how it turned out for you. Due to space issues and DS's frequent night-wakings, he and I are going to move into his bedroom (and DH will continue sleeping in our regular bed). All three of us have been co-sleeping up to this point (with me handling the night wakings) but DH's sleep is suffering and I'd like to let him get a better night's sleep (I rely on him to get up earlier than me and DS in the morning to help get us ready for work/daycare).

I like the idea of using a floor bed so that baby can get in and out on his own, and something big enough so that I can continue to nurse him to sleep. We are going to be using Japanese-style futon mattresses for the floor bed - two twin-size mattresses pushed next to each other. The room is completely babyproofed so it is safe for DS to wander around. For now, I am going to sleep in the room with DS, but in the long-term I would like to try to help him sleep for longer stretches (maybe using the No Cry Sleep Solution) and eventually I would like for him to be able to sleep in his room alone. I don't have plans to night-wean him anytime soon, I just hope to someday reduce his hourly wakings to 1-2 times per night.

Anyway, have any of you allowed your baby to sleep in a floor bed in a room alone? It will be a big change for me, because DS has never slept (at night, anyway) without a parent in the room. Do you have any tips on making such an arrangement work? I appreciate any and all advice. Thanks!

[WildinTheory]

We did, kind of anyway.  Actually it was all in an effort for me to get more sleep as I was going back to work when my son was 10 1/2 months old.  We did the co-sleeping thing backwards (started out with a crib and didn't co-sleep for real until he was almost a year). We moved the crib into our bedroom and side-carred it.  But I still needed something safe in his room for naps when I was at work.  So we put a double mattress on the floor.  It worked really well.  He napped there wonderfully and it was easy and comfortable to lay down with him (whether it was myself, Daddy or Grandma).  At night, he started out there and then when he woke up he came into bed with us.  One thing that helped us when he was really little was that our house is fairly compact and the bedrooms open in a hallway right beside the family room/kitchen.  That way, if he woke up and crawled out of his room, we were right there.  I don't know if I would have been able to do it if his room was on another floor of the house. 

The whole situation actually felt really safe for him even though he was under a year old when we started.  One key was we taught him to crawl off the bed backwards.  Even though it was on the floor, it still was a tumble if he crawled straight off.  I've done that again with my DD who is 11 months and it still amazes me how those little ones can pick that up soooo quickly. 

I wish I could tell you that it led to him sleeping in his bed full time, but that wasn't the case.  Although he loved his bed for playing, relaxing and napping, he was still far more attached to our bed.  Finally when he was four we bought a captains bed frame for the mattress and worked on getting him back to at least starting the night in his own room.  I was pretty firm about it and it's something I still feel conflicted about because he was very upset for a while.  On the other hand, it was good for our family overall.  Next step is trying to get him to stay in his bed until morning!

[stephbrownthinks]

We moved our DS to a floor bed at 7 months, I blogged about it with pictures here: http://stephbrownthinks.blogspot.com/2011/02/marshalls-montessori-bedroom.html

[MJB]

My 11 mo. old goes to sleep in a floor bed in her own room. She usually wakes between 2-4am and I go get her and bring her into our bed, but she has (once) walked in by herself and I expect her to get up and come to us more and more without crying for us to get her. 

[sunwise]

thanks for the advice, everyone! Our new futon mattresses are arriving soon, so we will be transitioning to our new setup in the next few weeks. Hopefully it goes well!

[hildare]

yay!  we do this.. kind of.. dd at least starts the night out in her room, on her floor mattress.  she naps there, and will happily get up (most of the time) and come find us when she wakes up- she only does that at naptime, though.  at night, she just calls us.  we're working on getting her to sleep in there full time now.  i like the independence she has about getting up or not, and it's not really made bedtime any more difficult.

stephbrownthinks: that's a beautiful room, every bit of it.  i love that quilt, too.

[FloridaBorn]

I'm getting ready to do this with my daughter's room.  Still in the process of baby proofing everything and getting a twin mattress.