Moving Baby E into his own room.

We passed another big milestone yesterday. Baby E is now 5 1/2 months old and last night he spent the night in his own room for the first time. There is a part of me that is mourning the loss of my little baby sleeping by my side, and another part of me that is celebrating getting my own room back.



Before I gave birth to Baby E I had every intention of him sleeping in his own room as soon as we brought him home. The FSID (Foundation for the study of infant deaths (http://www.sids.org.uk/) recommend that baby's sleep in their parents rooms for the first six months. This is sound advise, however I had ideas of giving my baby independence and did not mind the thought of getting out of bed every night to feed him or cuddle him if he needed me. Several of my friends who had newborns had successfully put them in their own room from a few days old, so I felt it was the normal thing to do for me.



The first night we brought Baby E home, we placed him in his crib at the foot of our bed. Baby E did not like this one little bit. In the hospital, Baby E had spent the first few nights of his life in the big scary world next to my bed, spending most of the night looking at me, rather than sleeping. Now he was in a strange house, in a new bed in a place where he could not see his Mummy. He was not happy and spent most of the time crying. Finally at 3am he fell asleep for about 6 hours, and my Fabulous Boyfriend and I knew that something had to change. We wanted a happy baby, who was contented and felt safe. The next day while I was feeding Baby E, my Fabulous Boyfriend moved the bedroom furniture round so Baby E could sleep next to me. Suddenly all wishes of Baby E sleeping in his own room were gone. I knew I wanted my beautiful Baby to sleep next to me for as long as was needed. That night we had a happy, contented Baby who could see his Mummy and Daddy whenever he awoke. For the last 5 1/2 months he has slept by our sides perfectly happily.



Recently we decided it was the right time to move Baby E into his own room. He was getting quite a disturbed sleep in our room which is at the front of the house. We think cars driving past have been waking him, and of course he always opens his eyes when we come to bed.

Finally, after weeks of talking about it, last night my Fabulous Boyfriend made the cot. We have borrowed the cot from my Fabulous Boyfriend's sister. Putting the cot together was quite an achievement as we had no instructions, and I was not sure if there were any screws missing as the bag containing the small parts had a big hole in the side.



Baby E watched his Daddy put his new bed together, and looked quite impressed when we let him lie in it to check it was OK. We moved his cot bumper and teddies from his crib so it was familiar to him, and set up the i-pod with the womb music. It was almost an hour past Baby E's bedtime when we finally put him to bed in his new cot, so I think he was so tired he was happy to sleep anywhere! Baby E slept perfectly in his new room. He did not stir once, and slept happily all night. We kept the baby monitor on in our room so we could listen out in case he needed us, but he slept like an angel.



This morning he has taken his nap in his new room. We shut the curtains together, put Baby E into his growbag, started the lullaby music, put Baby E into his cot, tucked him in with a blanket, gave him kisses night night, and Baby E happily fell asleep playing with his teddy. Bliss!