Am I the only one planning to put baby in her room right away?

[PattiB]

Maybe I'm just going through a last-minute panic, but now I'm about 4 weeks away from due date, and a first-time mom, so I'm rethinking everything.....We had all along planned on putting the baby to sleep in her crib in her nursery from the very first night we return from the hospital. It was recommended by the BB book, which was my initial resource, and also our pediatrician advised it as well - he suggested the longest we should use a bassinet in our room if we were to do so would be just a couple of weeks, since it's a good idea to get her used to sleeping in her crib as soon as possible. I didn't see the point in buying a bassinet for a few weeks so we were going to use the crib right away.

Reading through the posts I see that we're in the definite minority so now I'm getting a bit paranoid. Did anyone else use the nursery right away? Honestly in my naivete before reading up on the subject I thought everyone used a crib at first but now I can see I'm wrong.

Should I get a bassinet? Or stick to the original plan?

I'd love to hear from more experienced parents on the subject!
Thanks

[Karenn]

How close is your room to the baby's room? Honestly, I couldn't sleep with the baby in the same room as me for very long. He and I woke each other up. The only reason I used a bassinet for any period of time is that the baby's room is all the way downstairs from our bedroom and that was just too far for me to walk in the middle of the night for a feeding. If you don't have to go very far from your room to baby's room in the middle of the night, I think you could be fine with just a crib.

HTH,

[millerpjm]

I don't know about being in the minority, but we put our DS in his own room in his crib from the day we got home from the hospital. We did not even use the bassinet we had as part of our pack and play, and he did fine. We would swaddle him when we put him down to sleep, but after a while he'd wiggle out of that too. Do not worry.... many babies start out in the crib right away!

Jen

Proud mama to Thomas 2/3/03

[PattiB]

Good point.
I probably should have also mentioned that the baby's room is right next to our room. I don't really mind going next door for feedings (realizing I may very well change my tune later)and it's about the same distance as it is for me to go to our bathroom - which of course I've been getting up several times in the middle of the night to do in my last month. So I figure I'm used to it. My main concern is that I won't hear her - we'll have a baby monitor too even though she's next door because DH has this thing about keeping the bedroom door shut. But will it wake me up when she wakes up? I don't know if it would wake me either way unless she was crying in which case I would hope the monitor would work just as well. And I can see me getting nervous and getting up just to check on her in the middle of the night.

I'm starting to feel a bit better about the crib thing though.
Thanks.

[Jacksonvol]

We had the pack & play bassinet in our room for @ 4 weeks, but really she would only truly sleep in her swing! After we figured out her feeding problem, she slept better and went into the crib at the other end of the house. It has not been too bad to get up and feed at night (and in the beginning we dozed in the rocker after nursing sometimes). Also, you will hear her on the monitor. You will have bionic mommy hearing after the baby is born. (this is not true for all dads, sometimes it seems to actually cause a loss in hearing.) So starting in the crib is fine, just go with whatever works for you.

[amp]

No, you're not the only one. Before DS was born, I too, thought we'd just put him right in the crib. At the 11th hr, I panicked and we ended up getting a bassinet at a garage sale for $12. It's a good thing. We put him in it for about a week before we realized that we were waking each other up. And, more importantly, he was such a big baby and we could not keep him in a swaddle, that when he got out of it, he's flail his little arms and hit the side of his bassinet and wake himself up completely all through the night. He slept much more peacefully...we all did, when we moved him to his crib after those first few nights. So we got about 5-7 days use out of it. Glad it was cheap!

[jec2]

We had anticipated our baby either sleeping in the crib in the nursery or the Pak n Play in our room. Once we tried both and he cried and cried we knew that sleeping with us was what he needed. We still try him in both the crib and P&P so that he can get used to them in an effort to ease him into sleeping on his own. Good luck.

[peanut4us]

We put Sara in her room from day one (well the first night she spent at home). We never had any problems with it. She looked so small in there that we put her in with her head and feet going from side to side, not long end to long end, understand?

She was just fine. We never planned on co-sleeping and didn't own a bassinet, so this was great for us.

Edited to say: I did have a "nursing station" set up in our bedroom. A comfy chair that bounced a little for me and an ottoman... Tons of pillows to smush around behind my back, a boppy, a couple of blankets (you get cold in the middle of the night with the "girls" out!). I also had a table with a water pitcher, glass and nonperishable foods (fruit, granola bars), my vitamins, etc. I would also keep a book and my laptop with a wireless network card for internet connection on my ottoman. I would watch DVDs in the wee hours of the morning because she nursed FOREVER! Just a thought!

[JElaineB]

I planned to put DS in a bassinet in our room for the first few weeks. But in the end, I ended up putting him in his crib at night right away and putting the bassinet downstairs in the living room (though he didn't sleep well in the crib or bassinet until I got a sleep positioner, but that's a different story). You might find that once the baby comes a lot of things you planned on go right out the window and you do what works! So don't stress too much, you will figure out what works best for you once the baby gets here.

Jennifer
mom to Jacob 9/27/02

[emmiem]

I have two children and am expecting my third. I have always and will put my children in a crib in their own room. My first was a preemie too but I still felt it was better. I wanted to be able to sleep well and with monitors, you hear your children from anywhere in the house. My DH and I have a saying--If you don't want to do something for the rest of your life, don't do it the first time!
Emmie

[hellokitty]

My first baby is not due until feb 2004, and we plan to have baby sleep in his crib right away, so you are not in the minority as far as I am concerned. :) The nursery is the next bdrm over from us and I am a very light sleeper, so foresee no problems hearing baby, plus we will have a baby monitor too.

Anyways, my main reasons for wanting to put baby in crib right away is for safety reasons (the dog sleeps with us, and there is NO way you can teach this old, spoiled dog a new trick!) and also b/c my bil/sil co-slept with both their kids. They JUST finally got their 5 yr old out of their bed into his own room, but the 2 yr old is STILL sleeping with them and probably will until she is around 5 as well! There is NO way I want to go down that road. I know co-sleeping works for some ppl, but when I talk to bil/sil about it, they act like it is a pain, and they are not too crazy about it, so in their situation, it was not something on purpose. If worse comes to worse the baby can sleep in our room in the PNP bassinet for the first month, but that is the longest I will let baby stay in our room. After that, it is my belief that the baby gets too used to it, and it makes it difficult to transition them to the crib in their room. I read, "the happiest baby on the block" and plan on swaddling the baby and using the other techniques in that book. I highly suggest that book if you haven't read it, my friends who already have babies that read the book said it really helped. Good luck, whatever you decide to do!

[hellokitty1]

Same here...my hearing seemed to improve dramatically while DH's seemed to have worsened. :) Only partially kidding bc my DH is great but he has his moments.

Anyway, a crib right away is just fine. I used a bassinet at first thinking it was easier to nurse at night but I couldn't actually nurse laying down til later so I sat up in bed which quite frankly, offered poor back support so the glider in the nursery was better.

Justed edited for spelling.

[wreckgirl1]

Our nursery is our former guest bedroom, so we actually have a double bed in there in addition to the crib. I was all for putting her in the crib alone the first night, but my husband insisted that we sleep in the same room with her at first. It worked out well for us not because we needed to be in there to hear her (if you have the baby monitor on in your bedroom, you'll hear just as well as if you were in the room), but because we had my parents visiting and I didn't want to move the bed or make them sleep with the baby. After two weeks, I announced that I was going back to my own bed, and he very reluctantly did, too. After that first night, he was convinced that there was no need to be in a smaller bed in her room, rather than our own comfy king-sized. If your room is right next to the nursery, it won't take you any longer to respond, so I'd just use the crib in the nursery if I were you.

We went through kind of the same thing as you, and almost bought a Pack N Play with a bassinet right after she was born (while we were still in the hospital). If you are planning on getting a PnP anyway, the bassinet comes on most of the current models, so you could just make sure you have that before the arrival date if you are still unsure. But, if you don't plan on getting a PnP right away, I wouldn't bother. _Plenty_ of parents put their babies in the crib the first night (me included!). I don't think what goes on on these boards is necessarily reflective of the population.

Cynthia

[cmferrara]

You are not alone.. we are expecting our son in January 2004 and all along we have planned to put him in his crib in his own room. You are right.. hearing many other people talk you do feel in the minority and possibly as if you are neglecting your baby's needs by putting them in their own room, but stick to your guns. Our birthing class instructor thinks everyone should "co-sleep" with their babies, our pediatrician says put him in his own crib. I think it boils down to a matter of opinion, but the pediatrician we chose specializes also in child behavior and development and he does not think it's a good idea to put the baby in your bed not only for safety reasons but because it can be hard to get them out once you start down that road and can lead to other behavioral challenges. IMHO each parent has to decide what is right and comfortable for them and their baby.
Good Luck!
Christie

[momma_boo]

I don't think you are in the minority for planning to use the crib right away. Our DD has slept in her crib since she came home from the hospital. Her room is right down the hall from our room. It would have been more convenient for us to have her in our room on some of those nights when she was a newborn and didn't sleep at night, but it wasn't an option. DH's bird (a big blue and gold macaw) sleeps in the bed and like a previous poster with a dog, it's hard to break them of a habit. I have no problems hearing her. The monitors are very sensitive, if you put the volume up on ours, we can actually hear DD breathing sometimes. These days, I find myself jumping out of bed even before she is really crying, just starting to fuss a little.

We did have a Pack N Play with the bassinet which we kept downstairs in the living room (she took most of her naps there during the first couple of months).

Before we had the baby, DH had an idea to put a small tv into the baby's room so that whoever was up with the baby could watch tv. I resisted spending more money and of course, when I was sitting there, holding her at 3 in the morning, was wishing I had more to look at than the walls. I never admitted that to him, though. He'd have a field day with the "I-told-you-so's." Reading about how Joey watched DVD's on her laptop reminded me of that.

[hellokitty1]

Esther-

Your post caught my eye bc we put a tiny tv in DD's room for all the time we spent in there setting up the nursery b4 DD was born and the late nights we were in there when she was first born. My mom, of course, wondered why there was a tv in her room, thinking we were gettign DD addicted young.:) I have to say, it really did come in handy during those times. I caught a lot of Jay Leno and also the BabyTalk Magazine TV show.

[momma_boo]

Gee, I hope someone reads this thread and learns a lesson from my mistake, LOL! I resisted putting a tv in the room b/c I was so worried that we would end up with a tv addicted baby. It's funny b/c the tv is ALWAYS on when she's playing in the living room and she never cares about it.

Well, when #2 arrives, I'll have to make sure to get a little tv. I think after a night or two of being bored out of my mind, I put in a small radio and listened to the news (although that got bad too since they repeat the same news every 10 minutes).

[hellokitty1]

Yes, the TV is nice and you're right, it's on on every other part of the house, it seems like, and she could care less about. Now the remote control is a different story. :)

My husband even added a VCR so that all the primetime stuff you can't watch with a new baby, you can record and watch at 3am. :)

[Judegirl]

We live in a tiny one-bedroom, and are in the process of moving into the living room to make way for the crib in the bedroom. So I'm another one; sleeping in the same room as the baby isn't even an option for us; we never considered it.

But as a first-time mom, I'm confused about all the t.v.-in-the-nursery talk. Is this only for nursing mothers? I mean, if we're using a bottle, how long will it take to feed the baby - will we want entertainment in there??? Yikes.

Thanks much!
Jude

[Jen in Chicago]

Jude was in his crib from day one! Ironically we put the P&P up in our room a few weeks ago b/c of bad night of sleep for him. He slept in there for an hour. His room is close but I still use a monitor. It is about time to stop that b/c this morning I woke to him kicking the monitor part that hangs in his crib. Not a pleasant thing to wake to CLUNK CLUNK CLUNK

[stillplayswithbarbies]

I planned to put my first baby right in the crib. I think most people plan to have the baby sleep in the crib in the nursery.

But then once baby was here, it was so much easier just to have him sleep in my bed. I didn't even have to wake up to feed him, just awake enough to move him into position to latch on. It just seemed like the right thing to do for all of us.

...Karen
Jacob Nathaniel Feb 91
Logan Elizabeth Mar 03

[hellokitty1]

I can't speak for bottlefeeding but my baby is a marathon nurser so it got boring. Plus she was a nursing sleeper so I kind of did need to keep her awake somewhat.

[aoconnell]

We had our baby in our bedroom in a PNP at first, but very quickly moved her to her room, right across the hall from ours, and I slept on a twin in her room. She did just fine and I moved back into our room fairly quickly, after felt OK about her being there. Bonus: we never had an issue about her being afrad to stay alone in her room.

[KBecks]

We used a bassinet, but we put it as far away from our bedroom as possible! We have a small house, so we had no problems waking up when baby started crying.

If we didn't have a bassinet, we would have used the crib in baby's room right away.

[SusanMae]

My husband and I are TTC, and when we have our baby--it will go in the crib in our room. I intend to nurse, so I hope it makes it easier to have the baby in our room. Also new SIDs reccomendations came out a few months ago saying that the baby SHOULD sleep in the same ROOM as the mother, but not the same bed. Just thought I would share that info with you.

Susan

[citymama]

This is another newbie mom-to-be. We're expecting our first in 3 months. We've bought a crib, but based on BB advice and the fact that we have a small place (and no storage), we decided against a bassinette or co-sleeper. The baby will sleep in our room since we live in a 1 BR! But we are also planning to put her in her crib right away. It sounds like this has worked for many people.

But how do you make them feel secure and comfortable in the big open space of the crib? I'm assuming this is the main reason people go the bassinette/moses basket route in the first place. Any advice would be appreciated! Thanks.

[jacquirapp]

Honestly, so much of this depends on how you choose to parent and what works for your family and your child.

For us, having the baby in another room meant I got little to no sleep b/c I was bf-ing. Having a co-sleeper attached to the bed, so that the whole SIDS issue and being worried about having your baby in your bed is a non-issue, really makes a huge difference. You can nurse and then roll over and go back to sleep while you baby is safe in the co-sleeper.

We tried to do the crib thing in another room... it was brutal on me. I had to get up and out of bed and nurse the baby, then transition the baby carefully to be sure I didn't rewake her to get her back to sleep... b/c we refused to CIO. So, I got little to no sleep b/c it was just too much.

I agree that you can think that you will definitely do one thing and then when the baby arrives, something totally different will be what pulls at your heart as a parent.

Just go with your instincts. :) You know what is best for you and your family. Some families just sleep better when the baby is safely tucked away in a crib. Other families sleep better with the baby nearby. You can't really KNOW where you fall until such time as you are there.

Look, if you realize you want a bassinette/co-sleeper, you can always run to BRU and pick one up when you get home, kwim? :)

Just trust your instincts and don't worry about what other people or books tell you. :) Pediatricians and books and other parents don't know your family.

Jacqui

[eachaney]

We just purchased a Babi Italia Pinehurst Dropside crib for our 6 month old who has been cosleeping with us. Now we notice on the box it says MINIMUM age for use is 15 months!!!

There is nothing different about this crib that I can see. Is this a common warning? Does everyone ignore it? Help - I'm afraid to unpack the box!

Liz

[kusiakje]

that's really weird. The only thing I can think of is that maybe the slats are wider than the recommeded 2 3/8 inches apart so that younhger babies with smaller heads could get stuck?

Anyway, there's a quick solution to your problem. Go here: http://www.keepingbabiessafe.org/recalled_products_cribs.shtml
and make sure that this new crib of yours complies with everything on the list. If it does, no worries. If it doesn't...well...let's just hope it does.

HTH,
Jessica

btw, your question is different enough from the previous topic that you could have just started another post.

[eachaney]

Thanks for the reply. Heard from the company, Babi Italia, it's a misprint on the crib box which should have applied to the toddler bed. What a relief!

Liz

[kusiakje]

After I replied, I started to wonder about that. If it was a convertible or something that the age limit would apply to the toddler bed configuration. Anyway, glad everything's fine.

Jessica

[scarletsmommy]

I would like to second (or third, or fourth...) the idea of a good feeding chair and a TV no matter where you choose to put the little one to sleep. I didn't realize how important those two items would be until we got her home!!!

[KBecks]

We have a medium size ranch house - and we put the baby far away from our room (in the living room) so that we wouldn't hear every little noise.

We did sleep with our bedroom door partially open so we could hear, but we didn't want to hear every little stirring, just the signal cries for feeding.

[KBecks]

We did what worked for us. I'm pretty sure we started with the baby in the room and soon discovered that it wansn't quite right. I preferred to get up and out of the bedroom for night feedings anyway.

Good luck!

[HannaAddict]

ETA: Just saw this is a 2003 post!!!! I'm sure baby was just fine, but wow, how did this one get revived.

The latest (2006) SIDS risk/prevention info advises the safest place for baby to sleep is in the parents' room for the first few/several months. Having baby in our room, next to our bed, actually saved us on sleep so I could nurse quickly and go back to sleep when he woke up. I am not sure why the BB book would have an opinion on where a baby should sleep? I'm surprised at your ped's rec considering the most recent SIDS info (and having baby sleep in their own room is not a 'medical' issue). I would get a bassinet or portable crib or co-sleeper and change your original plan. FWIW, our son had no problem starting to sleep in his big crib at seven or eight months, he didn't need to get used to it as a newborn. Congrats on your new arrival.

Kimberly