Moving your baby into their own room.

Considering how many parenting books there are out there, this seems to be one of the topics on which the experts are strangely unwilling to commit.

I’m no expert, but I do have three kids and I do know that moving our middle child from our bedroom to his own at two years old was a BAD idea. So bad he still sleeps in our bed.

I also happen to know one or two mummy and daddy bloggers who have all been there, done it and got the t-shirt, so with our youngest rapidly approaching one and (bitter) experience telling me it’s now or never I asked them for their top tips on moving your baby into their own room.

10 top tips for moving your baby into their own room

1. Move their moses basket or crib into their new room first. “We moved the moses basket into their own room and let them continue sleeping in it for a few nights, before moving them to their cot. This made the transition easier as they were familiar with their basket already,” says Victoria at Lylia Rose.

2. Do it sooner rather than later. “We moved our little girl in around a year old. I think the best thing to do is get it done early so that they don’t get too used to being in your room,” says Ayse at Arepops.

3. Give them something that smells of you. “As I was breastfeeding, my son was waking up throughout the night wanting milk as he could smell it, so moving him out of the room actually helped him to sleep better at night,” says Emma-Louise at Even Angels Fall. “As he was used to smelling me, we transitioned by giving him the top I had been wearing that day to cuddle.”

4. If they’re sharing a room don’t put them to bed at the same time. “We made sure the younger slept first otherwise they kept each other up,” says Folakemi at Peacocks Can Fly. “Also I’ll start the bedtime routine a bit earlier to leave time for messing around.”

5. Edge away slowly. “I found that not shocking them into sleeping by themselves worked very well, but it’s a really long process and you need to stay calm and patient,” says Leyla at Motherhood Diaries. “I now follow a routine of bathtime, booktime (reading), golden time (private chats/vents) which involves lying down by their bed and then lying on the floor next to them until they’re about to sleep and then edging away afterwards.”

6. Take advantage of any breaks in the normal routine. “I have a four-year-old and two-year-old. We made the move for them to go in together during a period over Christmas when they both had sickness bugs,” says Olly at Savvy Dad. “We were up all night with them anyway, so it made sense. Then, after the bugs and illnesses had passed they fell into a routine.”

7. Don’t get a video monitor. “We found we watched it all the time and it was too distracting. Just stick with a normal monitor,” says Pete at Household Money Saving.

8. Drape yourself in a sheet. “I was a little cautious about giving him a top or something for overnight and figured the sheet would be safer!” says Jaymee at The Mum Diaries. “I think it did help settle him but three years later and he still comes into our bed!”

9. Serenade them. “I used classical music to help soothe my daughter so she had some sound in the room,” says Melanie at Cossins Music School.

10. Don’t bother. “I have me and my husband, a five-year-old and a two-year-old in our (luckily huge) bedroom,” says Hayley at I Am River. “I know I’m in the minority but it works for us and we all sleep – mostly.”

Have you moved a baby into their own bedroom recently? How did it go and do you have any top tips?

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