How long to keep baby in our room?

Before my DD was born, I thought I had an exact idea how I was going to do it, like 6 months in our room then transfer to her own room and sleeping in her cot for the whole time.. Then she was born, really bad sleeper and we ended up co-sleeping, and we still do at nearly 13 months. lol I totally understand Singarosa, I feel the same, having her beside us and the smile in the morning is something I would miss if I was to transfer her.. All babies are different, you don't have to decide anything in advance, you will when baby arrives. ;-)

With baby #1, DS, I had a bassinet, changing table and storage all in one. I kept the bassinet next to my bed and he slept every 2 hours for 2 hours, he was born on a strict routine. lol, We were traveling and in transition until he was 5 months old. By 8 months he was sleeping through the night, without paci. At that time, I moved him into our maids room where he would sleep 12 hours. With baby #2, DD, as normal and relaxing as DS was, she was the complete opposite. Super bad colic, not sleeping, crying through the night. The first 4 months of her life are a complete haze to me as I was completely sleep deprived. Up with her at night and up with DS during the day. Suffice it to say, she is on no schedule and I have no desire to put her on one because she's so finicky, as soon as I lay her down in the crib or playpen she grabs on for dear life. She refuses to sleep anywhere except my bed. I've tried everything. So since there's no hope for her moving out, I've accepted it and I'm sorta starting to like it. Every night when we would put DS down, he's now 2 YO, I felt kinda bad that he was going in this big, dark room all alone and DD was sleeping with me, so call me crazy but I moved his crib into my room. He's sleep trained and she's happy as a clam on my bed so, they both sleep through each others antics and don't bother each other. I got rails up for the beds and put these huge throw cushions on the floor...and DH sleeps in the guest room, so no chance of any baby getting hurt. I love hearing DS go through the list of words that he knows every night that he repeats to himself and I love hearing that list getting longer and longer. I figured...since we're all going to sleep at odd times and waking up at the same time, we might as well do it together. I'm so thankful that I don't have to work right now so I can truly enjoy this time. And now the maids room is one big play/toy room! <em>edited by Chi2dxb on 26/08/2013</em>

Depends on you and the baby tbh. My first was a preemie and stayed til about a month. Second stayed about the same time. Third was out on his own the first night home from the hospital because we kept each other up

We use to dwell on the same issue with out little girl, by the time she was 6 months we ended up moving into the guest room and she took over our room. However i was aleays worried about her so i bought a camera to keep an eye on her just i case she wakes up. She is now 13months and I've only just decorated the maids room not a nursery and moved her in. She loves her own room, wasn't affected by the change atall and i still have a camera in there to keep an eye on my little poodle. Everyone always told me different things but u just gta do wat suits u and ur family.

meagle i did the same with my son and from the day we moved him he slept so much better. its up to you how you feel about it.

My daughter was in her room by around 10 weeks. It got to a point where we were both waking each other up and not sleeping well. She slept much, much longer and better without me responding to every whimper. But, if you'll have company it would make sense to keep the baby with you for the first few months and then decide from there.

as long as the baby wants.. i have no intention in moving my 11 month old DD to her own room.. i want her by my side forever hehehe.. the smile she gives me in the morning is something i am not willing to let go.. it really depends on baby and parents.. :)

My 7 month old son sleeps in our room, we have no plans to move him to his own room and I wouldn't have it any other way. He still wakes up to feed at night and because he's right there next to me, this barely disturbs me or my husband and everyone in this house gets a good night's sleep. I would say *definitely* keep baby with you until at least 3-4 months (like kiwispiers said, 6 months is recommended by AAP, WHO etc.), before that they are so little and really do need to be near you at night. After that it's really whatever works for you. You can read a billion books but you'll never find the "one truth" when it comes to parenting, it really just depends on you and your baby.

Keeping the baby in your room for at least 6 months has been shown to reduce the risk of death (SIDs) so regardless of what any sleep training books say I personally think that is worth listening to. The American Academy of Pediatrics, World Health organisation and other major health bodies all recommend doing this. I would NOT sleep a baby in your pram bassinet, this has been shown to INCREASE SIDs risk. I did use a bassinet but I don't actually think a moses basket/bassinet is essential if you can have the cot in your room (and many moses baskets are actually probably a SIDs risk too). I agree with TDB that its good to have baby close enough that you don't have to get out of bed to pick them up to breastfeed. A lot of people sidecar the cot or just keep the cot right next to the bed (you can turn it so the head of the cot is against the bed). I do agree that swaddling can work really well for many babies. If the baby would otherwise be in a room with your mother anyway then its not like you are getting them used to being on their own so it would seem pointless not to put your baby in your room. What you might like to do is move both the the baby and yourself into the baby's room once your house guests are gone so that the baby gets used to the room itself while still being protected from SIDs (that's what I have done with both my babies from 3 months, my lucky husband then got our room all to himself). Then you can move out of the room once you feel its time (for me that was when they were barely waking for feeds, before that its so much easier to be in the same room).