Moving 18 Month Old to New Room Due to New Baby
How to Move Your Child to a Separate Room
Sharing a bedroom can make nursing, changing diapers and comforting the baby easier at night. But many families eventually decide that it's time for a move.
Credit... Jing Wei
This guide was originally published on May 20, 2019.
When parents bring their new baby home, they often sleep in the same room as their infant. Sharing a bedroom makes it easier to nurse, change diapers and comfort the baby at night. But at some point, many families decide that it's time to move their child to a separate room — perhaps because they want their child to learn to sleep independently, or because their own sleep deprivation is simply driving them batty.
To help families who are thinking of moving their child into a separate room, I spoke with six experts about how best to move them and when; and how to evaluate whether the arrangement is working.
Weigh the pros and cons of a move.
The challenge of deciding whether and when it's best to move your child to a separate room is a tricky one, in part because there isn't much of an expert consensus on either of these things.
Some scientists have reported, perhaps unsurprisingly, that mothers who slept separately from their children tended to be better rested than those who didn't (fathers, of course, are affected by room sharing too). One study published in the journal Developmental Psychology in 2016, for example, found that mothers who moved their children to separate rooms by 6 months slept better than those who didn't. A 2017 study conducted in Israel tracked families' sleeping patterns for three to 18 months, and found that mothers who normally shared a room or bed with their children slept worse than those who normally slept separately.
But these findings are tough to interpret, since neither study could say conclusively whether moving the child to a separate room was the direct cause of the improved sleep. It's possible that some other untracked factors in the families' lives led to the mothers' sleep patterns.
And to confuse things even further, room-sharing seems to have its own suite of benefits. According to Dr. Kristin Tully, Ph.D., a research associate at the Carolina Global Breastfeeding Institute at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, those benefits might include easier access to breastfeeding and more awareness of a child's needs.
Parents also should consider the timing. There is controversy over when it's best for children to begin sleeping independently. The American Academy of Pediatrics has said that parents should wait until their children are at least 6 months to "ideally" a year old to lower their risk of sudden infant death syndrome and other types of sudden unexpected infant death, such as suffocation. This is because babies who sleep in a separate room may sleep more deeply than they do in a shared room, said Dr. Lori Feldman-Winter, M.D., a professor of pediatrics at Cooper Medical School of Rowan University and a member of the A.A.P. task force on SIDS, which could increase their risk of breathing problems while they're snoozing.
But not everyone agrees that families need to wait a full year. Critics have argued that the A.A.P. recommendation is based on weak evidence. And in fact, said Dr. Sujay Kansagra, M.D., director of the pediatric neurology sleep medicine program at Duke University School of Medicine, a healthy child who is gaining weight well can be moved at 6 months if done so safely.
How best to decide on your timing? "I think it's just a personal decision," said Dr. Jodi Mindell, Ph.D., an associate director of the Sleep Center at Children's Hospital of Philadelphia. Consider the child's safety, whether both parents agree, and whether everyone in the family is getting the sleep they need. It's about "trying to take a step back and look at a broader picture," she said.
Parents also can consult their pediatrician. This is particularly important for children who are premature, developmentally delayed or who have a chronic illness, since they may need additional monitoring at night, said Dr. Lisa Meltzer, Ph.D., an associate professor of pediatrics at National Jewish Health in Denver, Colo. And those who even have temporary health issues — such as a cold, an eczema flare-up or teething pain — should continue room-sharing until those episodes have passed, suggested Dr. Kansagra.
Prepare for the transition by tweaking your routine.
Once you've decided it's time to sleep separately, use these tips to make the move as seamless as possible.
Establish a predictable bedtime routine. If you aren't doing this already, staying consistent with your bedtime routine helps your child by providing a structure around going to sleep, Dr. Mindell said. Having that foundation in place makes it easier to change the room because "it is now just a matter of shifting location rather than changing everything," she said.
If your child is used to feeding to sleep, move her feeding to the beginning of her routine to help her learn how to fall asleep independently. This will also help her learn to self-soothe her way back to sleep when she awakes later in the night, Dr. Mindell noted.
Familiarize your child with her bedroom. Many children may have spent very little time in their new rooms, Dr. Mindell said. Familiarity is reassuring, so getting her used to the new space will aid the transition. To make your child more comfortable in her new room, said Dr. Mindell, do her bedtime routine in the new room for a few evenings while still room-sharing at night. Have her play or take naps in the room during the day, too.
Set the sleeping mood. Set the room to a comfortable temperature, between 68 and 72 degrees Fahrenheit. If your neighborhood is noisy, a white noise machine or app can help drown out sounds, but check with your pediatrician about the possibility of negative side effects. One study published in 2014 suggested that white noise played at high volume for long periods of time may increase the child's risk of hearing impairment. Make the room dark — by drawing the blinds, for example — though having a nightlight is fine. And keep pets out of the room. Animals may disrupt your child's sleep by making noise or trying to play, and it can be dangerous if they jump into the crib.
Use the same crib in the new room. Easing your child in is important. "I wouldn't change everything all at once," Dr. Feldman-Winter said. If your child was sleeping in a portable crib in your room, move it into the new room and have her initially sleep there. You might do this for a few days to several months, depending on how easily your child adjusts to change. Or if there's space in your room for the new crib, have your child sleep in it there for one to a few days before moving it to the new bedroom.
If your child isn't adjusting, try these strategies.
Some kids will be fine sleeping in the new room immediately, Dr. Feldman-Winter said. But if they have trouble acclimating, try a few gradual approaches.
Keep them company. Sleep in the new room with your child for a few nights, Dr. Kansagra said. You can also try a technique called "fading of parental presence," where for the first few nights, you sit by the crib while your child falls asleep; then for the next few nights, you sit between the crib and the door, then by the door, then outside the door.
Don't force it. If your child wakes up in the middle of the night and can't fall back asleep on his own, give yourself a break and bring him back into your room to sleep, say, in a portable crib. "At 2 a.m., everyone just needs to get back to sleep," said Dr. Mindell. The hope is that once they learn to fall asleep independently at bedtime, they'll be able to weather their own nighttime wakings as well.
Assess progress after a week.
If your child is still frequently crying and disrupting a siblings' sleep, it might make sense to return to room-sharing, Dr. Feldman-Winter said. Then try again in a month or two.
When to Worry
The recommendations above are meant for healthy, typically-developing children, not for children who have certain health conditions, such as having been born prematurely, or with a chronic illness or cognitive delays.
Consult a pediatrician if your child is snoring loudly (a possible symptom of sleep apnea). If it seems unusually difficult to get your child to settle down to sleep, and she can't sleep for more than an hour, that could indicate a medical condition such as infection or digestive problems.
Roberta Kwok is a freelance science journalist based near Seattle.
Moving 18 Month Old to New Room Due to New Baby
Source: https://www.nytimes.com/article/baby-sleeps-own-room.html
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