Rock-a-bye-Parents

Tuesday night provided a monumental shake-up in our parents-baby relationship, as it was the first night we tried to have Bradley sleep in his own room. He was 5.5 weeks old.

Leading up to this arrangement, I would prod at Kristin over and over saying that it would be "so good" if he was in his own room. The advantages were evident, in my mind:

• Baby could sleep right through Daddy's alarm, which has the volume turned up quite generously,

• Baby could learn about responsibility, and get a taste and appreciation for not being at arm's reach to Mommy or Daddy, and finally

• Mom & Dad could sleep, without waking to every coo and grunt by Baby!

Being a selfish guy, the third point was the one I was most interested in. Little Bradley had been sleeping in a play pen yard/bassinet similar to this one. I thought sleeping in his crib would provide a more comfortable sleeping solution for him. No matter what my reasoning was, I was taken aback when I received a call at work from Kristin Tuesday during the day.

"I think I'm ready to try Bradley sleeping in the nursery."

Woah! A flood of thoughts and feelings went through me after that conversation (which consisted of more than that one line!). Was Bradley ready? Would he like his new room? What if we can't hear him and he's upset? What if he has trouble breathing and he's so far away from us that we don't notice???

I didn't have my main reference guide, so I went to the resource I did have at my disposal: the internet. What did I learn?

• There are a lot of stay at home moms who don't know 100% what to do about this!! Reference 1, 2, and 3.

• Every baby is different when it comes to this (and most everything else!), and

• Some babies don't move from their parents' room until they're several months (or even years) old!!!

I chose to camp on the second point when talking to Kristin. After all, our little guy's been growing steadily since birth, without even losing weight in his first week of life.

He's ready, I thought.

Of course he's ready, I persuaded myself.

He's definitely ready, I half-heartedly reassured myself.

Oh my gosh, what if he's not ready???

Well the first night came and went. Our little guy slept from 10:30pm until about 9:00am. He woke up once (to feed), and didn't fuss at all. How sweet it was, tasting what sleep used to be like: uninterrupted.

The second night was similar to the first, except he fussed for about 30 minuted at around 2am. Nothing a little bit of back-patting and back-and-forth motion couldn't take care of. The third night (last night) was exactly like the first!

So here we are, our little guy's sleeping in his own room after a mere 6 weeks. God willing he keeps up his good nights!

By the way, I think you hear even more coos and grunts having a baby monitor right beside your bed! The volume control must be used wisely.

What about you? When did your little one move into his/her own room? Do you have any tips or tricks?