As Anna awaits the arrival of her second child, a son, her nesting instinct has kicked in and she made this super sweet baby nook for him in her bedroom which he'll share with her and her husband for at least a few months. We love the springy green she painted the crib and the willow branches to hang artwork adds a lovely and unexpected touch. Many parents, either out of convenience or necessity, share a bedroom with their newborn which can be challenging. Read about Anna's experience sharing a bedroom with her first child and her advice for others after the jump.
Anna: We had our daughter in our room for the first six months after she was born. We didn't really have a choice about it, since we then were living in a one-bedroom, but I now realize that it would been awful not to have her right there next to our bed. I breastfed (and plan to again), so I'm not sure if people who are going to bottle feed will have a different experience, but newborns want to nurse every 2 hours or so, and each session lasts 30-45 minutes. If Lara hadn't been right under my arm, as it were (we had her crib rolled right up to my side of the bed), I would have gone insane from having to actually get up and out of bed that often every night with so little sleep. She definitely disrupted my sleep because she was a pretty loud sleeper in the beginning, which combined poorly with the evolutionarily-developed hypersensitivity moms have to the sounds their babies make, but it would have been even worse if she were farther away. Eventually, we moved the crib to a wall in our in bedroom, and my husband and I would literally have fights about whose turn it was to get up and walk the three steps to the crib. [We still have those, Anna!]
So... yeah... advice? Keep the baby nearby until he/she starts to sleep predictably through the night. When Lara was six months she started sleeping a good 7 hour chunk in the middle of the night, and we moved to a two-bedroom and put her into her own room, and it's been working out well ever since. At that point it seemed as if we were indeed disrupting her sleep, and sleeping in her own room made her sleep better. Now I'm hoping we'll be able to do a repeat of the same sort of deal with her brother, eventually transferring him into her room. Obviously it's hard to predict what will happen, but that's what I'm anticipating!
Sounds like a plan! Readers, feel free to add your advice or share your experience about sharing a bedroom with a newborn below.
You can read more about Anna's nook for the baby (and find a tutorial on how to make no-sew fabric-covered boxes like those pictured, top) on her blog, Forty Two Roads. As our faithful readers know, we are nuts for DIY play kitchens - Anna's been on this bandwagon for a long time. Check out her shop where she sells plans to make your own cardboard kitchen, washer and dryer and where she creates custom artwork.
I love the colors of the crib/sheets. My bedroom fruniture had details of these colors growing up. They have always been a favorite of mine.
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after a few weeks of sleep at two hour intervals, i decided it was much easier just to co-sleep with our son. up until around 18 months, he still woke at least once each night for "ta-ta". finally, that habit got kicked at 23 months and now, at almost 26 months, hes sleeping in his own bed in his own room.
for our second child, due in august, well be sharing a room and night time feedings. when things eventually calm down and weve got a steady routine going, shell be moved to her bros room as well.
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I bottlefed my first child (in 1996 you were lucky to find a nurse or a LC who knew what the heck to teach you), and oh god, it was a pain. Not only did I have to get up with him to feed him at night, but I was one of those bottlefeeding moms who didn't always make up formula ahead of time. >.
My daughter was born almost nine years later and I was better prepared the second time around, except I was really poor and had no crib. I'd been flirting with the idea of co-sleeping anyway, and not having the crib sort of forced me into it. Man. I never knew you could feed a baby without waking up all the way! And yes, breastfeeding infants have to eat more often, but that's actually a good thing early on because newborns are not good at regulating their breathing while they sleep. So anything that makes them wake up more often is going to seriously cut the risk of SIDS. My girl used to do some weird breath rhythms in her sleep in her first few months so I'm glad she had more reasons to wake.
She's four and still sleeping with me, but I'm a single mom, too, so there wasn't much reason to fret about it. It's looking like we may get our own house soon, so she has the prospect of a room of her own--we'll see if she wants her own bed then. (I have had a two-bedroom this whole time, but too much stuff to use both as bedrooms.)
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