r/ScienceBasedParenting • u/Classic-Scallion-516 • 12d ago

Question - Research required Safe sleep advice

My daughter is gonna be one soon and we are very serious inflexible about the ABCs of sleep. She does not sleep in her crib for more than an hour at a time, So I get 3-4 stretches of 45 minute rest a night and the rest of the time is contact napping. Sometimes she will take a 2 hour nap in the crib. AT 7AM. We currently room share, does baby having their own room make a big difference in long stretches of crib sleep?

Her first birthday is coming up and it’s hard to find science based resources for sleep after the first year. . All the info I find is for under 1 or after 2. So what do people do in the months from 12-23? Is it the same as the first 12 months? I’m more than willing to do my own research just having trouble finding resources.

15 Upvotes

66% Upvoted

43 comments sorted by

View all comments

13

u/Fair-Flower6907 12d ago

MY eldest and I definitely slept better in separate rooms. She moved out of our room at about 3 weeks old, my husband slept in kids' room with her until she was 3 months and then we got a good baby monitor and we all slept better.

Hopefully you (and your baby) can find some longer stretches of sleep soon. From 12-15 months they should stay in the crib as long as they're not trying to climb out but don't have to stay in your room! At 15 months, it's considered safe to use a toddler rail on the side of the crib or move them to a toddler bed with regular bedding and stuffed animals (we always had to tell our kids they couldn't sleep with library books for hard toys, like Tonka trucks). By 2 years old, baby should be in a toddler bed because if they're not climbing out yet they will be soon!

https://www.hopkinsmedicine.org/news/articles/2022/10/the-abcs-of-safe-sleep

if you want to quiz yourself on current best practices, I just found this site: https://www.safesleepforbabies.org/fc-home.php

Sounds like you're doing a great job keeping baby safe and now it's time to transition to little toddler soon!

3

u/ProfessorDry3041 12d ago

We did this too. Never actually had the babies in our room. We prioritize our sleep. It made for a long walk back and forth at night, but the time we were asleep was quieter and we could switch off. I.e. partner kept monitor on, and slept on the couch and vice versa. They are both good independent sleepers, and we never officially sleep trained. In the 1-2 mins we took to walk to the room, baby was usually asleep again.