3 Tips for Roomsharing with Baby

3 Tips for Roomsharing with Baby

Hi parents,

Many of the families that I work with are roomsharing with baby for the long term, and looking for tips on how to optimize everyone’s sleep. These tips are for older babies, not for newborns. 

Here are some things to consider:

1. White noise! You guys know I love white noise for all babies. I find it especially helpful when you’re roomsharing. Why? Well presumably baby is going to bed early and the parents are entering the room later. White noise helps to cover up all the tip-toeing, coughing, whispering, using the washroom, snoring, sneezing types of noises so baby doesn’t get disturbed.
2. You might consider a room divider or partition. It’s possible to create a “room within a room” setup. This may be helpful if your baby is old enough to sit up or stand up in the crib and holler at you at 5am. You might want to have some “out of sight, out of mind” element to help baby sleep for longer in the morning. Sharing this visual from Amazon to show what I mean:

3. “Ignore” method in the early morning. If your baby is waking early in the morning, try to ignore unless it’s an emergency. Of course, if they need you for a feed or diaper change, jump in there and help. But if it’s the wee hours of the morning (4am, 5am), and there’s no emergency, then try to limit your interactions because any interaction will reinforce the early rising. In the early morning, the sleep pressure is pretty much gone (imagine “sleep pressure” as a full, inflated balloon at bedtime and a deflated balloon by 5am). So try to pull the blankets over your head and keep sleeping till baby’s wakeup time.

I hope this helps!  I work with many families who are happily roomsharing and everyone – mom, dad, and baby – are able to get the sleep they need. It’s a beautiful thing! 

Warmly,

Kerry Bajaj