Getting baby to sleep in their own room

Getting baby to sleep in their own room at night is an occasion celebrated in most homes! Making it happen is often another story.

In our home, getting from point A to point B is several months in the making, but can be shortened if there is a need. We start with the end in mind from the time baby is born.

Point A: The cradle in our room

Point B: The crib in her room

My "Plan" is to have the baby out of her cradle completely by the time she is 5 months, or is too mobile for such a small place. If you want the baby out sooner, just do everything on a faster plan than I do. I like to keep her close until she outgrows the early morning feeding, which is about that time.

Love Bug has slept in our room since we brought her home. I like having her close at night so I don't have to go far to get her and can hear her well. I have a "lovey" for her that we tuck in next to her face when she sleeps. She likes to have something touching her cheek and covering one eye. (btw I bought 4 of them, so that when she loses it as she gets older, we have others to replace it) I also have a CD player in our room that plays lullaby's 24/7. I turn the music up louder during the day and have it at an almost inaudible level at night. If you've spent any time in a house with 4 other kids, you know the importance of teaching a baby to sleep through noise.

I put her in her cradle when she is sleepy but not asleep so she can learn to fall asleep on her own without rocking etc.

After the first month, I start taking her into her room for "visits" a few times a week. We don't use a changing table (rather not run up and down stairs all day long just to change her) so if you have one in the baby's room you won't need to make a special visit (you will want to put baby in the crib for a bit though). While we are visiting her room, I put her in her crib. She just lays in her crib looking at the mobile and talking to the bumper. I usually fold her laundry and straighten up the room while I'm there.

By the end of the second month, the visits are every day. I plan them so they are after she's fed and before she's tired. I want her to be awake and see that this place is just as cool as mom and dad's room.

At three to three and a half months I put her in her room for naps. She has her lovey with her and the CD player goes in her room with her too, making it all more familiar. I like to stay in her room for a while until she's dozed off, so I plan things to do while I'm there for 5-10 minutes. Laundry folding, moving clothes she's outgrown out of her drawers, reading, etc. I don't let her know I'm there and if she fusses too much, I help her calm down for a minute then "disappear" again. At this age, baby is usually too young to pull themselves up and see you there.

It only takes a few weeks to get her napping in her room without any problems. When the time comes for her to sleep in her room overnight, she's already so used to it that there are no problems with it being a strange place.

Quiet book cover and inside

My quiet book is not a finished product, as I plan to keep adding to it over the years. It's actually more of a quiet....briefcase. I was going to post instructions on how to make the cover, but I changed it so much while I was making it that I didn't have time to keep track of all the measurements. I will tell you though that I picked two cute coordinating fabrics out of cotton. I used a heavy duty nylon 36" zipper that zips all the way open (parka zipper). If you are afraid of sewing on zippers, or don't have much experience-then this is a great place to start! It was so easy to sew on because you can zip it apart from the other side while you sew it on the strips of fabric.

I used heavy duty iron on infusing- that can pretty much stand up on its own. It made for a nice stiff cover. I also used 3" binder rings, so I could remove the pages and pass them out to kids and choose what to put in it each time I take it somewhere. I found them on the Internet.

If you're a local..I could show you how to make the cover.

I also added pockets in the front and back inside cover so I could add paper and pencil or crayons, etc. I really like how it turned out!

All the pages are either made with felt or fleece. I used lightweight infusing on the insides of each of them to help them last longer and hold the stitching better.

My pages are all 11x11 and the cover is made 12x12, with a 3 inch spine.

Happy to give more details if you need them!!

Quiet book page 15

Our piggy bank! There are 10 coins, and I put plastic bag in them so they make a wonderfully quiet crinkle noise.

Loved the idea I found here http://craftingchicks.blogspot.com/2009/09/quiet-book-i.html

Quiet book page 14

Just a cute lion with a ribbon mane. I just found a lion face in free clipart and used that. It was time consuming pinning all the ribbon on, but then I sewed them down and added the face on top. My little Miss loves to pull on the ribbon.

Got the idea from here http://thedixonstory.blogspot.com/2009/10/guess-what-i-finished.html

Quiet book page 13

Oh how we love monsters!!
I got this idea from Joann Fabric. I don't remember the name of the monsters, but they are pillows and you can add different faces, arms legs, wings, etc. (if someone knows what they are called..leave me a comment)

Adorned with purple hair, eye brows, three eyes, a nose and then arms and legs.

Extra pieces

Quiet book pages 11 & 12

Noah's ark pages!! Match the raindrop color with the rainbow.

(sorry for the bad pic...the background is light blue on this page)

You can weave the side of the ark. And no, there are not animals in it yet. I've been putting little animals in that are not the right size and haven't found any that I like or taken the time to make them yet. BUT there will be a Noah and several pairs of animals.

Quiet book page 10

I'm finally posting the rest of the book. I'll go back and add the info of where I got my ideas at a later date. For now...here is the rest of the book!