Many parents share a room with their little one during the newborn phase. With night feedings, diaper changes and the desire to check in on your newborn throughout the night, it just makes sense to have your new baby sleeping nearby in their crib or bassinet.
However, this arrangement can become complicated when your baby hits the 4-month sleep regression and is suddenly waking up many times per night and having a really hard time settling back down. This point in a baby's development is a very common time for parents and caregivers to begin to teach their baby independent sleep skills so that their little one can sleep for long stretches overnight without requiring mom or dad to help them back to sleep over and over again.
The question is... can you sleep train your baby while sharing a room? Maybe you are not yet ready to move them into their own nursery, or, you may not have the space available to do so. There are many reasons why a parent may keep their baby sleeping in their room with them a little longer. This arrangement is a very personal choice, and it is completely ok to move them into their nursery or keep them sleeping in your room.
The answer is, YES, you can absolutely teach your little one how to sleep independently while sharing a room. I have helped many families accomplish this goal while their baby has been sharing their room. In some cases, we also successfully move their little one into their own nursery during our coaching time together, and in other cases, parents prefer to keep their little one sleeping in the same space.
However, I do want to note that sharing a bedroom with your baby during this period of time may pose some challenges since the baby can still potentially see you, hear you and smell you in the room. It may take longer to sleep train them in this scenario, but it is completely do-able.
I recommend that if you do chose to sleep train while room sharing, try to separate their crib from your bed and put it on the opposite side of the room. You may even choose to find a way to divide the space with a visual barrier so that they cannot see you during the night, just be sure that any cords are not within reach of the baby or young children and that any furniture or divers are setup safely and tethered to the wall.
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