Room sharing

What It Means

Room sharing means a baby sleeps in the same room as a parent or caregiver, close to the adult bed, but in a separate sleep space made for infants: a crib, bassinetBassinetA small bed made for a young baby, often kept beside the parents' bed. CPSC says it's for babies up to about 5 months or until they can push up on hands and knees. See more or portable play yard. The American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) recommends it for at least the first 6 months. It is different from bed-sharingCo-sleepingA parent and baby sleeping close together. Bed-sharing on the same surface is the form the AAP can't recommend; room-sharing on separate surfaces is the one it advises. See more, where the baby sleeps on the same surface as an adult, which the AAP can't recommend under any circumstances.

How Parents Say It

• "The bassinet's right next to our bed."
• "We're room sharing until at least six months."
• "She sleeps in our room, just not in our bed."

The Breakdown

Room sharing by stage, per the AAP

Setting it up. Put the crib or bassinet within easy reach of your bed so night feeds don't mean a trip down the hall. NICHD's Safe to Sleep campaign describes the right spot as near or next to the adult bed, with the baby on a separate surface made for infants.

When to talk to your pediatrician. Bring it up if your room can't fit a crib or bassinet, if you're so tired you worry about falling asleep while feeding, or if you're thinking about moving the baby to their own room before 6 months.

Good to Know

HealthyChildren.org, the AAP's site for parents, says room sharing can lower the risk of SIDS by as much as 50% and is much safer than bed-sharing. NICHD's Safe to Sleep campaign adds that sharing a room is also safer than putting the baby to sleep in a room of their own. Room sharing only counts when the baby has their own surface: a sofa, armchair or adult bed is not a sleep space for a baby, even in your room. If your baby isn't breathing or can't be woken, call 911.

Related Terms and Categories

• Safe sleep

  The AAP's rules for lowering the risk of SIDS and suffocation: baby on the back, alone, on a firm flat surface in their own sleep space, every sleep.

• Co-sleeping

  A parent and baby sleeping close together. Bed-sharing on the same surface is the form the AAP can't recommend; room-sharing on separate surfaces is the one it advises.

• Bassinet

  A small bed made for a young baby, often kept beside the parents' bed. CPSC says it's for babies up to about 5 months or until they can push up on hands and knees.

• Crib transition

  Moving a child from a crib to a toddler bed or regular bed, which the AAP ties to height or to the crib rail getting too low for them.

• Newborn

  A baby in the first 28 days of life, the stage doctors also call the neonatal period.

Baby and toddler