Is it only for a few nights or longer or maybe not at all? Our puppies are 9 days old and I am still sleeping downstairs near them, the reason for me is that I lost one of my first litter when mum fell asleep on him at 5 days old.
The last couple of nights this mum has not disturbed me at all, not even to go out for a wee, when I have got up and checked she has been peaceful all be'it with a couple of pups behind her but under the pigrails nothing has happened. I am now thinking is it time for me to move back to my own bed or wait just another few days until their eyes open I also wish I could find our or borrow a baby monitor, I feel if I were to move back into our bed a monitor would help.

i am very very luckly that gollie had her litter 12 day ago,the last night i sleep in my bed got up at 1 am 3 am 5am to check mum /pups.
then next night 1am 5 am
but from then she a very good mum that we go to bed at 10.30pm got up between 630 to 8 am
so i do not sleep with her,
again with my fcr litter i did the same all was well with those litter too

i dont use pig rails either

For me with a breed that is usually not clumsy and that make pretty good natural mothers it is until the eyes are pen, but then pups are robust enough and savvy enough to get out of the way.

I don't use pig rails either as the only loss by crushing I have had (very tired Mum and breeder after long labour) the pup was in the middle of the box and they wouldn't have helped.  I have seen pups get their heads over pig rails and then get pressed against them, so they could cause a problem they are designed to help prevent.

For 2 weeks I sleep on a sofa bed next to the litter, then I moved upstairs with a baby monitor. :-)

By my bedside for about 2 weeks then into their own room with monitor.
There are exceptions of course, one litter of two tiny babies which needed tube fed so they stayed near me for 3 weeks.

i have cctv on the bitch for a week before whelping until pups are 6 weeks. I sleep with them for 1st 4 weeks.

"Sleep" downstairs on the sofa in the front lounge with them until they are around 3  - 4 weeks old.

Downstairs with them until 4 weeks here too....although I can't call it 'sleep'....lol. 

We camp down stairs untill there eyes open, 2 weeks, then I put a baby alarm in the welphing box. When the puppies wake they wake us. One of us will nip down stairs to make sure all have a booby, and feed. By then they are going approx 3hours. I have a piggy rail. But we did loose a pup at 2 weeks mom just rolled on him, while he was feeding. She had had a section. She kept looking for it. It was heart breaking especially when you spend so much time with them. Nothing is perfect. You just do your best.

Denese

mine are 5 weeks now and during the day they are downstairs in the lounge in a pen but at night i tke them up with us to their 'birthing pool' (paddling pool) to sleep along with mum.
Was thinking of leving them downstairs now but they wake in the night crying barking tec obviously wanting milk but mum will not attend them, she sleep through so I end up either putting her in with them or giving them whelpi to take them through a few more hours. Not whether to let them just cry and go back to sleep, theirlast food feed is at 10.30pm ish.

Thank you all for your replies :) , It is interesting to read just how we all do things slightly different. I think I am going to wait till their eyes are open then try and locate a 2nd hand baby monitor. Our first litter was 4 weeks before they where left on their own downstairs in their pen and they slept through, our bedroom is just not big enough to have them in there with us.

As with the others, we've generally dozed on a camp bed for the first two weeks or so ....stayed a bit longer with one litter because it was a big litter and it seemed to be puppies all over the place and we wanted to make sure that there wasn't one tucked behind mum!

$ weeks normally, once they are climbing out of the welping box i put them in a crate, then i feel safe to go to bed.

oops should said 4 weeks old

I stay the whole time with puppies on a matress next to the whelp box .

Same here, at first I sleep in the same room to keep an eye on things and let mum out to the loo.  Once their eyes open I sleep in the same room to keep them out of mischeif - this last litter were trying to climb out of the pen from a really early age   they thought they were monkeys!

About 1 week before the pups are due, Mum sleeps upstairs with us.  After whelping the puppies and mum stay in our bedroom for 3 weeks (and with cctv monitor by my bedside cabinet).  After this they are moved downstairs, but they are still constantly monitored 24/7. 

Only for a couple of days, I have the same breed as Briedog and have to say they totally amaze me every time.

I think it was about 10 days, then I moved back upstairs, but I had friends watching the puppycam who were in America so a different time zone and could have phoned if something dramatic happened, and the puppies were so big and sturdy it was more likely they would squash mum (ok not quite but you know what I mean). And I'm a very poor sleeper, and went to check on them once or twice each night. We only had 2 pups so it was easy to check on them quickly.

Our recent litter of 9, on more than one occasion I "saved" a pup after getting trapped under mum, so don't regret the 4 weeks we spent sleeping on a mattress next to the whelping box. After 2 or 3 nights not having to get up at all, we realised they were going to be ok, so rigged up a baby monitor and went to bed.

Lucky for me I had someone to share the sleepless nights with, but if we have puppies again, I wouldn't do it any differently...

I have the mum and pups in my bedroom until they are 3-4 weeks old.