Little Ones Sharing a Bedroom

Well you may not like this but if I had another bedroom to put my younger son in I would have in a hear beat!!!!!!! My older son was 2 1/2 when my other son was born. I didn't put them in together until the baby was sleeping through the night (4 months or so). The bedroom that they are in is the master bedroom with a loft. The baby is up in the loft. The main issue that has been the hardest is when my older son wakes up in the morning he is up at 5:30-6:00. I try to tell him to go back to bed but with him going back and forth from my bedroom to his sometimes wakes up the baby. It drives me crazy!!!
Also, if the baby (who is a year now) wakes up for some reason at night it will wake my older son and he will come in bed with us until the baby is asleep again. If the baby wakes up before my older son the morning then they are both up for the day. If I only had an extra bedroom!!!!!!!!

Hi, this sounds familiar...
We have 3 little boys, oldest almost 5, 2nd almost 3, and the 3rd, 16 months. When our second son was born we did exactly as you've described, kept the baby in a portable crib in our room until he was mostly sleeping through the night (3 mos). When we transitioned him to his brother's room there were a few weeks of adjustment, with some night waking and crying, and then it was fine. Even if the baby woke, his crying did not tend to wake the older one, or if it did, he'd fall immediately back to sleep. With number 3, we weren't so lucky with sleeping through the night at 3 months, but we put him in the same room with his older brothers anyway. Then our 2 year old regressed a bit, wanting to get into bed with us, but eventually, all 3 shared a room, happily. We did need to use our bedroom for naps for a while to give the kids different sleeping spaces, but it all works out in time. We've found that every sleep transition takes at least 3 weeks to become comfortable...

hope this helps! K.

Hi C....my boys, who are now in high school began sharing a room when my oldest was 1 1/2. One was in a toddler bed, the other, a crib. They still share a room and are no worse for the wear. We all shared rooms growing up and survived just fine. I have no doubt your girls will adjust, at least until they start borrowing each others clothes!

J.

My daughters are going to share a room. Aurora will be 3 next month and Sky will be 7 months this month. Just after Aurora's birthday we're going to put them in the same room. So, we're about to find out how things will go. But Aurora is a heavy sleeper, and there a chance that once Sky is out of our room, she'll sleep better! I'm still breast feeding so it's been really easy having Sky in our room. But Aurora is getting excited about having little sister sleep in the same room. Good luck to you with the new arrival coming up!! Enjoy, it's so much fun!! ~Becca

I have 2 girls that are 4.5 years apart (now 2.5 and 7). They share a room and we have not had any problems. We moved the baby into the same bedroom with my older daughter at about 6 months. She was sleeping pretty well at that time, but still waking up at least once during the night. My older daughter would sleep right through it. I think that since children aren't conditioned to wake up to a baby crying (or even an alarm clock), they can ignore it and stay asleep. Only rarely does she ever wake up because of the noise her younger sister makes.

Hi!

We share a bedroom with our three yr old . . . we live in a cute one bedroom apt in northampton.

We love it here!

it's ok for us . . our son will come to our bed in the morning.

we still have a love life - -

And with all the coziness, it really highlights our humanity and ways of being kind and considerate in close proximity.

Enjoy the closeness and grow from there:)

Best!

My 2.5 year old and 7 month old (born in June, also!!) share a room currently for the same reason as you mentioned (opposite floors is not convenient with a baby!). It has honestly been fine, surprisingly. We transitioned the baby into the bedroom when she was 3 months old and only waking once a night. My older daughter sleeps heavily so she has really not been affected - once in a while she will be awake when the baby is crying in the middle of the night, but we grab the baby before too much damage is done! The baby goes right back to sleep (usually) after she eats during the night, and we feed her in the rocking chair in our room. The only drawback is that I find we are a lot less likely to let the baby work out her issues on her own without us going in, rubbing her back, or giving her the pacifier, since we don't want our other daughter up. I just hope this doesn't make the baby unable to fall asleep on her own for the long haul... I am just crossing that bridge when we come to it! We do have three bedrooms but one is down and two up, and I know how much you are in and out of kids' rooms when they are little, so for now, they will share! Good luck!

Hi C.,
I have two boys who are now 4 and almost 2 who share a room. Like you, I was very nervous about putting them together and worried they would wake each other up all the time. We have not had any problems and I think they really enjoy being together. We have always put our 2-yr old down in his crib first, then we read stories with our 4 yr. old and let him fall asleep in our bed before transferring him. They are both pretty sound sleepers and do not wake each other up! Good luck!

Kinda had the same issue. My third a boy was born when my daughter was almost 13 months old, and I had a 6 yr old son already. The delema where to put my third when we are only in a small 3 bedroom. Well the bassanet fit next to my bed so there he was close to me for feedings and so on. It worked out okay until there was some order to a schedule. And he was sleeping pretty well at night. Then he went into my daughters room with the crib. Not too bad. She was in a toddler bed so I didn't have to buy anything new.(Nothing else would have fit anyway. 2 cribs wouldn't have fit.) Then finally when he was 8 months old, and sleeping through the night he was moved into my oldests room. Boys need to be with boys. My daughter was really getting into her body, and noticing the differences. My oldest too it rough for a while. He didn't take well to sharing a room, where he never had to before. Other than that and the space thing it really wasn't too bad. Kids adjust to things so much better. I stressed so much over this, and for really nothing. It all worked out okay. Try to explain the baby to you 2.5yr old. Give them their own baby doll(boy or girl) so they can practice helping the baby. Pretend play of how it might be when the new baby comes. Make a game of it. That way when the baby comes they have some sense of what is going on, and they can have someone to look after instead of being in your way trying to help. Really this wasn't so bad, once they get used to sharing Mom and Dad with the baby. The wost part is the Hospital trip. My oldest son, and then my daughter didn't understand why Mom had to sleep at the Hospital when the new baby came.And then Mom had to do things with the baby first. But with the dolls -pretending putting them in the crib, got them used it before hand. It may work for you. My Oldest son loved the doll thing. It made him feel special that he could help even when I was helping the new baby myself. It made him feel more included. (I know dolls for a boy is a strange concept, wspecially for my Husband but it worked!) We also had a lot of books handy, for the times when the new baby did wake someone up. After the baby was taken care of, we who were up read a book to the baby and went back to sleep. I always prepared night time as if all the kids were up- Juice, books, diaper changes everything ready. So if they were awake I could still focus on the baby, and get back to bed as quiclky as possible. (If you can get sleep with a new baby.)Have a happy time with your children. Try things to prepare early.

Dear C.,

My oldest daughter turned 3 when my youngest was only 1 month old. The girls shared a room together from day 1, and it worked out great. We still laugh and have sweet memories of singing and tucking in my oldest and having the baby move her blanket in her crib so she could peak out at us with a big grin to hear us sing! I think it is important to let the baby get used to his/her crib in their own room, and it helps Mom & Dad to get a better night's sleep. Just keep the monitor on to ease your fears, and let the girls sleep in their room and you and your hubby sleep in yours.
My girls are 7 & 10 now and have their own rooms, but we still smile at the memories of their shared room experience.

my two boys were 2yrs old and a new born .. i brought the newborn into the same room at 4 months old and he was sleeping through the nite...
they loved being together ... my 2yr old loved to wake up and play with his brother on the other side of the crib in the morning .. they entertained each other if we didnt get up right away ... i would definitely recommend it :)

I have two girls, 18 mo. apart. They've been sharing a room since the younger one was solidly going through the night (about 3-4 mo). I did not have ONE problem. The oldest was still in a crib, so I bought a "mini" crib for the baby and used that until the older one was ready for the toddler bed. On the rare occasions that the baby did cry in the night, it never woke the toddler. And vice versa. If the toddler cried, it never woke the baby. The only thing that was hard was mornings. The baby woke earlier than the toddler and MOST days I could sneak in and snatch the baby out before waking the toddler, but not always. That kinda stunk, but it was a SHORT window of time. Eventually the baby slept later. They still share a room now (ages 4 and 2) and LOVE it! they do not want to be apart. It is so cute to hear them chatting before bed and in the morning. Of course we've had to go in there and tell them to GO TO SLEEP from time to time, but they don't cause much trouble for the most part and I love how close they are. GOOD LUCK!

My son (5 1/2) and daughter (2 1/2) have been sharing a room from day one. My husband has hard hours and needs his sleep, so letting the newborn sleep in our room was never an option. I was nervous at first but pleasantly surprised in the end.

At first my son would wake up when the baby did but soon (less than a week) he would sleep through everything.

Give your daughter a chance to show you what a big girl she is. I bet you'll be surprised too.

Good luck and congratulations on the new addition.