Planning for a 3Rd Child and Stuck in a 2 Bedroom House

J.,

It can work!! We have four in apt which was 3 bedroom but, we used one room for the study and just had the kids in another. The kids will find ways to have some "alone time". They may want to borrow your room or find some corner in the house.

We had our 3 boys in one room. We now have a bigger house but,our boys ages 12, 8, 6 still share a room. Our girls 5,4,2.5 share a room and our baby's crib is in our room for now. We have a room that is the study and we are like you are trying to figure out what to do. no matter how big or small your home is you will find a way!!

I had 4 kids in an apt and now I have 7 kids in a house.

It will work. Don't hold off if you are ready.

Best wishes!!
A.

If you want to make it work i don't see why you couldn't figure it out. Maybe put the babies crib in your bedroom for the first 6 months to a year until he/she is sleeping through the night and the middle child is ready for a big bed, that way the girls don't get woke up every few hours. I am in a three bedroom house and would like to add a fourth child but we aren't planning on moving for at least two more years. That is my plan, put the baby in with us at first, of course i have to confence my husband he wants another child first.

It will work out wether you think it will or not. I have wanted to move for a while now but are not able to. I have a 2 bedroom house with 3 kids, 5.5 girl, 3.75 boy, and 23 month old girl. They all share one room. We have bunkbeds and a toddler bed. Sleeping is fine, if little one cries the other sleep thru. They kind of have a thing going about privacy. If one is in the room and the door is shut you have to wait until the door opens. You make do with what you have. If you're ready and you don't want them so far apart I would go for it. When my youngest was 1st born we had her crib in our room so that it wouldn't wake other 2 and it was closer for me to go. When she was a year we moved crib to kids room.

Over the course of my childhood, I shared a room with my grandma, then my brother, then my 2 stepsisters. It's a fairly recent notion that children need their own rooms. Ask your grandparents--they probably shared a BED with a sibling or two!

When your kids get older and need privacy, you can block out chunks of time where each person can have the bedroom to themselves. Also, maybe you can designate a spot in the house that is the "quiet" spot. You could use bookshelves to sort of wall off a corner and throw a beanbag on the floor. The kids could take turns going in there. It doesn't have to be fancy, kids like hanging out in little nooks and crannies.

As for a new baby and crying during the night, the baby could sleep in your room OR you and the baby could sleep in the living room. We lived in an impossibly tiny 1 bedroom apartment when my son was born, and he and I slept in the living (he in his bassinet, and me on the futon) so my husband could get some sleep. Also, you might be amazed at what your older kids can sleep through!

As the saying goes: Bigger isn't always better! I have a three bedroom house and one room is for us, one is for the baby and one is for three of my four kids. All four kids are 6 and under. In the room with three of the kids, one girl and two boys, they tend to sleep through any noise the other will make as they get used to it. Eventually we will move the boys all together and the girl will get her own room, as she grows older, but for now it works great. Sharing a room gives great opportunity to bond with each other.

We have a 2 bedroom townhouse that we bought back when the market was hot. We made settlement and then I found out that I was pregnant with our first. Now it's 5yrs later and surprise I am pregnant with our 2nd. We have been so worried about how the sleeping arrangements are going to work out. We first thought to switich rooms and give the larger room to the children but then we thought about the night time feedings etc. We also thought of dividing the room with a temporary wall so both children would have their own space but we were worried about the crying in the middle of the night. Last night we were thinking we would put the baby in our bedroom until he/she starts sleeping throught the night. After reading the posts that everyone has left I feel reassured that is what we are going to have to do.
Thanks for all your help!

I'm not in your situation, but believe that children so young as your don't really require their own room or their privacy. It's only been in the last 10 years or so that the belief if children need their own room...before that it was commonplace for children to share rooms as many as 3-4 in a room. I think it helps them learn to share, grows their time management and people skills for later in life. I'd say go for it if you can financially work it out and you know you won't be moving for years.

I wish you the best!
S.
www.uggamugga.com

My siblings and I shared one room when we were little...granted, we were older than your kids. I was probably 5, brother would have been 9 and sis 10. I don't have any negative memories about this. Actually, as a child, I preferred to share a room. It wasn't until about middle school when I started to want my own. I say go for it...you never know what the future holds! GOOD LUCK!!!