Sleeping Arrangements: Siblings Sharing Rooms

I have stepsons...so with that in mind I say:

Option #3 seems the best to me. He still gets his own space and wont have to share, bonus. He is the oldest and will be the first to leave the nest and you can re-claim the office the fastest, bonus. He is only there part time and has the least amount of stuff, the door can be closed and most people will just think of it as a guest room/office combo when he is not there,bonus. When given the choice SS chose this option, bonus!!

If husband is *totally* opposed though, I guess option #2 is the next best one. With this one 15 month old will be older by the time new baby is sleeping through the night and gets transferred in there, which will be good and chances are higher they wont be waking each other up.

No to option #1. I would actually say 'no' to any option that involves moving your SS out of his 'space'. His life is hectic enough having 'mom's house' and 'dad's house'. You don't want him to feel like you are taking his space away--or that the new baby is more important.

What about pairing up the 4 year old and 15 month old? When our #3 was born (all boys), we moved our 26 month old in with our 4 year old. They still share a room (they are now 5 & 7).

I liked giving our baby his own room because of naps and I would bf him at night in his room.

Good Luck!

What about making the unused office your nursery? The baby won't care what the room looks like - you can push the unused stuff over against one wall.

Once the baby is old enough to be out of the crib, move her in with the child (not the 7 year old) who she meshes with the best. That's what I did with my younger son. Once he came out of the crib, I bought another twin bed and made an "L" out of it - one on one wall and the other on the other wall with one of them in the corner - and my sons shared the room. They loved it too. They shared a room for 5 years, until we moved again and I bought double beds because my older son was getting a bit too big for a twin!

I would NOT move your step-son. I would NOT put the baby in with him at all. He needs the MOST stable situation so that he will not become jealous of the baby. I think it would be best to keep the infant by herself once she leaves your bedroom. Little kids get very curious and "mess with" babies. Several cousins of cousins were so interested in my new baby that they kept going in to peek at him in the crib. I went in to check during dinner and one of the kids had put the blanket on top of his face. I cried so hard and could barely sit at the table, it scared me so bad. They were older than your 4 year old and I would have thought that they knew better. They were good kids, too. But still, it happened. I shudder to think that I might not have checked on him like I did.

Really and truly, your baby will not care one wit that she's not in a beautiful little room. Put her in the office.

Dawn

I think the two older girls should share a room. When the older girl turns 10 you can put her into her own room and let her have a room makeover. LOl it worked in Full House if you remember :]

PPers is right - they can get used to anything. My 3 share a room 9 - 5 - 3, two boys and a girl. I think they like it as they don't get as scared. When we get a larger house I think they will climb into each others rooms if they have their own.

If I had your situation I would like option 3 the best. I would wait though. You can have the newborn in your room for awhile.

I think you should include the SS in the conversation, so that no matter what happens, he doens't feel displaced.
With that said, your probably going to lose your "guest space", so that biggest room needs to be the one that 2 children share. With the bigger space, you can use a room divider and put whichever 2 girls in there you think would fit best, and your SS still gets his own space, in a "new room". A hundred bucks in paint, and youre done. I know you might not want to repaint, but this really does make the most sense to me.
We have room sharers here too, and have had to make similar adjustments. We have 4 boys and one girl, and you would think the one girl would have her own space, but nope, she shares with her 6 year old brother, b/c that's the pairing that makes the most sense for kus right now. She's 10. Just do what makes sense.

Keep the baby with you until she is sleeping through the night. My SIL moved recently and had a similar issue. she now has the 20 month old and the 4 month old in the same room and they do fine. Some how she just lucked out and all of her babies slept through the night really early. So if you are that lucky too, as soon as your little one is sleeping well, move her and your youngest together.

#2. Put the little girls together. That isn't so much of a space when the baby is just a bit older. My kids were mostly 2 years apart for the ones that shared rooms and worked out great. The older one will learn to sleep through a crying baby and vice versa. Then you'd have room for guests and your step son won't feel pushed out, etc. Later if you wanted to put all 3 girls in one big room that would work too. You have time to move them around down the road if need be.

Put the baby in with the 15 month old. they will be great friends. My boys are only about 17 months apart. we put the bassinet in our room and the older one was in the crib. we moved him out of the crib and into a toddler bed about 3 months before the baby came. baby stayed in bassinet for 2 months so it had been a while since the older one was in the crib. when we put the crib up for the baby we made a big deal about the bed for baby. they get used to sleeping with each other in the room. it will be fine.

I think 15 month girl and baby should share a room, as they would be the closest in age.
Don't think boy should move when you have guests. Guests could be accommodated in presently unused office. Guests are temporary. Your child should feel like he has his own space, not shuffled around. And definitely not share with a baby.

I would not put stepson in with baby. How about move him to one of the smaller rooms so he has a definite place that is his own. Use the big room he was using for the baby and one of her sisters. Also, I like the idea Dawn had of putting the baby in the office. I think your stepson needs to know he has a room that is his. My daughters share a room and we put a sound machine in the middle to keep them from waking each other up.

Why not co sleep with your new baby when she's born. That way nursing is really simple-no getting out of bed in the middle of the night either. Co sleeping is wonderful and very safe. Unless you're on drugs or drunk.

congrats on your new one!

You state you have a large bedroom that several kids could sleep in. That's what I would eventually do. I'd let the girls all have that bedroom and each have their own separate twin size bed. I did that when I was in college and living in the married student housing. I put two full size beds in the bigger bedroom and then put a queen in my own. It worked out very well. The kids bonded and had a blast sleeping together.

In your case, this boy is already an outsider that only visits occasionally. If he's made to feel more like one then he's going to eventually start acting like one too. He needs a room with a door and a place to keep his own things. One that is not a guest room when he's there. If there are guests when he is visiting then those guests need to use the other sleeping area. If he really really really enjoys having the area with the TV and the Wii then that's okay too. BUT once he gets a little older and outgrows gaming he's going to want a room he can go into and hide out doing his own thing.

If this was me I would put the youngest together because their toys will be similar. Their interests will be similar for at least a couple more years. The younger kids should not be with the older girl because her toys are choke hazards to the little ones, as are the boys too. He won't be able to play with anything or have any of his own items anywhere. The baby will pick them up and they'll go straight to her mouth. So even if this baby was a boy they should not share a room until the younger one is a lot older if ever at all. They would just be too different in ages.

This baby and the older brother won't ever be playmates anyway no matter what gender this baby is. He's too many years older. He'll just be an older brother that the little one can look up to and idolize...but they'll never sit down on the floor and play together.

I would put the two youngest girls together in one room. I wouldn't displace your stepson on a permanent basis (not a problem when guests come, but he should have his own room at your house). I also wouldn't want a 7 year old downstairs by the front door when everyone else was upstairs.

If your stepson has the biggest room now, put the two little girls in there, give him the 15 month old's room, and keep the 4 year old where she is.

I would either revamp the office or put the little girls together. It will give the older kids "privilege" to have their own rooms and the little ones will have no memory of not sharing. Since your stepson is there frequently, I would not move his room. I do think the older kids need to be talked to, regardless, as the baby may make them make adjustments (like if you need to walk the baby at 2AM AND grandma came to visit AND all the kids are home....being out with the wii might not be so possible).

You can also shift the kids so that stepson has his own room, but that the two that share have the biggest room.