I have a 23 month old daughter and a 10 week old son. We are having issues getting my daughter to go to sleep at night and also her staying bed at night. She either wakes up and my husband goes to soothe her BEFORE she gets up or she gets up and comes to our bed and he takes her back to her bed. We just put my son in his room which is right next to my daughters. He is sporadic at best in his wake times and I am trying to lengthen his 2-3 hour feedings a little at a time. I'm not saying I want him to CIO for hours on end, but right now I am so uptight about him "waking the beast" (my daughter), I rush in to soothe him. I want him to be able to self soothe at some point and also to sleep for longer intervals. Does anyone have any suggestions on how to handle the close proximity issues and this nighttime back and forth circus? FYI, I do have sound machines in both rooms. My husband and I both work and we need some sleep, this is maddening!
To clarify, my son WAS in our room until this past weekend. I put him in his room because he is a noisy sleeper and I woke up at every sound. I do have a monitor.
The situation has definitely gotten better. My son is only waking 2-3 times a night now and my daughter is finally staying in her room better as well. I'm not sure if anything in particular helped the situation, maybe just a little time and consistency. I will say that I got a Marpac Sleep machine for my daughter's room to replace the little Homedics sound machine she's had since birth. I have one in my son's room too and between the 2, they block out a lot of noise. Thanks for the suggestions!
I have a very similar situation. This may not be what you want to hear, but what we have found works is keeping the baby in our room. We moved her pack 'n' play in there, and are keeping them separate that way. It also makes it much easier to feed the baby in the middle of the night. I plan to move the baby into her own room once she starts waking up less at night. I look forward to reading other people's advice.
We had three in one room after the baby was about 6 months or so, when he started sleeping through the night. UNtil then he slep with us.
Try to find a way to incorporate some white noise to smooth the noise level....takes the sharpness out. A loud fan, a CD, something. I used a loud fan in the hall between my girls' rooms and that works well.
I have 3 1/2 year old and 2 year old daughters who share a room. We added a baby boy to the mix last year. We have found it best to just work the new baby into our existing schedule. I understand about being nervous that the newborn will wake up your daughter, but she will get used to the noise. Both my daughters would wake up with my son being a newborn, but since they were in their cribs, in their room and it was the middle of the night, they would go back to sleep. I guess your daughter must be able to get out of her room, huh? First, I would put her rail back on so she cannot get out of her bed or room. Then I would probably turn up the monitor in your son's room so that at the first sounds of his stirring, you can wake up and go to feed him. I did this for the simple reason that I had to make a bottle before getting him and that alone took a minute or two. Then I would take him to another room to feed him further away from my girls' room. If needed and you are comfortable with it, go ahead and move him into your room until he is on a good schedule. I personally don't care for this since I find that having them in my room makes me wake or hear EVERY little noise and I am unable to get any rest even for an hour or two. It may be also that your daughter is adjusting to the new baby and that will take some time and working through teaching her that she needs to sleep when it is time to sleep and stay in her room. Hang in there! You can do it!
Does she still nap? If so, maybe cut that out to make her sleepier at night. She is probably a harder sleeper an night than you think. I also lock my twins door, so they can't escape and get into mischief. You may also consider those clocks that tell children when it is okay to get out of bed...
If having the baby sleep in your room is out of the question (FYI I moved my baby into the other room around the same age because my baby was a noisy sleeper too) then consider a light earplug. That's what I had to do to muffle his grunting, etc... You can definitely still hear them when they need you. Good luck. I know its stressful!
I suggest shutting your son's door and use a monitor if you cannot hear him. I would also try to shut your daughter's door, but if she won't have it (as my daughter didn't want hers shut around age 2.5) then you can always put a gate up or let her continue getting up and coming into your room and walking her back. They'll settle into a routine and he won't even wake her up in the future. My 3.5 and 1.5 year old children share a room since he was 6 months old (he was in a cosleeper in our room) and even now when he wakes up, she sleeps right through it.
Can you move him to the living room to sleep? This will give your daughter and him more room between them. If he doesn't sleep well with noise and light, then let him sleep in his room until he wakes for his first feeding then put him in the living room in a playpen once he falls back to sleep. Once he is sleeping through the night then just move him back to his room all night.
