Sharing a Room - Minneapolis,MN

My three boys have always shared a room. They are 7, 3 1/2 and 18 months. There have been some nights where one one wakes up another or even both brothers, but for the most part, it is what they are used to. My baby won't go to sleep unless my 7 yr-old is also in bed. My 7 and 3 year-olds have bunk beds and my 18 m-old is in a crib. For some people, the sleeping arrangement does not work, but for my family it is great and frees up the third bedromm for toys only.

Hi S.. I live in a very small space--with 2 bedrooms and I also have 2 children. My daughter is 3 and my son is 11 months. They have shared a room since day 1. My daughter has bunk-beds (although she only sleeps on the bottom) and my son is still in his crib. The crib is at the head of my daughters bed. At first my son was in our room--for about 7-8 weeks and he started sleeping really well, all through the night, so we put the crib up and put him in there and he has been in there sleeping the whole night through ever since.
It has worked great for us to have them in the same room. They both are great sleepers, every once and a while we will have 1 wake up but it does not seem to effect the other child...
I think it is comforting for them to have another 'being' in the same room, esp. for the older child.
We have everything of theirs in their room--beds, dressers, changing table, and toys and we consider it "their room".
For us it has worked out very pleasantly...and I hope it works the same for you. Good Luck.

My two shared a room for two years. My son was almost three when my daughter was born. She slept in our room off and on for the first year, but then they shared and it was fine. We usually put her down first. congrats, and good luck!

My daughter is 7 and my son is 4 and they have been sharing a room since he was 3 months old. My daughter got a long fine with him when he was a baby no problems she slept through the night and never heard him wake up in the middle of the night. The only problems I remember where the early morning hours where tough when the sun would just start to rise and he would wake up to feed she would to and not go back to sleep.
As for today we are moving and my daughter is looking forward to not having her brother wake her up. He has been wakeing her up in the middle of the night to make sure she is still there for the past year, 3 to 4 nights a week and in the mornings. She is a great help to get him back to sleep. All and all it's not bad at all having them share.

S.,

I did that with baby #3 and #4 and it worked fine. We put the newborn in a cradle outside our master bedroom door at night for the first 8-10 weeks until they were sleeping through the night. Newborn napped in the bedroom. When newborn was old enough to go all night, or close to it, we moved them into big sister's room at night. Early on, we put big sister to bed first, waited for her to fall asleep, then put baby to bed. As they got older, then we would put baby to sleep first, then big sister, but we always stagger the bedtimes.

We now have a boys room (age 6 & 4) and a girls room (age 8 and 2) and we still stagger bedtimes. Younger ones fall asleep while mom has time with older ones, then older ones go to bed. I just trained them to leave their younger brother and sister alone and sneak quietly into rooms to go to bed. It really has been fine.

Occasionally, our baby would wake up and cry during the night in the room with big sister. She slept right through it even though she is a pretty light sleeper. It really wasn't a big deal. My daughter's biggest complaint is that her room sometime smelled like poop first thing in the morning or after naptime because baby would fill her diaper as soon as she woke up. Now the youngest is potty trained so it is no longer a big deal.

I don't know how long I will keep my girls together. When my oldest hits puberty, I may let her take over the guest room to give her more privacy since there is such an age gap between the girls. But they get along really well now, so maybe they will want to stay together. Who knows?

Good luck,
S.

My sons are 9 years apart and shared a room from the time the youngest was 6 weeks old until he graduated from High School. Unless your older child is a light sleeper you shouldn't have much of a problem until they are old enough to be required to have separate rooms. If you start off with the routine and make it no big deal you should make out just fine.

My first girl...high needs! She was 3 1/2 when her sister was born and had NEVER slept through the night. She asked for her sister to sleep in her room so we lofted her bed so her room would accommodate the crib. The first night the baby was in her room was the first night she ever slept through the night and she continued to do so. Guess she did not like being alone!! I breastfed so I did go in a couple of times a night to nurse and she never woke up. First DD is a very sound sleeper once she goes to sleep but, it takes her awhile to get to sleep and until she became a teenager, she was an early riser as well. 2nd DD started sleeping through the night at 9 weeks so there was not extensive times of crying in the night. She still is a good sleeper at 9. I really think that it depends on the temperament of the children. I am a dc provider and I would say if she has successful napped in a mixed room at dc that likely things will go well. Just keep the lighting low when you go into feed and change. And nighttime interaction with the baby should be straight to business and little stimulation so baby quickly knows the difference between night and day. Your DD's age is great! She will be your little helper. Smiles, L.

We are doing this and it's working great!! We had our youngest sleep in the bassinet in our room at night until he slept through the night, but the boys both slept in their room at nap time.

Now the boys are 1 and 4 - it's been wonderful! Our oldest has never questioned why the newborn went to bed later or eariler and has adapted well to some changes that needed to be made in his bedtime routine - like reading stories on the couch in the living room instead of his room.

I honestly think it's helped the boys bond - they both seem to love it and, when traveling to grandmas' homes he has a choice of sleeping on his own or with his brother and he always chooses to sleep with his brother.

I know that it's helped my younger one calm down and be reassured when sleeping somewhere new and I think he's been so good sleeping through the night because if he wakes up he can hear his brother breathing and it puts him back to sleep!

Best of luck to you! :)

uUr children share a bedroom and it has worked out fine for us. Our daughter is 5 and our son is 3. They started to share a room once he slept through the night more (around 6 weeks for him). We have found that they find such comfort being together (even when away they have proven to need each other's companionship in order to sleep.)

When one has been sick or wakes up in the middle of the night - seems the other understands not to be in the way and goes back to sleep (or just lays there quietly).

Kids adapt so easily and much more than we think they will.

I recommend it - the bond between the kids is even stronger and I believe sharing a room is one of the reasons.

Good luck!

i'm sorta doing that right now.

I have 2 girls. 7 yr.old and 7mo.old

The babies crib, clothes and everything are in her sisters room but because my baby still doesn't sleep through the night the baby is in a pack n play in my room. The minute she sleeps through the night I will put the girls together. I just can't have the baby waking up her big sister crying big sister has to go to school and needs her sleep.

The only problem I'm having is big sister trash's her room and I have a hard time finding a path in their to get to the babies dresser etc.

We also have 2 big large bedrooms and this is our only option.