Toddler and Infant to Share a Room. Yikes!

i did this too, i would put my older son to sleep in his bed then nurse the baby to sleep in the living room and transfer her to the crib. it was ok, they rarely woke each other up. once in a while, but my house is little and if someone is screaming it doesnt really matter if they are in the same room or in the next room 10 feet away, if they are gonna wake up they are gonna wake up. this didnt do anything for my daughters sleeping habits, by the way, she didnt go to sleep on her own until we moved her to a bed after i had my third baby. but now she and my son still share a room and they usually go to sleep at the same time with little problem. they like being together, i often feel like the "secret" whispering they do at night is their best bonding time, they get along much better than during the day! it will work out, just consider everyones sleeping habits and work around it. the problem was when i got pregnant again and stopped nursing and started bopping her to sleep in the boppy seat. she went to sleep in that thing until she was 2! it didnt even bop anymore, just layed on the floor! but it worked, so thats what we did. as far as im concerned, do what you have to so that you all sleep! the going to sleep in the living room was a pain, especially when people were over, we just had to wait for people to get the hint and leave. it will work out, and they will be closer. good luck, D.

M.,

I have always had this situation, and it has always been a nightmare, mostly because my babies have never slept through the night until about age 2!! Right now my 3 year old and 15 month old share a room, but they don't sleep in there at the same time!! If I put the 3 year old to bed first, she wakes up and starts crying when I bring in the baby, which wakes up the baby and then I have to start getting them to bed all over again. Every time.

For the last month or so my 3 year old has been sleeping on our sofa. She sleeps all night there. I guess the most important thing is that they are both sleeping better, so I try not to worry about it. Then my baby gets up about midnight to nurse and we stay in the recliner the rest of the night. About 5 am my 6 year old gets up and comes out to the sofa to sleep. It gets ridiculous. My husband and I joke that we don't need bedrooms, we could all just sleep in the living room all the time!

Last week my 8 year old was getting spider bites and he refused to sleep in his bed so he had one end of the sofa, my daughter the other end, and then in the middle of the night my 6 year old came out, kicked my daughter off of the end of the sofa, so there she was huddled on the reclined legs!

Needless to say all of this drama wears me out. I am not exaggerating when I say that I have not had a full nights sleep in almost 9 years! No wonder I get grumpy sometimes!

I know that this isn't exactly encouraging, but I wanted you to see the other side, since so many moms report that it is no problem at all. You might fall in on their side too, maybe my kids are the only ones who sleep so lightly that they cannot share a room successfully until they are in school.

Good luck to you, I know it isn't easy! Several years ago after a flood we bought a single wide trailer and moved our family of 7 into it. We know a lot about small spaces and room sharing! Try having a 15 year old in a 10 by 13 room with an 8 year old and a 6 year old! My 3 year old and 15 month old are in a room that is about 8 by 8. Barely enough room for two cribs. Don't know what we'll do when they need twin beds!!

My kids share a room. My son is 3 1/2 and my daughter is 1 1/2.
I put the older one down first. I always have. My daughter moved into the room when she was about 5 months old.
I always put the older on to bed first. He is much more distractable. If I put him to bed with a sleeping baby in the room, he would be up out of bed, trying to climb in the crib and who knows what else.
SO, the toddler goes to bed. And the baby and I would hang out on the couch, I would nurse her (while I was still nursing) and once my toddler was out, I would bring the baby in and put her down.
It worked. This is still the way we do it.
As far as waking up each other in the middle of the night, it rarely happens.
If the little one gets up, my son isnt disturbed. On the off chance he complains, I just kiss him and retuck him in and he'll drift right back to sleep.
Its not really an issue for us.
The biggest problem we have is, the older one ALWAYS wakes up first, and ALWAYS wakes up the younger one. At least the older one can open the door and they come right into our room.
Good Luck!

My younger 2 (almost 5 & 3) have shared a room since the younger one moved out of the bassinette. They go to bed at the same time. I've only had a few instances where one has woken the other up.
Maybe we're just lucky, but I do have a lot of friends whose children share rooms. No one I know has had issues once the routine is set.