Sharing a Bedroom

My kids shared a room from the time my son was out of the cradle (4 months) until my son was 3 when we were finally able to move to a 3 bedroom house. The sharing was easy, daughter was really excited for baby brother to sleep in her room. For us it was the splitting up that was hard!

It is pracital me again!! I have 4 kids, and the way we worked it is that the 8 year old actually shares with the 11 month old( and has since the baby was about 4-5 months), and then my 5 year old daughter shares with my only boy who is 2. They have been in their room since baby number 4 needed a place to sleep. (We have 4 kids and a 3 bedroom house). We set it up that way because the 8 year old is such a deep sleeper that even if the baby woke up, I knew it would not wake her. Now, things are about to change again, and we will be putting all 3 girls in the master bedroom, and my husband and I will move into the next biggest room. My son needs a place to be a boy, along with the 2 boys that I babysit, and when school starts the girls will all be on the same schedule. Why do I tell you all this?? To illustrate that you do what works best, until it doesnt work any more and then you tweak it!! It depends on their personalities, and needs. If I had a play room, things might be different, but right now, we are living in the smallest house we could, in order to get through chiropractic school. Some nights (like right now), you need to be flexible and let your oldest fall asleep on your bed because the baby refuses to go to sleep, but as long as you can be flexible, I say try it and see how it goes!! ~A.~

Hi A.,

My two oldest boys started sharing a room when they were almost 3 and 16 months. We used that transition to move my younger son to a toddler bed. It made his transition to toddler bed easy, but the sharing a room part was pretty much a disaster. They thoroughly enjoyed it, but that's because they made naptime and bedtime one big party. They weren't getting near the amount of sleep they had prior to sharing a room and we were seeing the effects of too little sleep in their behavior. We tried several suggestions I had read about. Like, not having toys in the room, making it as dark as possible, childproofing the room, etc, but nothing worked and after a few weeks I decided to just have them go to bed at separate times (now, if I had not been 7 months pregnant with twins, I might have been able to stick with trying longer, but at that point I just wanted to sleep, lol). That worked at bedtime, but not naptime. Fortunately, we have a spare room available most of the time (my step-son's room) and that is where my oldest falls asleep at night and sleep for his whole nap. If that weren't an option, I would have just kept working at getting them to fall asleep at different times. Now that it's been almost 6 months, we can sometimes put them to bed at night at the same time, but it still takes them a very long time to actually fall asleep. So, in my novel here, I guess I'm saying, I would do it as early as possible and just go with the flow. It's a transition and it will take time.

Good luck! Let us know how it goes!
C.

My kids have shared a room since my son was 3 months, and my daughter had just turned 2. We made the older one feel special and big, by converting her crib to a day bed, since my son was in a crib also. It took them a couple of weeks to get used to each other, but they are now 3 and 5, and love sharing a room.
I shared a room growing up, and believe it's a great lesson to be learned in sharing, compromise, and bonding. We have a 3-bedroom house, but elected to have the two share a room for the great life lessons. They will continue to share a room for a few more years at least. They have bunkbeds, so they're able to find their own space in each of their beds.
Good luck!

I have a 5 year old and 23 month old who share rooms. (my 3 year old is a terrible sleeper so he gets his own room). They started sharing rooms just before the youngest was 1 because we moved right before his 1st b day...

any way, it works great the little one is in a crib with a crib tent and the 5 year old is in his own bed of course...

HTH
A.

Hi. I moved our 21 month old into our 3 year old's (now he is 4) room when he was about 17 months. He of course is still in his crib (uses a crib tent) with his brother sleeping in a bunk bed waiting for him when he gets old enough. I was very anxious and just knew that they would not get any sleep. At first they was so excited about each others presence it took a while for them to settle down. But even though I wanted to keep going in there to tell them to go to sleep, I let it "run it's course" and in time they were asleep. They still go through I time laughing, talking and singing to each other and then fall asleep without a problem. As for waking each other up, they WHERE both very light sleepers but since sharing a room they are fine with hearing each other make noises while the other is sleeping and wouldn't have it any other way! They love it and I like that they are together at night too.
Best Regards and congrats on the new addition,
C.

My boys share a room and have ever since my youngest now 5 turned 2. That is when he came out of his crib and into a big bed. They have bunk beds. For the most part they love being in the same room but sometimes one complains the other is bothering them at night time. When we moved we gave them the choice to have their own room or share - they choose to continue to share the room. I hear from other friends who children who did share a room and now in separate room usually end up sleeping in each other's rooms anyway. You can have a "sleeping room" and a play room.

A.,
I'm in almost the exact same position. I have a 26 mo old, an 11 mo old, and another boy due in November. We made the decision to have the two "oldest" boys share a room. We went out and got my 2 year old a toddler bed about a month ago. I had some reservations about him sleeping in it, but we bought the essential lightening McQueen bedding and he has never looked back. In fact he already refers to his old crib as "our new baby's bed". The first day we got the bed we put the boys together in the room they would share. They did a great job! They have been sleeping in the same room since mid-June. The only problem that we've had is at nap. My oldest will play, and try to talk to his younger brother resulting in nobody getting a nap. I have since separated them, the oldest staying in his big boy bed and my youngest moving to the baby's crib in the nursery room. This way they both get the nap they need, and they still sleep really well at night time. I guess I will have to come up with a new plan for this issue in November, but I will cross that bridge when I get to it.

I just jumped in with both feet for our transition, and both boys handled it really well. Good luck, and congrats on your new bundle of joy!

The good thing is that you have both boy's and they are close to the same age, which means shortly they will be into the same kinda of things...They will be able to share a room for a few years and then may get uncomfortable and want their space...my son really started doing a "macho" transition in fourth grade which was the grade he just completed. If it were a boy and a girl it might be tougher and really might not work out well but 2 boys two years apart should be no problem. My Aunt has two boys 18 and 21 now and one daughter who is 17 now, but when they were little although the girl was the youngest she had her own room ( little girls really need their own space apart from boys). The boys shared a romm with bunk beds since the second one was born until the oldest was about eleven. They are two years apart. The reason they were able to get their own rooms when the oldest was eleven was because they moved into a bigger house that they had built and there was a room for everyone plus some...good luck and God Bless!!

My boys have shared a room since ~ 16 - 18 months and 4 years, respectively. I asked my oldest if he'd like his little brother to sleep in his room - he said yes, and we moved the crib.

It went ok - there was some screaming at first, then once we turned the crib into a daybed, there is still some playing when they're supposed to be in bed - but ultimately no big issue.

FWIW, my daughter has always had her own room. The boys will probably always share a room, since our house is never going to get any bigger... I shared a room with my big sister (20! years older) from the time I was 4 until she married when I was 10 - It was a huge age gap, and we're still SUPER close.

S.

I am a firm believer in children sharing rooms. They learn so much from it. I have three boys and three girls...each in room...a girl's room and a boy's room. My kids would hate it if they were separated. They love it. NOw at times it's difficult trying to get them all asleep at the same time, but with consistancy and effort they'll go to sleep like clockwork.

Best of luck!

Hi A.,

I think having your children share a room is one of the best things you can do for them. They become very close to one another and learn to share. I have a 3 bedroom home with 4 children. We can afford a larger home but I like our low mortgage and like having so much disposable income.

My girls ages 9 and 7 share a room and my boys ages 11 and 5 share a room. None of them complain about being with the other. As a matter of fact, during the summer months they all sleep together in the family room. My kids love hanging out with each other and I think it's because they've always spent time together.

The older two had seperate rooms as babies. When #3 came along I put 1 and 2 in a room together so the baby could rest peacefully. When # 4 came along, I put the girls together and the boys together and it's worked beautifully ever since.

My son and daughter shared a room from her birth when he was 14 mo old until he started school. They really missed each other at first. When I was young, my brother and I shared a room to sleep in and the other room was the play room. To this day and I am 58, I remember crying when I had to move........but got well over it of course.......

My girls share a small bedroom and have since they were 4 and 5. Before that, they either slept in our room (as babies), or on the sofa b/c they each had a room, but would always end up on the sofa, "too scared" to sleep alone. Finally, we bought 2 same beds and moved them in together... every now and then I hear from the older one, "I want my own room", but it will never happen! :)

My boys LOVE sharing a room. They feel so sorry for their sister, because she has to have her own room. They have shared since the younger was about 6 months old. We did seperate for naps during that age, though.