Experiance on two kids sleeping in same room? need advice

[JulieL]

As DH and I have decided to ttc the topic of having a two bedroom apartment came up. DH wondered if it would be mean to have our son have to get accustomed to a crying baby in the night. The first couple months we would keep #2 in our room since I will be nursing. Neither of us want to move as our apartment is pretty much perfect for us and in a fabulous location. I am certain we would not find something so perfect again in a rental. I talked to several other moms and they say it can be done. Fact is I am not sure we could afford a place with three bedrooms. What is your experiance?

[mamahill]

I don't have experience, but we own a 2-bedroom townhouse so when #2 comes, there won't be another option. Toddlers can sleep through a lot, though, so who knows. I'm thinking that by the time the baby is a couple months old, they'll be sleeping through the night (and now that I've said that, it WON'T happen!), and interruptions will be less likely. FWIW, I couldn't stand having Ainsleigh in our room, so baby will be roomming with Ainsleigh from the beginning.

And hey, one more thing for us to do the same! ;) ;) ;)

[skygoddess]

I think room sharing is entirely doable. My two kids are sharing a bedroom in our 4-bedroom house, mostly because DH and I don't want to give up the "office" and the "library" until we absolutely have to! So far it's been working well. The baby stayed with us in a bassinet in the master bedroom for a few months until she started sleeping through the night. We put them both to bed at the same time most nights, and they've gotten used to each others' noises pretty quickly. We've had several nights where one or the other woke up in the middle of the night screaming (nightmares for the toddler, teething for the baby), and the other child just slept through it all.

The big caveat is that I do NOT put them in the same room for naptime, as both are rather light sleepers in the daytime. My toddler is down to one nap, in the afternoon, and she often is awake chatting and singing to herself in the crib during the entire naptime. When she does nap, she often naps longer than the baby who has had a morning nap, so either way they're not synched up and I'm concerned one might wake the other. Thus the baby takes her afternoon nap in a pack-and-play in the master bedroom.

HTH,
Nancy

[pamela mom of 3]

Three bedroom house here...so obviously somebody shares ;)

Ds has his own room, girls share...basically we waited until baby slept through the night before we had the kids share rooms.

So sure it's workable, we found moving the girls into bunk beds a big help on space for them when dd#2 outgrew her toddler bed.

GL :)



~Pamela Mom Of 3

http://instagiber.net/smiliesdotcom/kao/otn/blobflower.gif

[JMarie]

I grew up in a two-bedroom house - five kids, two parents, one bedroom, and ONE BATHROOM. When I was 13 we did put on an addition and finish the basement, which added three bedrooms and a 3/4 bath, but we did just fine. We all grew up close and obviously know how to share - it was a positive, not a negative. You'll do just fine!

Jennifer
Mom to Aidan Christopher
01/28/03

[JulieL]

good to know that it's not a bad deal. I really love our apartment and whenever #2 ends up showing up I'll have one less thing to stress out about.

[egoldber]

We had a three bedroom house growing up, with 4 kids and also ONE bathroom! You do learn how to share and how to get in and out of the bathroom fast! LOL! The only thing that irked me growing up was that there were 3 girls and 1 boy, so my brother got his own room and the three of us girls had to share. :)

[jojo2324]

Julie, it's so funny you should post this, because I was just wondering the same thing!

DD is in our room right now, in a cradle. She's a fantastic sleeper, and has been sleeping really well at night for weeks now. But she does wake up once (usually around 5-6) and I imagine that would be enough to wake DS (light sleeper).

I suppose it depends on the temperament of your second baby too. Gannon refused to sleep in anything other than my arms for the first year. You do what you gotta do to get sleep, you know? :) If my kids had been reversed, I don't know that I would want to expose my first born to that through the night, thus having TWO kids awake and screaming.

I am going to wait another month to see how her sleeping goes, then I might think about moving her into his room. But I'm fine with her being in our room too.

[mary b]

Hi Julie, my 2 1/2 year old and 7 month old share a room right now since our home is a Cape Cod and 2 bedrooms upstairs and 2 down. I agree with the others that eventually when they are older, I think it will be fine. It has been a struggle right now though with the 7 month old not sleeping through the nite. We had her in a bassinet in our room for almost 4 months but she was busting out of it and still getting up 3-5 times /nite so we thought if we moved her to her permanent crib she would sleep better and we wouldn';t hear every little noise. My 2 1/2 year old also slept through the nite at 3 months so I hoped Lindsey would too and it would be a smooth tranistion.. Well, things haven't gone exactly as planned and there have been a few nites when i am either (1) screaming at DH that we need to find a ranch and move tonite! or (2) rocking both kids at 3 in the morning after Lindsey wakes noelle uop again...

However, it is getting better (my DH would die that I am saying it is getting better!).. Lindsey still gets up at least 1 time per nite but most nites, Noe sleeps through it.

We have tried several things and I would be more than happy to get more into this when you are going through this.. (Let me know if you want to email me about this).. I could go on and on about this topic!!! I know that once we get through this stage, it really will be fine. I shared a room with my sis too and besides the sibling riv. stuff, it really was fine!

Hope this hasn't been too negative!@
Mary
Mom to Noelle and Lindsey

[kijip]

We live in a 1 bedroom house with our 9 month old. We love our house and will stay until I am done with a law degree a the very least. Just food for a thought in terms of space that we now require:

My grandparents raised 9 children in 2 and then later, 3 bedrooms from 1942-1980.

My 1 bedroom house was inhabited in the fifties and early sixties by a family with three boys. 3 boys, 2 parents with one bedroom. I believe the boys slept on bunks in the bedroom and the parents had a sofa type bed in the living room. The parents were frugal and they did not move till they could pay cash for their own home (they were renting).