Siblings sharing a room? How did you do it?

[calv]

What would I do w/out you wonderful ladies? Well as most of you know, we're expecting our 3rd in OCT. We plan on putting the 2 girls in one room. Our oldest is 3 and our other is 17 months. When and how do you suggest we do this?

We expect to have a twin mattress delivered tomorrow. Yes my oldest is still in her crib. I'm a wreck about the whole 2 kids in 1 room but I know it's been done so I guess I'm just looking for some tips/suggestions on what worked for you and how you went about the whole thing.


As always, thanks for your time and help. =)

[staramama]

My 3.5 yo DS and 17 month old DD have been sharing a room for a few months now. I was dreading it, but by and large it is working out-- and it beats having DD in our bedroom!
We do keep the pack n play in a corner of our bedroom, so that DD can nap there while DS has naptime/quiet time in his room.
Bedtime was tricky for a while, since DD goes in first and is a light sleeper. They have gotten used to it, and DS is much quieter at bedtime now, because he hates to hear his sister crying(not necessarily out of sympathy--she's loud).
Kids are so flexible; my months of worrying were needless. I hope you'll be pleasantly surprised.

[calv]

Thanks for replying. I'm very worried about bedtime. DD #1 is a huge talker and will talk anywhere from a 1/2 hour to over an hour until she finally falls asleep. DD #2 who will be 18 months next month goes down rather fast once we put her in her crib, she's usally asleep w/in 10 minutes w/no CIO. I'm scare of DD #1 keeping DD #2 awake.

thoughts on this?

[maddyzmommy]

My daughters, 7.5 and almost 5, share a room very successfully. Like you, I made the move because #3 was on the way and I didn't want to give up the guest room. I always wished I had a sister to share a room with so I set about assembling the dream room of my own childhood. I bought a picture to hang over each of their beds, got them matching quilts and a little shelf on the other wall over their beds. They've taken such pride in their room and they LOVE being together. We moved them when they were five and 2.5- a few months before the baby came home so it wouldn't feel like the younger one was being pushed out of her room because of the baby. They helped decorate the nursery and pick out which toys the baby could have and which they wanted in their own room. It helped that I let them be partners in these little decisions, I think.

At first we had some trouble with them giggling in the dark a lot but that only last a couple weeks and only resurfaces when a big holiday or trip is coming up the next day. I love that they're together and I think it has made them feel a lot closer to each other. I hear them talking about school and teachers over the monitor sometimes and it makes me well up to think that I almost didn't put them together and they would have missed all these great bonding opportunities. I stagger their bedtimes during the week by thirty minutes and let them go together on the weekends and vacations. It's absolutely ideal. Now we're thinking baby sister, 22 months, will be ready to move into the shared room in six to eight months and we'll rotate the older one out and redo the nursery for her very own. I'd love to do three little girl rooms because it's such fun to pick everything out but I honestly choose to keep them together because that's an experience you just can't match. It's almost a rite of passage. Don't worry. They'll work it out and be so close, especially starting as young as your kids are. My closest friend moved her boys together at 3 years and 8 months and even those little guys are doing great together (now 4 and 21 months).

Take heart! They'll love it!
Andi

[emilyf]

Mine have shared a room since we moved dd out of our room at a few months old. It's worked very well for us. I usually put dd down first, around 7 pm and put ds down a 1/2 hour to an hour or so later, that way she is asleep and they can't bother each other. Once dd is asleep she is a solid sleeper, so she won't wake back up. We usually put her to bed almost right after dinner and ds gets to stay up and read books or sometimes watch tv or something. If we have dinner late or go out for some reason, or dd isn't ready for bed that early we do occasionally put them down at the same time, and it usually goes ok-sometimes they giggle at each other for a while, but fall asleep eventually. Good luck!
Emily mom of Charlie born 11/02 and Zoe born 9/05

[betsydenny]

Our DD now 4 and DS 2.5 yrs have shared a room since DS was 5 months old and DD was 2yrs. It is fantastic. I have always put them down at the same time- less work for me that way- do it all once and be done. We actually put them together when we started CIO with DS who was in the bad habit of waking up every 90 min at 5 months. (no sleep makes for a not nice mommy!) DD adjusted quickly and easily. And they sleep beautifully. In fact, they rarely wake the other up when one has a bad dream or needs something in the middle of the night. And while there were periods of one waking the other up too early in the am- they were pretty short lived and now we have an alarm clock that goes off at 7am. Noone is allowed out of the room till the music comes on. Works beautifully!

In fact, we too are due with #3 in Oct and both kids want the baby to sleep in their room with them! It will be a very tight fit, but that way the guest room will become a playroom and the bedroom just a sleeping room.

One note- While I always had them sleep at night in the same room- I never let them nap together. DS napped in a pack n play in our room till DD no longer napped.

BTW, DD was in her crib till 3.5 yrs and loved it! DS will be there till 3 at least! I am all for containment! ;-)
HTH!
Betsy

[teddy]

DD and DS have been sharing a room since DS moved out of the cradle in our room (maybe 2-3 mos old?) They've been sharing ever since, and now #3 is due on TUESDAY (already?), and she's going to be in there with them once she moves out of the cradle also!

Ideally, we put DD down first because she doesn't nap anymore (she's 2 years older than DS). Then about 30-45 min later, we put down DS. DD is usually asleep by then, and we tell her if she's not asleep, just pretend she is so that DS doesn't think it's playtime. That usually works for us.

At naptime when DS was younger, we let them nap in separate rooms. DS went into the crib and DD napped in our bed. Once DS was no longer in his crib (18 mos) they napped together in their room. For DD, we called it her quiet time so she would just lie there until DS fell asleep, then we'd sneak downstairs and do more quiet time things together.

DD and DS are very close and I think they truly enjoy being together. We'll see how the balance is upset once #3 moves in...

Good luck!