Advice for Transitioning Siblings to Share Room

E.,

I don't think you should try to get them on the same track for now. If your baby goes to bed sooner, then I think that's great. That way once its your daughter's time to go to bed, he'll already be settled and asleep. Sending them to bed at once might just end up being too hard at first as they'll keep each other awake. Too much stimulation. You'll also probably be surprised at how easily your daughter will likely sleep through her brother stirring or waking up. Even if he awakens her, she'll likely be okay falling back asleep if like you say, she's always been a good sleeper.

Just go for it. You will be surprised how it all works out. My 4 yr old boy sleeps like a log, but my 20 month girl is a very light sleeper. They started sharing when she was 4 months old. It does go a little rocky at first, but they do adjust. And keep them on separate schedules - it's much easier. I actually keep my older one up 20 minutes later on purpose to let her settle into a deep sleep and then get him in bed. Sometimes I put soft music on a loop in their room for the couple of hours of bedtime in case his getting in bed process disturbs her at all. Their morning wake time is 1/2 hour off of each other too, which makes it go much smoother for me.

Hi E.! My girls were 18 months apart, and after 5 months of having the baby in our room, we fearfully made the transition. It seemed insane to put a baby in with a child that slept through the night! The best advice that I heard is: the sooner the better. The children need to get used to each other - and they will! I'm not saying that everything went 100% smoothly, but there were only a handful of nights when the baby woke up our older one or vice versa. It turned out that our sleeping 2 year old could sleep through just about anything! Their clocks seemed to adjust to one another (nature took over) and eventually they fell into the same sleep cycle. They now sleep through the night together. Good Luck!

E.,

My 3 yr old boy and 13 month old daughter share a room. They have different bedtimes and it works well for the most part. My 13 month old goes to bed an hour earlier an is passed out by the time my son gets in the room. It works out better this way because if I put them down at the same time they just want to talk and play the whole time. It's also nice this way because then I get 1 on 1 time with my son before bedtime. I was so afraid that my daughter would wake my son up when she woke in the night and this rarely happens. She is 13 months old and still wakes at night and it never wakes him up. I would try it. You will probably be suprised at how well it goes. Good luck!

L.

The response just before mine hits the nail on the head: white noise. Softens out the sounds of other kids, parental snoring, you name it. Introduce your daughter to the white noise a few nights before the baby moves in, so she can become accustomed to it.

We had to have 3 in one room for a few years because our first son was so much older than the 'babies.' We couldn't afford a white noise machine, so we played atmospheric CDs of rain or the ocean. We put the CD on 'repeat' each night along with their night light.

(Look forward to the day you find them all cuddled up together in the morning -- my kids used to sneak into each other's beds at night and snuggle each other like dollies. Magic: one look at them nestled like baby bunnies in the morning, and I could take anything life threw at me the rest of the week. Made all the diaper-duty totally worth it.) :-)

I was in the same boat as you...my almost 3 year old sleeps great, but my 8 month old was waking up many times a night and she slept in the same room as my husband and I. We moved the baby to the living room and let her cry it out at night...she never cried more than 5 minutes and by day 3 she was sleeping through the night. We then moved the baby to the room and we have a sound machine that helps drown out the noise if either one wakes up for any reason. The girls have been sleeping in the same room now for over a month and it is wonderful! Best of luck to you!