Need Some Advice on My Children Sharing a Room

Hi S.,

Just for safety reason I would hold off for a little while longer. They need to be watch 24 7. Especially that little.

If this is going to be a long-term arrangement, I'd go by gender. You don't mention whether they are boys or girls.

I would arrange them in whatever way would allow you to get the most sleep!!! The worst sleeper gets their own room so there is no one else in the room with them to wake up, when they wake up in the middle of the night.. Good Luck!

hmmm, I suppose I would put the 2 younger ones together and let the older have his/her own room, but I can understand your dilemma! This would be a hard decision to make...I'd be worried about who'd wake who during the night! :)
Lynsey

First, I have only one child... but, I agree with your plan.. Babies have special needs those first couple years, it would make more sense to let your two older ones share.

Likewise,,and the 3 yr old turns 5+ their needs will change and having their own room would be nice, and would make sense then for the 2 younger ones to share as their needs will be most similar.

sounds good here....

Hi S.,

I also agree--arrange them to maximize your sleep! I just moved our 1-year-old in with our almost 3-year-old, and we are still ending up with the little guy in our room for a few hours, which allows everyone to get more sleep. I grew up with two sisters and we alternated sharing a room. We had a 3-bedroom home and for six months we each got our own room, then we rotated. It was a nice way for us to learn to get along and to also enjoy our own space. (This only lasted until we were close to be through with elementary school--then we moved). Good luck. Whatever way it works out, they will be fine! :)

My girls are 3.5 and 26 months and share a room. SOmetimes it is a little trouble as they like to fool around before bed, but we have a pretty good routine down and when it is "lights out" they have to be quiet! I give them about 10 minutes with them on, and then sleep time. I agree that your plan seems hte best way. The baby waking up might keep teh 18 month old up, so if the older two are sleeping through the night now, they are best together. And then the older can have her own room later on.
Best of luck!
K.

whatever you are planning on doing in 2 years, you should do now. then everyone will be used to the setup. you should not have your newborn in the room with you, for that wil be what the child will expect in the future. i had a 5 yr old and a newborn share a room for 5 years. it was hard for them to separate when we redid our home.

We've had good success in putting the older kids together, and letting the newborn have the other room. We have done this a few times now. We're expecting #4 in Oct., and plan to put the 3 oldest (6, 4 and 2) together so baby can have his own room. In my experience, baby sleep schedules are just so different and I didn't want to be waking people up by sneaking someone in for a different bed time. (The 3 big kids all have the same bed time right now) Once baby is bigger and has the same bed time, we'll make the switch to boys in one room, girls in the other...hope this helps!

My two oldest (4-1/2 & almost 2) have shared a room since birth. There are have been many bedtime challenges over this time, but we wouldn't have it any other way. They're very very close. Our baby has her own room. She's 10 months old. The two older kids have the same interests so decorating their room is easier as well.
Congrats on the new baby and the new house!

I totally relate! I have a 3 year old, a 2 year old and a 7 month old and moved into a 3 bedroom just before the baby was born. I can tell you what we did and the pros and cons. We kept the baby in our room for the first couple of months (the other kids were 27 months and 14 months when she was born). Then after four months or so, when she was sleeping through the night, I put her in her own room and moved the other two together. They had no problem transitioning to sharing a room but they do have trouble falling asleep because they are still trying to play with each other. The other side of that is that they play together when they wake up in the morning and give us some extra time to deal with ourselves or the baby. They do wake each other up, but I think that would happen regardless of who was sharing a room.

The main issue I had originally when I was thinking about it was napping. The baby still naps three times a day so I could put her in with the older child that doesn't nap anymore. But my middle son naps just once a day so he and the baby couldn't be in the same room because of napping. But I thought it was going to be jarring for my oldest to wake up in the morning to a crying baby in her room, which is why I have the two older ones together. Not sure if that is better or worse than her brother yelling her name at her as a wake up call :).

Good luck and Congrats on your family!

I guess it depends on the temperament of each child and their sleep schedules.

Sounds like you already have a plan.

Nanc