Sharing rooms-Preschooler and 3 Month Old

Updated on July 28, 2010
J.H. asks from San Francisco, CA
8 answers

I have a 2 bedroom home so eventually my daugther (3 yrs old) and son ( almost 3 months) will have to share a room. Right now my son is in a bassinet in our bedroom but is outgrowing it quickly. Do any of you have suggestions on when is an appropriate time to have them start sharing a room (knowing my son will go through sleep training, night feedings etc and will wake up my daughter)? We are thinking of setting up the crib in our room until he's older but scared that he will get used to "sleeping" with us. We had such a huge success having our daughter sleep in her own room ever since she was 3 months we just don't want to go down the wrong path. Help and thank you!

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S.K.

answers from Sacramento on

My kid's have been sharing a room since my son was 3 months old. My kids are only 20 months apart. My daughter quickly learned to sleep through my son waking up at night. I had a baby moniter and I usually woke up before he really got going at night. I would generally take him in the living room for the night feedings and diaper changes so I wouldn't wake my daughter up. To be honest, I have more trouble with them waking each other up now that they are 2 and 4 then I did when he was in the crib!

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S.R.

answers from San Francisco on

My oldest is 4 and was 22 months when her sister was brought home. The first 4 months Alice was in our room in a bassinet but her crib was in Georgia's room to get big sis ready and understanding that her and the baby would share a room. At 3 months I started putting Alice in the crib for naps so Georgia could see baby in there. At 4 months the baby moved in. It was a challenge the 1st week. But with consistency we merged the girls to the same sleep schedule. Yes Georgia got woken up if the baby woke up but the same was reversed if big sis woke up too. The sooner you move them in together the sooner they will get used to it. Now they have trouble sleeping if the other one isn't in the room :)

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J.C.

answers from San Francisco on

My girls are only 13 months apart, but they started sharing a room when my youngest was 6 months old. My oldest never had a problem waking up when her sister needed fed or changed in the middle of the night. The hardest part we had was at bedtime cuz they wanted to play instead of sleep (we still have that problem some nights and they are almost 3 & 4 now). Good luck to you in the transistion!

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D.S.

answers from San Francisco on

Hello J., I want you to know that your question as serious as it is made me smile and go down memory laneaabit. In fact I will call ech child and laugh about someof thier experiances later to night.
I am the elsdest of 10 children. I have 5 children and have had several foster children that I am proud of. To say the least there was alot of shareing of rooms.
I was going thru a cleaning phase and actually had furniture out of rooms to paint ans such... and came back home from an errand to discover that mu eldest children had taken over the biggest room( mine ofcourse) and had set up the bunkbeds and had moved the crib in there.. Why since they had rooms --becasue they wanted to be together and liked to see the baby and have him talk tothem. They were also the ones that taught him how to get out of the crib so he would crawl into bed with them. So it sure won't hurt anything and may make great and strong bonds between them.
I have a group of friends that are Samoan, and they sometimes have all the family in one room just so they can talk to one another til they fall asleep.
Before the modern age just about everyone had 2-3 children in a room.
They will learn to adjust and to be quite for one another. Also my children have learned from an early age to sleep through just about any noise that comes along that doesn't apply to them including crying baby, and siblings that sleep at different times... Good Luck

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K.K.

answers from San Francisco on

Hi, My son and daughter shared a from from the time they were 3months and 23 months until they were 6 and 8 years old. I was a little rough the first week but soon he got used to his baby sister's cries and slept right through it. Bedtime actually became a little easier cause I only had to read books on one room and sing one song and they both benenfitted. One piece of advice make sure their beds/cribs are far enought apart that they can't reach each other. And be prepared to find that the older one has crawled into the little one's crib. It was quiet sweet to find them sleeping together. Good luck.

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K.S.

answers from San Francisco on

Our kids now share a room and it's the best. It really fosters a strong bond between them and they are really close. My duaghter didn't sleep through the night until she was 11 months old and I didn't feel it was fair to have her in his room while this was still going on. We kept her in a crib in our room which was fine. Once she was sleeping through we moved them in together. It took just a few nights to get them used to each others noises but now they can't stand the thought of being separated. They are now 5 and 3. Even though my son slept through at 10 weeks of age we kept him in our room until he was about 10 months old. The house we lived in at the time had the master at one end and the other bedrooms at the very far end of the house and I didn't feel comfortable with him so far away from us.

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H.B.

answers from Chicago on

My two boys are almost 3 years apart. I think I put them together when the youngest was in the 3-6 month range. You just have to take it as it goes. My thought is sooner rather than later because they'll grow comfortable with their current sleeping arrangements. I'm pregnant with my third (a girl) and I plan for them to all share a room.

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W.N.

answers from San Francisco on

We're in the same boat, and our plan is to move the baby(4 months now)into a crib in our closet(sort of big, w/ a little window)in a month or so until...it seems OK to move the crib into the room w/ his 3 year old brother...?

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