We have a 4 bedroom house, but one of the bedrooms is 1 floor below the other bedrooms. I have been considering moving my 3 yr old, J, out of his 5 yr old brother, M's, room so that we all sleep better. The baby has his own room, and he is such a great sleeper that I'd hate to mess with a good thing. J gets up around 5:30 every morning, and if he is in the same room with M, he wakes him up too--about 1 hr earlier than he needs to be up for school, and 2 hrs earlier than he needs to be up on weekends. M isn't getting enough sleep because he doesn't nap at school, and he ends up being so exhausted every night.
Do you think it would be ok to move J? It is already set up as a guest room, so I could just put some rails on the bed, and a waterproof mattress protector.
The problem with moving the 5 yr old is he is terrified to be downstairs without having full lights and the tv on, and will only go downstairs at night time if I or my husband are downstairs. The 3 yr old isn't afraid.
We do have a security system, so if a door were to be opened the alarm would sound, and we also have chain bolts near the tops of the door.
I would feel more comfortable if *I* was on the main floor and had all the kids upstairs, rather than a kid downstairs alone.
Hi there, like some other mammas said, I have a 3 bedroom house and there is one room on the main floor and 2 up. My husband and I have taken the main floor one and my girls are right above us. We can hear them in the night and see them if the come down the stairs. It just makes us feel safer becasue we feel like we have more control of the house being on the main floor!
Move J to the babies room so M can get some sleep. Kids get themselves in situations especially when they wake up and have time alone.
Or, wake up when J wakes up and remove him from M's room before he wakes him up.
I would never put a young child below my floor. I would rather take the room below (even if it's smaller) .. I just would never feel comfortable knowing my child was closer to the front door than I was.... I would always be getting up at night to check on my son.
I think that a lot of people have master's on the first floor and kids upstairs. As long as he is ok with it and it's 100% secure for him to be down there (as in, doors are all locked, etc) then why not.
Sure, why not? If you trust him and he's not worried about being by himself it sounds like the perfect solution to help everyone sleep. I'd use a baby monitor to be able to hear in case he needs you in the middle of the night (I still use one with our 5.5 year old girls who are at the far end of the house).
Yep. Put a gate up and use a monitor and it should be ok
No, I would not move a 3 year old to a completely different part of the house. I would rearrange the rooms though. The 3 year old and the baby might do well together.
When they are all a bit older you can move yourself down stairs and let the kids have the upstairs. But not until they are all in school I think.
No I wouldn't.
With your 3 year old... can you teach him to make quiet, when he wakes earlier?
I have 2 kids and when they were that age, they KNEW how to be quiet... if/when someone was sleeping and/or napping etc.
I would put my finger to my lips and say "shhhhh..... sister is sleeping....." and smile... then theatrically over exaggerating my tip-toeing around the house and "act" like it was fun and my son would follow along.
There were times when my kids were younger, that they'd sleep together, but they'd be quiet if one woke first.
I just told them, when someone is sleeping or napping... we have to make quiet and don't wake the other person.
But no, I wouldn't put the kids or a kid, down below on that floor.
My girls (5 and 2) are upstairs and my bedroom is downstairs. No issues at all. We have a split level so the girls are on the main level and we are in the lower/basement level.
If you think your son will be ok being on his 'own' level then do it. You can always try it and if it doesn't work out make other arrangements.
Sure, I would. If you are worried about it keep a baby monitor in his room so you can hear him if he gets up.
Not a problem. My 2 and 5yo are upstairs and we are on the main floor. I have "mommy ears," so I can hear when something (or someone) is up. As long as the kiddo (whichever one it is) is able to walk up or down the stairs to get you, it should be fine.
Nope. I wouldn't do it. We purposely looked for a house that has 3 bedrooms on the first floor. I just can't be too far away from my babies! However, I know others that have a master suite on the main level and the kids on the upper or lower level and are just fine,so it really has to do with your level of comfort with it.
Good luck!
A.
can the 5 year old go there rather than the 3 year old? I would feel safer that way, but I dont see a problem if he sleeps through the night. My 5 year old often likes to sleep in our lower level play room, when she takes a nap. I dont really worry much as there is no way she can get out unless she comes up the stairs. despite who you move, I would still put a monitor in his room in case he is scared or needs something and you cant hear him well in the other level.
My kids are both on a different level of the house. I have a 3 level townhouse. 1st floor is kitchen and living/dining room. 2nd floor is the master bedroom, den and laundry, 3rd level is 2 bedrooms and a bathroom. My 4yr old (just turned 4 this month) and my 8month old are both upstairs from me. We have lived there since they were born. I have monitors in both rooms and have never had an issue. I actually worry about when we (hopefully) move to a single family house and they will be on the same level as us that they will wake up all the time from hearing us moving about!
Also, you could just try it out for a while and see how he does. If you dont change the room yet you dont have to change anything back if it does not work out.
I agree with others - why not move the 5yr old?
My kids are all on a separate level from my bedroom. They're a floor above us, and have been for 9 years. (The kids are now 14, 13, 13, and 9)
With that being said, I don't know if I would put one kid off by themselves unless they were older. Can you move the 5 year old off into his own room?
If you are worried, just use a baby monitor. Maybe he will take pride in his own space..
Our master and a guest room/office is downstairs and the other 3 bedrooms are upstairs. Our daughter is on the opposite end and upper level of the house from our master which is down and in the far back corner.
We never had any issues and we love this set up much more than having all bedrooms on 1 floor.
Again, it is personal choice.
Would you consider moving the baby down to the 1st floor and keeping your 3 year old upstairs. The only reason why I propose this question is the 3 year old can probably get out of bed while the baby is in a crib.
This is what we did and we have a 3 yo and a 10 mo. We were originally going to put the two of them together in the same room but because of your exact reasons we only lasted one night with this. WE moved our 10 month old down to our computer room which we made into his nursery and kept our 3 year old upstairs. At first I felt weird not having the baby on the same floor but he sleeps through the night, goes to bed at 7 and wakes up between 6-7 a.m. He is a sound sleeper so even if it is loud downstairs (his room is off the kitchen) he still sleeps through everything. I also thought that by moving our oldest downstairs he would have more to adjust and he already never wants to go to bed when we are up....he really wouldn't want to if he was downstairs hearing us talk, etc.
I have to say that this has worked out great for us. Just another plan to perhaps consider....especially since you stated that your baby is a pretty good sleeper.
No, I probably wouldn't. Not my 3 year old anyway. I would consider moving a 5 year old down there, though. I have never lived in a 2 story home, so having children on a different floor, is a bit intimidating. I just think 3 is too young.
We have 2 levels and all of my kids are upstairs and we are downstairs. I freaked out at first but it is completely fine. I have a gate at top and bottom of the stairs but I don't use it yet (baby hasn't learned to climb yet) my 3.5yr old wakes up and comes down the stairs by herself.
i'd be nervous too. But why not put a baby monitor up and try it. Just see how it works. You can always change your mind. and maybe it will work great
Why don't you move the 5yo? If he gets up earlier than others, you could give him options of quiet activities he could do until others are up. If he has his own separate space, he's less likely to unintentionally disturb others.
Tough question. Is there no option of moving yourself downstairs and leaving all the kids upstairs? I've never been a big fan of having younger kids downstairs while we're upstairs. My son is no downstairs and my daughter and we are upstairs. I have it - but the two downstairs bedrooms are tiny and the only one big enough for two people is upstairs. But now my husband (NYPD sergeant) works an odd schedule and gets home around 1:30 AM, and my very immediate neighbor (my son's bedroom window is practically on his driveway) is also a police officer and works odd hours as well. So I feel more secure knowing that there are cops coming and going at irregular hours through the night.
My son is now 13 and 6' tall so I don't worry about him being grabbed in the middle of the night anymore. There have ben a few nights in the last few years that I came downstairs in the AM to find his lights on.
When he was younger and woke up in the middle of hte night he'd come crawl into bed with us. But as he got older he'd just turn his lights on to feel more secure and then fall back asleep.
There's not an easy answer but I would still leave them in the the same room at this time. Tell your early riser that he should get up quietly, not waking up his borther, and go downstairs and watch cartoons or something. REmember for all generations until the last 20-30 years many siblings shared rooms and even beds - it managed to work for thousands of years...
We have 2 bedrooms downstairs and 2 upstairs. Ours (hubby and I) are downstairs and when my daughters were 1 and 3, the 1
yo was downstairs and the 3yo upstairs. With the baby monitor and safety gates, It worked out fine for us.
However, if it was reversed with the 3 yo downstairs by herself I don't think that would have worked for us. I'd be to worried, just too many what if's for me.
