Advice for Moving Two Children into the Same Room

[icegurl470]

Advice on children sharing rooms? I'm due with #3 in a couple months, a boy, and I have two girls currently age 3 and 19 months. They're a year and 8 months apart and will be sharing a room once the baby moves into his room. My oldest turns 4 in February, so my plan is to buy her a twin bed for her birthday and move her sister into her toddler bed, so the baby can have the crib. I'm actually looking at a convertible twin bunk bed that converts to two single beds, so they will eventually both have twin beds with the option of converting into a twin over twin bunk bed. My concern is my 19 month old is a really good sleeper, she goes to sleep really quickly, sleeps through the night and has been for almost a year now. Her sister, not so much. She usually takes 2 or 3 attempts to put to bed and she gets up sometimes during the night, talks in her sleep and has the occasional night terror. I'm hoping my youngest will continue to sleep good. I know she will eventually adjust but im worried about the transition.. Once they start sharing should they go to bed at the same time or what? Any other advice? Thanks

 

[petite ping]

Just put them together and they will adjust faster than you think.

My DD1 can sleep through anything and DD2 is a really crappy sleeper - she finds it hard to get to sleep and wakes up 2-3 times a night (and not quietly).

Well I was just as worried as you before I put them together and well DD1 can still sleep through anything including her sister screaming and us coming in several times a night and DD2 is still a crappy sleeper.

We put them in twin beds and not bunk beds. I really hate bunk beds not least because I spent my whole childhood in them. The main reason is because I wanted them to be able to see each other whilst they were in bed.

 

[Wobbles]

They will adjust!

I've had mine sharing for the last year though and I can't wait to separate them again They are older so generally talk, laugh or be at each others throats

 

[Zephram]

I have this exact problem! I have two boys aged 4 and almost 2 and I'm expecting baby #3 in February and I'm already stressing about the bedroom situation!!

We live in a three bedroom house so two of them will have to share. I'm really torn as to whether the eldest two should share or the youngest two? How do you decide?

I guess if the baby doesn't sleep well (my two boys didn't as babies), it would make more sense for the eldest two to share, but I hypothetically said to my 4 year old the other day that one day he might share a room with his brother and he said, "I don't share my room", totally against the idea. He doesn't know I'm pregnant yet but he's quite highly strung and DS2 is more easy going so I kind of feel like it would be easier for DS2 to go along with sharing a room than DS1.

We would keep the baby in our bedroom for the first year probably, so we have time to sort it out, but the concept is so foreign to me I don't know how to approach it. I never had to share a room with my brother as there was only us two and we always had our own rooms.

On the other hand OH is from a family of 4 kids and they all shared over the years so he thinks it's no big deal at all and we just tell the kids what's what and they'll get used to it.

 

[CaptainMummy]

My youngest two share a room and they are a bloody nightmare. They egg each other on to get up, play tricks on each other and get up to lots of mischief... and takes them forever to actually go to sleep!

When my dd2 was about a year old she's was put in with dd1 (who was 3.5) and that went smoothly as they had different bedtimes, dd2 was a great sleeper and if she did get up, my eldest slept through it.
Putting two very mischievous toddlers to bed awake, at the same time is another story!