Bedroom arrangements

[hmaz]

We curently live in a 3 bedroom house and now have baby number three on the way so whatever happens, two of the children will have to share. Not ideal but we definitely can't afford to move. Eventually we might be able to build a fourth bedroom above the garage but a more realistic option and one wr could afford sooner would be to convert our adjoining single garage into a downstairs bedroom. Although i'm not sure at what age I would feel comfortable having one of the children in a downstairs bedroom.

We plan to have baby in our room for the first six months or so and then have two of the children sharing and the other in their own room. By that point my son will be 7 and my daughter 4. Would you put them in together in one room and the baby on their own, or at that age is better not to have boys and girls sharing? Would you instead have boys in one room, girls in the other despite potential large age gap if the baby is a boy?

I'm hoping that within a few years we could convert the garage in to a bedroom for my son so that everyone then had their own room but I don't know at what age it would be ok for him to be sleeping downstairs.

What would you do for sleeping arrangements? Thanks

 

[littledreams]

hi hmaz,

Are you going to find out the sex of the baby ahead of time?

I think if it were me I would be thinking about the children's ages more than the gender at this point. So for example, your son being the older one might need his own space for school work and ought not be disturbed at night by a toddler?

My daughter is 4 1/2 now and I don't think I would put her in a bedroom with an older brother as she is really coming into her independence and awareness, but a little sibling in with her I think is fine (if anything it's probably a good think that the little one is a girl as she might enjoy playing big sis to the baby).

 

[Genevevex]

My brother and I shared a room for a while growing up. There is a 7 year age gap between us. We shared a room until I was something like 10/11--when I sort of started hitting puberty. The only issues we ever had were usual sharing issues. "That's MY side of the room!" etc. And my waking up in the middle of the night to check on him, because I'm THAT kind of big sister and always have been. lol.

 

[Genevevex]

On that same note, I have the same problem. I'm expecting baby number 3, in a 3 bedroom apartment. Except my kids are a little closer in age. A 3 year old and a 1 year old. We are going to put the baby with us for the first few months and then play it by ear; does the baby sleep well? He/She might go in with my older son, who also sleeps well. Meanwhile my daughter is a tough sleeper and wakes up a lot; we wouldn't want her waking up either of the other two kids.

 

[littledreams]

Actually that's a really good point you make.

My daughter is like her father and I, sleep is not our friend (we are a house of Duracell bunnies) so bedtime is a challenge...if the next one is a sleeper then a shared room wouldn't work out.

We have a spare room that we use as an office, it's a bit on the small side but for a toddler it's okay but like you said - we managed when we were growing up. I shared with my younger sister and all did was giggle - we still do it now. I wouldn't change that for the world.

 

[Genevevex]

Hehe. My younger brother actually had a breathing issue and he made this weird noise when he slept. I got so used to hearing it that I would wake up out of a dead sleep and check on him if he got quiet. I literally woke him up a few times because I wasn't sure if he was still breathing. That was something that continued even after we had separate rooms across the hall from each other. If he stopped making the noise it would wake me up and I'd go check on him even as a teenager.

I've considered putting my daughter in my sons room already, just to see if maybe having someone else in the room with her would make her sleep better? I dunno.

 

[kimmy04]

We are going through the same problem! We just moved into a bigger house but it has less bedrooms upstairs!! We have 1 bedroom in the basement but it has a door to outside so I won't let my kids sleep there for a long time. I have a 5 year old boy and 20 month daughter. Surprise baby number 3 is really going to throw things off lol. Hoping it's a girl so my youngest 2 could share a room for a long time.. but if baby is a boy I can't imagine my son wanting to share as they will be over 5 years apart. I guess the 2 youngest will have to share regardless of boy or girl..then maybe one day my oldest can move downstairs! We had a 10 year plan for this house so won't be moving anytime soon.

 

[Genevevex]

but if baby is a boy I can't imagine my son wanting to share as they will be over 5 years apart.

5 years isn't too bad, especially since they are the same sex. I'd be more worried at how well they would sleep in the same room; baby waking up the older one, than anything else.

 

[tommyg]

I would have the older two share and the baby on his own to avoid disturbing the others.
Then change it to the 2 of same sex sharing in 2/3 years.

 

[hmaz]

Thank you for the suggestions everyone. It's really helpful to hear what others would do. We're not going to find out the sex of the baby which makes planning a little harder. I think having the older two sharing will probably make most sense as by the time baby moves out of my room, my eldest two will both be at school and the last thing they will want is to be woken up in the night by baby when they have busy days at school the next day. Hopefully within a couple of years we could convert the garage into a bedroom and move my son there when he's 10 or so.

 

[lakotachris]

I have 5 kids ages 4-13. None of them ever want to sleep by themselves anyway. They each have their own room and they all end up sleeping together anyway usually 3 in one room and 2 in the other.