Siblings sharing a room?

[polaris]

Does anyone have experience of siblings sharing rooms? My plan has always been for my two to share eventually - we do have a third bedroom but it's a small box-room and we really need to keep it as a spare-room for when my parents visit from the UK. However I thought I would wait until Clara was a bit older and hopefully sleeping through. She is sleeping much better recently (thank god!!) but she still wakes during the night for a feed.

So today I was talking to Thomas about Clara sleeping in his room soon and he was sooo excited about the idea. He's been going through a lot of fears of shadows etc. at bedtime recently and I think he just really liked the idea of having a bit of company at night time. So I was really pleased that he was happy about the idea and we dropped the conversation.

Fast forward to naptime and Thomas was literally in tears because he thought I meant today. So I thought "what the hell" and moved the cot into his room. They both take their afternoon nap from about 1.30 to 3.30 so both of them were ready for a nap. I gave Thomas a pep-talk about being quiet and not making lots of noise, plugged in the white noise machine, and got them both settled. I had to go up once to remind Thomas about being quiet because he was banging a toy off the radiator but within five minutes they were both fast asleep! (Given that it usually takes Thomas a good fifteen minutes minimum to fall asleep I was pretty amazed to be honest!) It seems a bit too good to be true!

I was just wondering what other people's experiences have been. And whether anyone has any tips to help the transition to go smoothly - or possible pitfalls to watch out for?

(Also posted in baby club)

 

[LoraLoo]

I dont see a problem at all with sharing, but if I had a spare bedroom, I would personally use it. My boys share (1 and 8) , usually the LO sleeps through but on the occassions he hasnt, my 8 year old has been absolutely shattered in the morning, not good when he has school x

 

[sun]

Wow that's great! I want to do the same for my 2, but my daughter is still with us (she's 17mo). I am hoping to transition her to his room eventually.

 

[_Vicky_]

Lol mine have a double toddler bed as they alleys ended up in the same bed! Slightly different as they are twins though and have literally always been together. Aside from that I think ita lovely that he wanted his sister with him so sweet bless him.

Quick waffle from me - Sam came straight home and fynn was in NICU for three weeks when born. Sam was a nightmare at home screamed allllll night and we thought he was just going to be hard work. Fast forward three weeks Fynn came home we put them in the same cot and he slept for six hours! All snuggled up together. Humans just aren't meant to be alone IMO xxx

 

[_Vicky_]

Pitfalls - differing sleep needs, Sam would sleep later but Fynn wakes him up. We asked Sam if he wants to sleep in another room and doesn't want to. There has been no other pitfalls for us at allx

 

[6lilpigs]

Thats so sweet Vicky!!
my children all share they do need seperating now they are older especially my 10 and 12 year old boys.

 

[special_kala]

We have a third room but the girls share. They chat for about 20 minutes before they go to sleep which is really cute.

They dont wake each other up at all

 

[sparkle_1979]

My girls share and have done since jasmine was 6 mths. They have always been great, no probs at all x

 

[aimee-lou]

Earl and Eddy share. Have done for about 2 months now.

Pros: Nice to be able to just shut the door on one room and know they're both safe. once they're both asleep then they both sleep through now and this happened very quickly after putting Eddy in with Earl - we were waking him up when we went up so he'd end up having a bottle to re-settle him. Happens very rarely now. They're very sweet with one another, Earl will come and find Eddy's morning bottle when he wakes, and will make sure he has all his blankets etc on an evening. We do story time together some nights and Earl will sing songs with him etc.

Cons: If Eddy isn't asleep when we put Earl down, it can take a while, but I've developed a strategy for that now which seems to work. Earl needs 13-14 hours a night, but usually only really gets 12-13 so does have a bit of a sleep debt, especially if Eddy wakes early/in the night. Some mornings I will try to grab Eddy the moment he wakes and try to leave Earl in bed, and that seems to solve the problem.

TBH though, if we had separate rooms I would use them. Earl would love a little room of his own again (I think the novelty has worn off for him lol) and it would make life a lot easier. However I think that the sharing is good for them and works fine.

When No3 gets here they'll stay in with us until life gets uncomfortable and then there'll be the 3 of them in their room....now that will be fun!

 

[sweetlullaby]

We have 3 sharing sometimes here when OH's children are here the three boys all share. Aged 3,6 and 10. Because of the age gaps bedtimes are staggered. I.e 7pm, 7.30pm and 8pm. They're brilliant at bedtime and all know they have to be quiet so as not to wak up the other one or two sleeping. Mornings are worst because OH's 6 year old will wake at like 4.30-5am and will immediately wake everyone else up and it's much harder to get everyone back to sleep than one child so it's catching him quick enough before he wakes the others up. I think I sleep with one ear open

 

[d_b]

I plan on having DS and baby due in Sept to share a room. This thread is giving me some hope I might do a trial when new baby is young just to see if he/she sleeps better in the room with DS. At the moment I plan on keeping the baby in the room with us until he or she is only waking once a night or so.

 

[polaris]

Thanks everyone. Well, last night went well. Clara woke up twice but she didn't disturb Thomas either time. And Thomas didn't disturb Clara when he went to bed, in fact I would say that he went to sleep quicker than usual because he was being quiet so as not to wake her, whereas normally he keeps himself awake chatting to himself and playing.

I really hope it works out, I think if it goes well it will be a lovely bond for them to share when they are young. Our bedrooms are small anyway so they are just for sleeping really, not for playing, so we don't have that problem.

 

[My_First]

Lol mine have a double toddler bed as they alleys ended up in the same bed! Slightly different as they are twins though and have literally always been together. Aside from that I think ita lovely that he wanted his sister with him so sweet bless him.

Quick waffle from me - Sam came straight home and fynn was in NICU for three weeks when born. Sam was a nightmare at home screamed allllll night and we thought he was just going to be hard work. Fast forward three weeks Fynn came home we put them in the same cot and he slept for six hours! All snuggled up together. Humans just aren't meant to be alone IMO xxx

Just slightly off topic. Did you see bedroom live regarding the twins? I read a blog about alternative ways to it. There were a set of twin boys I think and the alternate ie gentle approach was to get them to sleep together.

 

[Pearls18]

We will have 3 bedrooms and hopefully when we have the next child about a 3.5 gap, I like the idea of them sharing so we have a spare room. I shared a bedroom with my brother till I was 10 despite living in a 5 bedroom house because we loved it so much. If they dont like it though they can have a room each again, like you we'd like a guest room as we live far from family. Because our age gap is bigger I don't know how long we will have to wait? I don't to put a baby in with DS when he's used to his own room for over 3 years (obviously not the first 6 months). But if he asked like yours I'd be going for it!

 

[New2Bumps]

I always intended our 2 share, and they will have a similar age gap to your two. I think the sooner these transitions happen the less stress so ideally will try as as soon as LO is too small for his crib, around 5 to 7 months, hopefully the latter. My worry is that my oldest try to pick baby up out if his cot or try to wake him. Hopefully as things continue to settle that will not worry me so much. We have always left the cot in Ethan's room and told him soon Euan will share so hopefully the idea is firmly planted! Good luck!

 

[polaris]

Well, so far so good! They both took a while going to sleep at naptime yesterday but I think that was partly due to the clocks changing - and neither was upset, they just took a while settling down. Clara woke twice overnight and Thomas woke up briefly one of these times and asked for a drink of water. But when I asked him this morning if Clara woke him up, he told me "no, she didn't cry at all, mammy"!

Newtobumps - I was a bit worried that Thomas would try to wake her up or put things in the cot or try to climb in on top of her etc. So far he has been so good, he really does his best not to wake her if she's sleeping and he hasn't tried to pick her up or put anything in the cot yet. I think it helps that he really wants her in with him and he thinks that if he breaks the rules I might move her back out again!

 

[sparkle05]

My DD 8 shares with her sister who is 2. Everything has gone well up until now. Oldest daughter has her friends to play and although they both have separate sides of the room they always seem to play on Isla's side. Everything came to a head last week when I woke up to find a 5p in Islas cot :-0 I hadn't noticed it when I put her to bed. My older daughter and her friend had been playing shops :-/ I always go over the room after she has finished playing but had missed the 5p. As you can imagine my brain went into overdrive as of what could of happened.

We are now going to put isla in her own room so she is safe. I worried that once she goes into a bed she will be able to get hold of all sorts in Ellas room. This way I know I can shut the door and she will be safe

The only problem we have now is my 8 year old will now have to share with my 14 year old. I think a referee will need to be employed

 

[XJessicaX]

I cant WAIT for my girls to share! I want a spare room! I think I will wait until DD2 is really sleeping very well and then move DD1 into her room. DD1's little bedroom will then be an office/spare room I am already fantasizing about how I will decorate the rooms! Obviously when older we will let the girls have their own space but I may just have to get a 4 bed house as a spare room is always needed

 

[Aphrodite]

My two have recently started sharing (2 and 9 months) and they LOVE it. Sometimes in the morning we hear them chatting away to each other then when we go in they're both standing up in their respective cots (opposite each other). Its so adorable! They also seem to sleep better especially the younger one.

 

[jaybee]

Have not had a chance to read other replies....
However, my two share a room. The spare room is downstairs and just would not work for either of the boys at the moment.

We moved alex in about two months ago, and it's going ok. If Alex cries in the night, Tobias sleeps through it and anything else we have to do in there. However is Tobias cries..... Which is VERY rare, then it instantly wakes Alex up.

Tobi doesn't really realise that they are sharing to be honest, as Alex is still coming in with me at around 4ish (too asleep at that time to feed in the chair!) so when Tobi wakes up, Alex is not there. Plus, alEx used to be put in his cot after Tobi went to bed, as otherwise Alex wouldn't sleep.

As you know, we have been sleep teaching Alex, so are about to start putting them in the tool around the same time to go to sleep.

I like the idea of them sharing to be honest, as the age gap is quite small, so they can keep each other company and I know Tobias loves the idea of protecting Alex.