Room Sharing

[jedsmom]

I have two little ones 19 mos. apart and they are sharing a room. I am really struggling with getting my 3 mos. old into bed at night without disrupting the older one. She sleeps great but when the older goes down he takes about 45 min. to get to sleep and I am getting the baby to sleep at the same time. I hold her and walk and walk and walk until they are she is asleep enough to lay down and he is asleep enough for me to go into the nursery. THEN I put her down. If I put her down before he is asleep he needs another round of cuddling and rocking or he talks so loud he wakes her up...so getting her to bed takes literally 3 hours from bath time until I can get her down and they are both asleep. I guess I am just tired.

This may be the adjustment from one to two kids, but I am feeling overwhelmed...as soon as they are asleep I go to bed and I have very little time to spend with my husband. I miss him!!

Do any of you have advice on room sharing? How to get them to go to sleep together? Naps together? ANYTHING is a help since I feel so discombobulated I hardly know what to ask!

Thanks-- Megan

[Katie T]

Hugs it is a rough time with two so young. I will tell you this it will get better.

How long have they been in the room together? If it is a new thing it will probably just take some time. I don't have a whole lot of advise, mine share a room but it is also with DH and I in out bed so we would just lay down, I would nurse DD2 to sleep and roll over and cuddle DS to sleep. There was a little more spacing between mine (21m).

[K-Mom3]

I currently have 3 kids in one room. It isn't great, but we've worked out a pattern. I do books with the older 2 (age 3 and 5), usually holding the baby. After we read, they get in bed, we do hugs and kisses and tucking in. We had to work for a while to get them to stay in bed but now they do well. I often leave on one light for a little while.

Then I take the baby (16 mo) and do Goodnight Moon with her in another room. Sometimes some other books as well. Then I bring her back to the bedroom, tuck her in, turn off the lamp and sing songs until she falls asleep.

Now, this actually took a lot of work and time...and your baby is so much younger. With a 3 mo, I would prefer to have her in my room...but then sometimes I would disturb her if she fell asleep before me. I had a friend who put her baby to sleep in the living room, on a different floor from the rest of the family. I think she had a pack n play. Once the baby went to sleep, she would go upstairs to her room for the evening and keep the monitor on. That way the baby didn't disturb her older child (and vise versa).

Good luck. Sleep is so hard. And it is so hard to figure out and carry out a plan of action when you're sleep deprived....

[bobandjess99]

The only thing that has ever worked with my kids, ever, is to let them sleep when they are tired. Any attempt to "put them to bed" at a certain time means I spend hours..HOURS trying to get them down, and I neither have that kind of time to spend, nor do I have ANY desire to spend ANY amount of time doing so. I let them go until they drop, then carry them to bed.