Putting Kids in the Same Room?

[chely7425]

I am not sure if this is the right forum for this but it has to do with night time parenting so... here it is

I have 2 boys, 25 months and 11 months. We are due with our 3rd in October. We do not cosleep (doesn't work for our kids, they need their own space) and we live in a 3 bedroom house. We currently have each boy in their own room but would like to move them to the same room. Our older son's room has 2 twin beds so we would just move the younger one in there. How exactly do we go about this?? It was so easy moving our older one from a crib to a bed because it was just him, but how do we deal with 2 toddlers in a room together? Any BTDT advice?

[theresa1]

I think it is great for kids to share rooms. Just explain it to them as something special. Mommy and Daddy get to share a room too! Anna

[chely7425]

We have been trying to like, talk it up to the older one but he is just barely 2 so I don't really know how much he gets and the younger one is only 11 months. Would it have been smarter to just get a second crib? Or a pack n play for he little one to sleep in? DS1 went into a regular bed around 1 so I didn't even think about it...

[thedenverduo]

If your younger son was an only would you put him in a twin? I'm assuming that you're not worried about whether ds2 is ready for a twin, but the possibility of mischief with 2 toddlers in the same room?

I think you should just go for it! They will adjust pretty quickly and probably not even remember having their own separate rooms. If it were me, I would definitely set up a baby monitor, just in case they both got up quietly and thought it would be a good idea to cut each others hair or something.

[chely7425]

I had no qualms at all sticking DS1 in a regular bed around 11-12 months... seemed like the logical thing to do since we were having DS2 and buying a second crib seemed silly!! I do have a baby monitor set up in there, and it is pretty well baby proofed since DS1 has been sleeping in there for a year. I think I am concerned about them
a) not falling asleep
b) acting like they are going to sleep but getting up and doing who knows what
c) that they will keep each other awak
d) that one of them will get hurt because lets face it they are 2 toddler boys in one room and they do weird things!!!

[tatermom]

I think it will work out fine, but your biggest problems will be getting them to fall asleep and not bother each other, and the possibility of one waking the other up in the night or early morning. My brother's 2 year old triplets all share a room, and although they occasionally wake each other up in the night, on the whole they do pretty well. Our kids share a room and they never wake each other up (DS1 is a really deep sleeper) but they do have trouble falling asleep without getting too silly together. Our solution right now is for one parent to sit in there monitoring them until one of them falls asleep, and then the other is fine on his own. I love that they'll have memories of sharing a room-- I think that it's really great for siblings and helps them grow closer to one another.

[chely7425]

I definitely think we are going to have some issues with the actual falling asleep bit of things while they adjust... DS1 likes to "read" to himself before he falls asleep and DS2 is just a grunty little monster when he is falling asleep. We might try sitting in there with them but from past experience neither of them will sleep with us in the room, which is a very good reason why we don't co sleep!!! DH has 2 weeks of from work starting the 28th so I think we will just dive into it then because he will be home a lot more to help me mediate and he will be able to help at night since he won't have to be up super early for work!!

[gothnurse3]

We have 3 in 1 room. It's a BIG room and we line up the beds like a dorm. Most of the time it has not been a problem except when somebody gets sick. Then you have to find a spot to put the sickie of the bunch. They have been told since they were little that we expect them to stay in their own bed.

[frolick16]

One suggestion is to stagger the bedtime to allow one to fall asleep before the other comes in.

[cappuccinosmom]

We just made it a non-event. Completely matter-of-fact, no big deal.

"Hey, now your little brother is old enough to sleep in your room. Here's his bed. Wanna help me tuck him in?"

Since they are close in age, they all (all three, now!) go to bed at the same time. They get a story on CD, and the oldest now gets a small flashlight to read with, on the condition that he doesn't flash it around the room and bother his brothers.

Never had a problem. Even for the year that my middle son was having night terrors every single night, his older brother never woke up.

[chely7425]

I'm glad to hear this can work!! I am hoping since they are so close in age and so young that after a fee annoying adjustment days it will just be how it is... I thought of the staggering bedtimes thing but dh is deploying right around when the new baby is born so I'll be by myself with a newborn, a 16 month old and a 2.5 year old and things really need to be as simple as possible... Which is part of why we need to figure this out now as well, the new baby will be in a bassinet for a few months in our room but I most definitely can not handle doing the room moves on my own!!

[bdavis337]

I have moved my 3 boys (now ages 9, 5 and 2 1/2) around several times. Each move is different but ultimately we just say "here's how it works now, here's your bed" and that's it. No fanfare. But for a young one like you've got, I would stay with the crib so he's only adjusting to one thing at a time. And staggered bedtimes worked well for us when my 9 and 5 yo's were room sharing, but now that it's the 5 and 2 1/2 yo sharing we don't have to do that (yet).