Cart before the horse sibling room sharing question

KikiCohen

We're moving in late August and are trying to figure out the room situation.  It's a 3 bedroom house and the two non-master bedrooms are what we're wondering about.  One is roughly 12 by 12 and the other is 8 x 10.  Currently, P's bedroom is also DH's office and that room is about 11 x 11.  Since we're TFAS, we don't know which layout to use.  We're eventually going to finish the basement and move DH's office there.  That's on the 5 year plan.

Option 1: P gets the small room; DH's office in the bigger room; DH will share his office with a nursery for baby #2 (doable b/c that's what we're doing now)

Option 2: P gets the big room; DH's office in the smaller room; P and sibling share a room (baby would stay in our room till 6 months)

My concerns with option 2 are when is it okay for siblings to share a room?  Moms of 2 or more- what have you done?  Would it be okay with different sexed children?  I'm an only child so I have zero experience here and DH's siblings are all spread out so room sharing wasn't ever needed.

bobcee

I shared a room with my older brother for a few years when my younger brother was a baby. Not a big deal IMO. We were actually considering putting Zack and Delilah in the same room once he's out of the crib so we could use the other bedroom as an office.

I think a lot would depend on how good of sleepers your kids are. If P is a light sleeper and baby is getting up during the night still, I'd be concerned about them waking each other.

kaylakim

That's so hard and something we've struggled with. The girls each had their own rooms until we found out that we were expecting Eli. Scarlett was 2.5 and Hailey was newly 5 but we moved them to bunk beds together downstairs. It has worked out well. I'm not sure how long they'll share but for at least the next 5 years this is our plan.

I would go with option 1 because you don't know how they'll adjust to sleeping in the same space and I wouldn't want then waking each other up. I don't think different sex makes a difference though, I think young kids can room share no matter if same or different sex.

Sorry I'm not a huge help! Room switching abd planning is always tricky! Good luck!

hollandmama

I only have 1 boy and we also have a 3 bedroom house, we are not TTC now but we already decided that the second child will share room with DS even if they are diff. sex. 

I shared room with my brother until I was like 8 or 9 and it was super fun! So I'd go with option 2!

kmvw

We plan on our kids sharing a room. Last year before we had LO, DH and I did major home renovations upstairs. We had three bedrooms upstairs and one downstairs. The downstairs one we use as an office/storage room. Two of the upstairs rooms were very small, so we knocked out the wall separating them and made the two into one large room which we use as a nursery. The other room is our room. With LO2 coming soon, we will have her in our room for the first few months and then both LO's will share. It works out that they are both girls, but we would have had them share a room anyways. In time, if they want separate rooms, we can use the downstairs room as a bedroom since we really don't need an office. But we will cross that bridge when we get there. I think for your case, option 2.

mittensonkittens

When DS2 was ready to move out of the crib around his second birthday, I moved him to a twin bed in DS1's room. They love sharing a room. But they love it too much sometimes. For the first few months they would stay up playing 1-2 hours after bedtime. And they didn't even have toys in their room, just books and stuffed animals. They eventually calmed down, but it took a lot longer than I expected. I shared a room with my brother when we were young. I wouldn't hesitate to put a boy and girl together when they are little.

Kitten80

My niece and nephew shared a room and loved it. We have my daughter and son together.

WanderingA

We are going to have the new bebe share a room with Adeline and I'm stressing over it. If we had any other option we would keep them separated but right now our house has 2 bedrooms on the top floor and 1 on the bottom and I wouldn't be comfortable being that far from the kids. We will keep the baby in our room for about 6 months and then transition them into the same room. Once they are older we will probably move to the downstairs bedroom and the kids will each have their own room upstairs.

jemasa33

As a mom of former 2u2, I say do the separate rooms. My boys wake each other up a lot. Plus you will eventually have the downstairs office, so it sounds like you will have separate rooms then anyway.

lovemyminions

I would put the office in your master bedroom (share) and let the kids have separate rooms.

KikiCohen

lovemyminions said:

I would put the office in your master bedroom (share) and let the kids have separate rooms.

DH already said no to this b/c it's his work office and he said he won't ever feel like he's "off" if work is in our bedroom.

lovemyminions

@KikiCohen‌ I would have hubs re-evaluate his thinking. To disrupt the rest of the house, with kids whose naps and sleeping patterns are going to differ, not to mention my three year old doesn't like when my one year old goes into her room, seems a little silly. Keep your bedroom for his work and sleeping. If he wants to feel 'off', go to the living room or kitchen or outside. Good luck and I hope you find a solution that will work for everyone.