Two Under 2
juepnunes
member
Babies sharing room question
juepnunes
member
in Two Under 2
Do your 2u2 share a room? I am pregnant now and when LO is here next Feb, DD will be only 15 months. I live in a 3 bedroom house, and was planning to keep the 3rd room as office/guest bedroom, so the 2 kids will have to share a room. How did sharing work for you? Did you have 2 cribs? What about noises, crying at night, different routines? Please advise.
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Re: Babies sharing room question
Yes, my 2u2 share a room. Similar to you-we like having a guest room for when family from out of town visit. Plus, our 3rd BR is on a different floor than the rest of the rooms, so that seemed inconvenient for having two young children. We do plan on eventually separating them since they're boy/girl, but we'll follow their lead on when that age is. When they ask for their own space, we'll give it to them.
My oldest sleeps in a full sized bed, the baby in a crib.
They do not wake from each other's cries.
We never had different routines. My youngest is (and was) one of those babies you could just lie down in her crib and she'd put herself to sleep. When we notice she's getting tired, we lay her down and she goes down. With my oldest, he does need a more structured routine, but my youngest is such a good sleeper than we can go in the room after she's down to do our bedtime story and she doesn't wake up.
We kept the baby in our room until about 5 months, then moved DD1 into a toddler bed (she was about 20 months at the time) and moved DD2 into DD1's old crib. We used a sound machine in the room, and they never woke each other up.
With routines in the beginning DD2 was on her eat, play, sleep routine which didn't always coincide with DD1's sleeping schedule, by the time they shared a room, DD2 had a morning and afternoon nap, DD1 napped during DD2's afternoon nap and they both went to bed around 8pm (DD2 woke up at night to nurse, but went right back to bed when she was done).
My 2 are 15 months apart as well, and from when DD was 6 months to 18 months old they shared a room. We waited until DD was born to decide what we were going to do about a second crib or not. By the time she was 3 months, it was clear that DS was NOT ready to move to a real bed so we bought a second crib. Until she was 6 months, she slept in our room in a co-sleeper.
They did really well sharing a room. DD would go to bed about 30-45 min before DS, and like a PP, I would lay her down, leave the room and she would go to sleep within 5 minutes (still does). When DS would go to bed, it took a LOT longer, but he rarely woke her up. When she would wake up overnight (usually teething related), she rarely woke him up.
We actually moved when DD was 11 months to a new house with 4 bedrooms, so they could have had their own rooms, but they did so well together, we kept them together. We only moved her out when DS moved to his big boy bed. I really didn't want them in the same room when he could be walking around and disturbing her. That said, she has had "sleepovers" in his room since, and that hasn't been an issue. The issue is that they get so excited about being in the same room again that they talk, sing, laugh, etc forever before they fall asleep (like over an hour).
They never napped in the same room - we kept a pack and play in our room, so DD would nap there while DS would nap in his own crib.
We also have 3 bedrooms and chose to have the kids share because all our family is out of town. We moved my son to a toddler bed before the baby was born (moved at 18 months, baby at 22 months) because he was ready and we couldn't afford a 2nd crib but had a toddler bed handed down to us. The transition went smoothly and he hasn't had any issue with the baby being in the crib in terms of jealousy. He is able to climb into the crib so that makes me nervous but he's learning that it's not allowed and usually doesn't do it when he's just waking up, more so when she's napping.
We have a white noise machine in there because we had one for my son before. They've very rarely woken each other up. My son still doesn't STTN and he doesn't wake the baby. The baby STTN but wakes up in the morning before her brother but he doesn't wake up.
We do have a bassinet in the guest room for the baby's naps. I like having access to the kid's room when she's napping and her naps were pretty unpredictable for a while. She's outgrowing the bassinet now so I'll probably bite the bullet and let her nap in her crib, but I'm hoping I can get their schedules aligned first.
Bedtime routine is interesting mostly because my husband works 1-10pm so I do bedtime by myself. Because of that I'm actually glad they share a room. I get the baby changed and dressed and then put her in her crib with toys and help my son brush teeth etc and then we read stories on the floor. If the baby is still wide awake she can come down and play on the floor with us. If she's tired she'll sometimes just fall asleep while we read. Then I can lay with my son for a bit while he falls asleep. If she starts fussing I can rock her but still sing to my son in bed. It's nice that we're all in one place at that time. When she was little she did go to sleep earlier so my son and I would read books in the living room and then tiptoe into bed. It was cute because he would go say goodnight to his sister even though she was already asleep.
My girls share a room. They have since DD2 was about 3 months old. Before that, she was in a bassinet in our bedroom.
DD1 started crib diving when she was 18 months old, so we moved her to a toddler bed then. That worked out for the best because that way, we were able to give her crib to the baby without it looking like the baby "stole it" from her.
DD2 has always gone to bed a little later than DD1, so we put DD1 to bed, then DD2 follows maybe half an hour later. The noise has (surprisingly) never really been an issue. We have a white noise machine, and I honestly cannot recall one time that DD2's waking in the middle of the night disturbed DD1. On nights that it got too intense, though, we did move her to her PnP in the living room.