Different sex shared rooms

anielsen22 · September 2018

We have a four bedroom house with a den that is currently our 6 yo girl's room. the other three bedrooms are currently the two oldest boys' rooms who will not be sharing and an office. There is a good possibility that I will be working from home full time before baby comes so I don't really want to give up that space but I'm nervous about dd sharing with the new lo if it's a boy. what is everyone's opinion about different sex kiddos sharing a room?

Fyi- the one thing I'm NOT worried about is baby waking DD in the middle of the night bc she's deaf and won't hear 👍🏻

DuchessOfCambridge · September 2018

Ours will be sharing regardless of sex because we live in a 2 bedroom apartment and there aren’t many options. At baby age, I don’t care at all but will move when they’re a bit older - hoping we have a house by then with enough rooms!

psychobutthead · September 2018

This kid and my 2nd will share a room no matter the sex untiuntil they are older.

But honestly its just a damn toy room because DS still sleeps with us.

MaggieG183 · September 2018

Eh, I don't see an issue. Until kids are older and express a need for privacy, sharing a room is easy and comforting for most kids. My brother and I shared a room (he technically had a bedroom that was about the size of a walk-in closet) until I was in 3rd-ish grade and he was in 1st. It was nice to have him there and I remember we used to scare the crap out of each other with ghost stories late at night.

brie_and_almonds · September 2018

I agree with PP that it's not a big deal at all until kiddos get older and need some more privacy. I had a friend who lived in a two bedroom house and all four of her kiddos shared a room for a while until they moved to a bigger house. It wasn't a huge room, but they had bunkbeds, a toddler bed, and a small crib in there, and that worked for them.

k2k2tog · September 2018

Nope, not a big deal at all. It might not be a long term solution though, once your DD hits puberty and has a greater need for privacy.

merrylea · September 2018

Thank you for thinking of this too. We have a 3 bedroom house, but honestly would like to keep a room for guests. We are planning on having this new baby share a room with my son, until of course one expresses desire for privacy.

Not to hijack this tread, but on a similar note, at what age do you start covering up in front of your opposite sex child?

sleepy33 · September 2018

merrylea said:

Thank you for thinking of this too. We have a 3 bedroom house, but honestly would like to keep a room for guests. We are planning on having this new baby share a room with my son, until of course one expresses desire for privacy.

Not to hijack this tread, but on a similar note, at what age do you start covering up in front of your opposite sex child?

Oh man. I feel like I'm definitely wanting to cover up in front of my almost 5 yo boy now, but single mom life makes that hard. Maybe I need to become a nevernude.

kvh22 · September 2018

Like @DuchessOfCambridge, we're in a 2BR apartment so these LOs will have to share a room until we move. For us, that'd be a cross country situation as we don't plan to buy a house where we are and would like to be closer to family. DD slept in our room until 11-12 months old, though, so just moved to her room full time, recently.

Like others have said, until they express a desire for privacy, it should be fine. We were in a 3 BR house growing up with 3 kids so my brother and I shared once my sister was born (he was 8, I was 6), until she was old enough to switch with him (aka get out of the crib) and we were fine. And, like others, eventually we converted the den into his bedroom and everyone had their own. My mom still lives there and the den is still an extra bedroom which is nice around the holidays.

ruby696 · September 2018

My almost 4 yr old DS and 2.5 yo DD have shared a room since DD was 6 months old. They love it. We will be splitting them up soon and I know it's going to be a major transition. One thing that gave me peace of mind was research suggesting that SIDS was less likely when baby slept in a room with another person. Something about hearing someone else breathing? I forget the details, but it makes sense. Anyway, DD had 6 months with us and when she outgrew her bassinet, she moved to a crib in DS's room.

chloe97 · September 2018

My brother has 3 kids- 2 boys and a girl and they all shared a room until they were 11,9, and 7. My brother and SIL finally moved the boys to their own room in the basement. I personally think that was a bit late. DH and I are debating whether to put DD with a new sibling and keep our 3rd BR an office/guest room or to give them separate bedrooms. At this point, I would rather keep them together since the baby would sleep with us at least the first 6 months. It just seems like a waste to give them their own space that they don't need right now while we can use that extra space for ourselves. We eventually plan on adding on to our house a master bedroom addition, but that is probably 5 years away. I certainly think kids could share a room the first 5 years of life.

k2k2tog · September 2018

@merrylea DH will still showers with DD1, who is 4, if he can convince her to get in the shower. That girl hates to get clean, so any time we can get her in contact with some water, we do it. I don’t know when DH will stop... I’m not sure DD1 recognizes the difference in their bodies as being anything worth making a fuss over and I kind of hope it stays that way for a while but I know eventually it will have to change.

nopegoat · September 2018

@merrylea I have 4 boys ages 8, 6, 3.5, and 2. I don't walk around the house naked or anything but if they come in while I'm getting dressed or come in the bathroom while I'm showering or whatever I don't mind. I figure when they get uncomfortable with it they will learn knock ha!

noslen0519 · September 2018

My older two are different genders (5.5 and 3 when baby arrives) and they will share a room until the baby is 2-3 yo and we can put him/her with the older sibling of the same gender. Thank goodness they are decent sleepers so hopefully that will continue and it will work out.

bnzwiebel · September 2018

This is something we are thinking about also. Dd will be 8 in Dec and ds will be 5 next month. They have their own rooms but like to have sleepovers in each others rooms every weekend, we don’t allow it during the week bc they would be up all night playing lol. Baby will stay in our room for the first 6months than we will have to decide.

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