Sharing a room - baby & older child

[Nai]

Currently DD2 (7m) is in our room but eventually she will be sharing a room with her big sister who is 3 years older than her. DD1 is a great sleeper but DD2 is not always sleeping through the night.

DD2 will go into a cot and DD1 will be in her big bed. My question is when should I consider moving DD2 into the room and what things do I need to consider with the 2 of them sharing? For those of you who have kids that share how do you manage the bedtime routines etc? Do they go to bed at the same time? Do they keep each other awake?

[~breeze~]

Hi hun, no advice from me but I'll be keeping an eye on this thread as my children will be sharing a room soon when we move back to Sydney.... I'd love to hear all the tips too

[feeb]

Keeping eye on this thread as chances are we will have DS and baby sharing from early on maybe after 3 or 4 months when baby needs out of bassinet and into cot, and DS needs out of cot and into bed!!

[Tinsel]

DD1 is 21 months and DD2 is 11 weeks old and have been sharing a room from day 1. I am also in the room to feed bub through the night. We have been really lucky as DD1 is a good sleeper and has only woken up once by DD2 crying.

I am now trying to get DD2 to sleep at the same time as DD1 but it doesn't seem to be working so well, so we do DD1's usual night routine and then DD2 goes to sleep in the room a bit later. DD1 wants out if anything disturbs her during the falling asleep phase so if DD2 is unsettled we have to take her out of the room.

DD1 wakes up early and DD2 stays asleep unless her big sister pokes at her.

They don't wake each other up but boy, they are both loud sleepers and keep me awake!

[Epacris]

My DS and DD have shared a room since DD was 8 weeks old, DS was just over 2 when she moved in with him. It's been a very happy arrangement for all of us.

As far as the evening routine goes, we all eat dinner together, the TV is off, we all eat our veges (well, at least three of us do), we use our cutlery and practice making polite conversation. Then DS and DD have a bath together. The dinner/bath together is really important for us as a family. Then DS and DD each go to bed when they're tired. Sometimes DS goes first, sometimes DD goes first.

DS usually sleeps through the night but maybe once a week/once a fortnight he'll wake and come and wake me up. I just take him back to bed again. DD is a really random sleeper, sometimes she sleeps through, sometimes she wakes (and feeds) 2 hourly . We don't have a monitor in their room (never have) and their door is only open a tiny crack. I can't hear DD fussing but it's amazing how in tune I am to her noises and even though I'm asleep, I can get to her quite quickly if/when she needs me.

I think I could count on one hand the number of times one has woken the other and that's not through general lack of night waking, we have our fair share. Dunno we're just lucky I guess

[minimatron]

My girls have to share a room too. We held off for as long as posibble til dd2 was too long for the bassinett and also the fact we moved dd1 into her big bed.

We have kept dd1s routine the same, dinner around 530, bath and bed by 730ish. DD1 generally sleeps through most nights. DD2 is still not in a great routine and sometimes wake up up to 4 times a night. She has a loud enough cry and has on the odd occassion woken dd1 up. On the most part though, dd1 manages to stay asleep. DD2 sometimes sleeps through dd1, but is usually awake before her!

[Nai]

DD1 has been away at my mum's place for the weekend and we thought that we would use that opportunity to get DD2 relocated into their shared room. However she has screamed for 2 hours straight the last 2 nights (from 1.30 - 3,30am)! Arrgh! Maybe we left the transition too late There is no way that DD1 will sleep through that noise!!