We received this question from Pamela on our Facebook page. (This is normally our Wednesday post, but we were delayed so it's up this week on Monday!)
Q: Rooms! Where to put them with limited space, who sleeps best with whom?
A: This is always one of our most popular topics. We're going to give you a summary again because the question keeps coming up again and again.
We're not completely sure of your house configuration, but needless to say most houses are 3-4 bedrooms and once that third kid comes along it may complicate your arrangements if you need to keep a guest room or office. (Says the women who work from home and need office space!)
Baby Bunchers traditionally go about this in different ways depending on their child's personalities. For example, you might want to consider putting together your two best sleepers, even if it's the oldest and youngest. Or you might want to put the non-napping kids together so you preserve the naptime for the little ones. Or if the wee ones still nap, separating them might actually be better so that they can be sure to get a nap while an older one can play quietly somewhere else.
Any way you look at it, the first few nights may be a little difficult no matter how you configure it, but stick with it and it will shake out fine - after all, kids have shared rooms (or caves) since the beginning of time. We are sure you have a grandparent with stories of babies being in a drawer at one point.
Having said that, a few of our favorite tips to consider:
1) Realize that they kids will probably wake each other up at first while everyone gets used to their new surroundings. This is inevitable. But it's something that will adjust after some time. Your best bet might be to use a white noise machine to help drown out noise from the other child--whether it's just waking in the morning or waking in the middle of the night.
2) Stagger bedtimes and naptimes for those sharing the rooms.
3) Naptime, which often involves a fair amount of goofing off since it's light out, may need to be staggered altogether (horrors!) or occur in separate rooms for awhile (yet another use for the faithful PackNPlay) until everyone gets used to a joint sleeping arrangement.
4) When you make the transition, if your toddler is still in his crib, just leave him there in the new configuration until everyone has weathered the transition. Having one less child free to roam the halls during a time of transition is a luxury you will be grateful for.
Basically, what it comes down to is a configuration that works best for your family and your children's sleep needs. It will take some adjustment and you may even have to give it a trial run for a few months and readjust later if it's not working. But children for centuries have learned to sleep together in the same room (or even share a bed) so we are certain with a little discipline, creatively and humor, you will be able to do this, too!
I've been dealing with this issue lately! We have 3 bedrooms and our 3rd kiddo is arriving in April. We decided to move our 1 yo and our 3 yo into the same room and they love, love, love it! unfortunately, I think we're moving the 1 yo back out until we HAVE to have them share. she requires (on average) about 2 more hours of sleep per night than he does and when they are together, she doesn't get it and that leads to grumpy kids and a grumpy mom. I'm throwing in the towel for now and we'll try again later. or maybe new baby will just share with whoever works best when the time comes!! I think flexibility is key!
Posted by: Kelly | Jan 31, 2011 at 04:37 PM
We don't get the luxury of deciding who sleeps with whom. All 3 are going to have to share since we only have a 2 bedroom place!
Posted by: Alisha | Jan 31, 2011 at 05:08 PM
Alisha - we have 3 under 3 in the same room (34 months, 19 months, and 5 months) and it works out great. I put my 1 and 2 year old to bed at the same time and they usually "talk" themselves to sleep within a few minutes. The baby goes in after he is done breastfeeding about 30 minutes later. We do have a white noise machine on all night, but in all honesty when someone is screaming it definately doesn't drown it out! However, they have all learned to sleep through others waking up.
We do have our house on the market so we can upgrade since I am trying to conceive #4, but I really don't think it would be that bad with a 4th in there if we can't sell it!
Posted by: Nicole | Feb 20, 2011 at 10:27 PM
For centries children have been sharing rooms together and was able to live through it. My husband grew up in a house with only two bedrooms and he was one of three boys. They all had to share the same bedroom. The bedroom was sectioned off for each one and they learned to respect each others area. Don't get me wrong because kids will be kids and there are going to be some problems but you work through them. At least in my husbands case they were all boys. My youngest son has two children, one boy (age 2) and one girl (age 5) and right now they do share a room together and that is going to be an issue real soon as how he is going to separate them because his house only has two bedrooms.
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Posted by: LESA21Bishop | Oct 06, 2011 at 01:39 PM