To consider three children sharing one room?

[TabbyTigger]

Our current home has 4 bedrooms.

DS is 18 and at University, lives there but comes home to stay overnight probably once a month, plus being home at holidays. He has the tiny box room and always has done.

The attic has two big rooms. Currently one is shared by DD1 (13, nearly 14) and DD2 (12), and the other by DD3 (5) and DD4 (2). The fourth bedroom is obviously ours.

DD5 is due in two weeks (eek!) and I can’t stop thinking about what we’ll do when she’s bigger. Currently, the most viable option seems to be to put her in with DD3 and 4, say when they’re 6, 3, and 1. But the room isn’t huge, so would have to be bunk bed and regular bed (currently it’s just bunk bed), and then have very little space for much other than dresser. WIBU to squeeze the three of them in together for two years, just until DS no longer needs his room? (Then DD3 can move in there, and we’ll be back to just 2 sharing each bigger room). Or should I just take a deep breath in and accept that a move is inevitable? I love this house and where it is so really don’t want to move. I’m probably just overthinking and worrying, I just cant stop wondering about how new baby is going to change our lives!!

We have the 1 yr old in with us.

Put the youngest three on the largest bedroom, get a custom bed built like the pic already posted. No need to move.

My friend has 6 children in a 4 bed and it works well but she has large room sizes.

Id love to be in your position most of my friends have larger families of 5, 6 or 7 children and have 3 or 4 beds.
They are happy families.

Downstairs space makes the difference also but if your house is roomy then no need to move as it sounds like the children have space to play and sleep already and with love, what more do they need?

My only concern would be the 1 yr old keeping DC3 and DC4 awake. I've had this situation with kids in my class and it really impacts on their learning if the baby is keeping them up at night/not settling down quickly. Kids of that age need a fair amount of uninterrupted sleep. Could DC5 stay in your room until she's at least 2?

Sorry if this has been addressed elsewhere- I did not RTFT.

TabbyTiger, I’m honestly appalled by the lack of diagram. Surely this borders on a capital offence with a question like this?

I think putting a 1 yr old in with a child who has to go to school is not ideal. Maybe have dd5 in with you for a year then move her into her own room and buy a guest bed for ds. Both my DS’s found jobs straight after graduation and rented / bought their own house but it depends on the course / uni. They really didn’t come home a lot in the last year either.

Good luck, I have 5 so I know how hectic life is xxx

Our three share (bunk bed and a single bed). They have the master bedroom. They’re all v close in age. So far it’s worked well, but we’re hoping to move soon so we can have more living space. The kids will hopefully have a room each, but I can see them still all sleeping in the same room because they like the company!

Who says your DS will move out when finished uni? My eldest didn't and stayed at home for another 3 years so don't count on him going anywhere fast.

Do you have a garden? A friend of mine had a large shed as his bedroom. We all loved it, electricity and plumbing, just like his own home but his mum used to throw saucepans out of the kitchen window onto his walls if the music got too loud. Your eldest could have something like that, and with home offices being all the rage now he could have something less 80s than a big shed!

Once DS1 leaves university it's more than likely he will need to move home, perhaps for several years. The suggestion you're making (to move a DD into his room in a couple of years) means he's essentially being booted out of his home or made to feel that it would be his fault if you had to move. Rather than the fact you wanted a 6th child in a 3.5 bedroom home 😳.

TabbyTiger, First I want to say I hope you are ignoring the unkind people who think it is ok to say cruel things about the size of your family! Don't let them upset you, it is none of their business. Now, bedrooms, I think I'd keep baby in our room till night feeds were sorted then maybe a wee bit longer, then see how it went with baby in younger couple's room. They might love having him/her there! I might screen off his/her bed as time goes by to allow a better night's sleep with different bed times. Most of all do not worry! I always had all these plans going round my head when I was pregnant but once the baby is in your arms, everything will fall into place. Believe me, it will be fine. Moving is expensive. It's cheaper in the long run to try and make your house bigger but I expect you've thought of this. Anyway - I think everything will work out really well so don't worry!

Some people on here are really rude, she was not asking for reproductive or birth control advice jeeez.

Is the bedroom the older two girls have any bigger? If so maybe swap them over as the younger ones need more floor space for playing. Then you can put dd5 in with them once she reaches 1.

I had 3 in a room before we moved from our 2 bed flat to a house and found the older ones kept the youngest awake not vice versa. We staggered bedtime so the older ones got story downstairs whilst dh settled the youngest, with the eldest reading books herself whilst I put the middle one to bed.

I hope you find a way to make it work for you.

My cousins grew up in a 3 bed house. 3 boys in 2nd bedroom and 2 girls in bunkbed in a box room. However they didn't have loads of "stuff". Mostly people didn't

We are a family of 5 living in a 2 bed flat. Teenage son (14) and toddler (3) share a room with a bunk bed. We have managed to make the room teen and toddler proof! Daughter (12) has room to herself. Partner and I sleep in living room on a futon which we unfold every evening. It's not ideal but it does work. You could also resort to this!!?

Well I have 5 DC in a 3 bed flat and they all seem to be OK!

Is there room for a cot under his loft bed? That’s probably the arrangement I’d go for. Your family sounds lovely OP.

My uni housemate was one of five or six and studying medicine so often stayed at uni in summer hols. Her family made her bed a sofa bed in the office and she was happy with that.

Haven’t read the whole thread (sorry) but I’d say you can definitely put three in one bedroom. We currently have three sharing quad bunks in the master bedroom and they all have different bedtimes. Congratulations on number six. Big families are just wonderful. We are a family of six at the mo and pretty sure we’re not finished yet.

Baby stays in your room untill eldest no longer needs his room..i.e. Has his own place permanently

I think you are worrying too much and overthinking things and I am sure some of the snotty responses on here won't help. You don't even have to give this a thought for the next couple of years. You will have plenty of time to think about it, switch things around and switch them back again if it doesn't work out. If in the end you have to sell up it won't be a disaster. And even if you do end up with three sharing for a while it won't be forever as your oldest will want to strike out on his own eventually.

Don't worry - just enjoy the new addition to your family.

My cousins grew up in a 3 bed house. 3 boys in 2nd bedroom and 2 girls in bunkbed in a box room. However they didn't have loads of "stuff". Mostly people didn't

You could be my cousin, as this is exactly my family's living arrangement when we were growing up & it wasn't particularly unusual. You're absolutely right about all the stuff; there are four of us here in a much bigger house & we seem to be bursting at the seams!!

I would give the 3 girls the largest room when the time comes. Even if it's currently your room as they use their rooms more than adults do. If you bunk bed the girls and then a cot and be really scandi with the set up it will be fine. Don't give the oldest girl a room to herself as her younger sister isn't far behind and it would be unfair (I was the 2nd daughter and I felt it unfair when I had to share with much younger sisters whilst my eldest sister, only just over a year older, got a room to herself). Your children only know what happens in their home and personally I don't get small children having double beds to themselves. Your children will understand how to accomodate the needs of others better than those who have never shared.

I'm late to this thread but just wanted to say that I am one of 6 and shared a room with 2 of my sisters (3 single beds in a row) and it was totally fine!! Nothing to worry about X

Maybe I should just kill off my youngest three to reverse the damage their existence has caused?

amazing reply.

Jeez all these rude people, as long as they're happy and healthy and warm and fed, they will be fine sharing bloody hell

Some of the people on this thread are so rude and entitled! What do you think people did years ago? Everyone shared. Our kids share and don't have a problem with it. It is just our life. We also don't have a lot of money and they don't get hundreds of pounds spent on them and we don't get holidays. But you don't need all that to give them a good childhood. There's plenty of stuff out there in nature to explore.

I’d put baby in box room at the point where she needs her own room and DS1 can crash with your older girls or in the lounge when he’s home