Hotel room share with 5 month old and 4 year old bad idea ?!

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So we’re planning to go to Thailand (which we did when our first child was 8 months old and went unbelievably smoothly even on the plane I still can’t get over it!). And now we’re thinking of going on holiday when our second baby will be 3 months old.

I’m not worried about the plane flight as flying with a baby that young is east. But is it a bad idea for us all to share a hotel room? Husband , me , 4 year old and 5 month old. I don’t want to pay an additional £1.5k for another room 😖

I think at 5 month old, they don’t really have a set routine , and I remember being so worried about taking our first born at 8 months if he’d be really bad at sleeping . He slept terribly back in England, but in Thailand was the only time he slept 8hrs straight . I think it was the heat and over stimulation! So I’m hoping it’ll be the same with baby number 2 .. Ps I don’t let baby cry so this wouldn’t wake up the 4 year old . Just thinking what other things would be an annoyance for sharing a room

Sorry that’s meant to say 5 month old not 3 months old! *

Surely you wouldn't put children that age in their own room, I think they have to be over 12. Or do you mean one parent and one child in each room?

I’m with you on it being decent ages to fly with but all sharing one room?! No no no- it sounds like hell. I’ll only consider it for 1 night tops if it’s say breaking the drive to the south of france and literally just a bed for the night. I’d find the 1.5k or abandon long haul and stay closer to home where I could afford the extra room.

Oh yes definitely not 2x young kids in one room. If we’d get 2 rooms it’d be Me with the baby in one room, and husband with 4 year old

Presuming OP means like a suite style set up or bungalow so it’s multiple bedrooms in one space? Not the kids are sleeping across the communal hall in a totally different locked room.

X Post. That sounds equally awful too! So you’d spend evenings apart? I’d want to be together with 2 sleeping spaces.

@FlounderingFruitcake oh no why would u find it hell 😫 I’m trying to think of all the reasons why it’s a bad idea as I’ve only been on holiday as a family of 3 and not 4 so unaware!

Erm…wouldn’t be for me I have to say. 5 month olds are extremely unpredictable and I can’t think of much worse than an overtired 4 year old being woken by a baby potentially hourly. Unless it’s a big room you’ll be tripping over each other as well. Can you get an air bnb or something instead of a hotel room? Or stretch to a suite?

I don’t see the issue with this.

sounds completely normal and I wouldn’t want my kids in another room either while on holiday.

I would go for a villa or duplex room so you go downstairs with the baby. by you, I mean a parent.

We did similar and it was great. Babies are super adaptable and young kids sleep through most things. Plus it was fun to all be in together.

We’d have all four in one room. Don’t see a problem with this.

I think it could go either way but lots of people make this work. The key is probably getting the 4 year old so knackered they wouldn't be disturbed by the baby anyway! Depending on where you're going you might be able to upgrade when you get there if necessary, and probs a bit cheaper too.

A lot of people would say no way
i say go for it… but how good sleeping is your 4yo? Mine would not have woken up at that age by a sibling crying… assuming you’re quick at getting to the baby
then Again some kids need total darkness and quiet to sleep, if your 4yo is a light sleeper you maybe in trouble
same for the baby, can be great, maybe you’ll get a kid that just goes with it and wakes once a night
can you afford a suite like room? Where you have a bit more space?
put kids to bed early and you can still have adult time in living room? One kid wakes up crying, one of you takes to the living area, etc
maybe perfectly fine 4 of you in a room, problem is you don’t know the baby’s temperament yet…

The baby could be waking overnight and they’ll wake the older one. You might get the baby to sleep then the 4YO gets up because they’re somewhere unfamiliar and jetlagged wakes them and they wake the baby. You won’t want to go to bed at the same time as the kids. 2 totally separate hotel rooms is even more impractical because that kills the evenings. What you want is a villa, apartment, bungalow or suite style set up.

Thanks for your views ☺️ I don’t see it as a big issue too but wanted to hear other ppls reasons for being a bad idea as we’ve not been on a holiday as a family of 4 before. The only bad idea I can think of is if the room is too small but we have stayed in this lovely hotel before too so we’re aware of the room size (website says 463 sq feet). Thanks all again I’ll still keep my mind open!

We've done it for a wedding. It was okay for two nights where we were barely there but I wouldn't do it for a holiday unless you were literally coming back to the hotel room at 10pm and going out again for the day first thing. Assuming it's just one room and no separate living area, etc. then I wouldn't find it remotely relaxing. I'd want to put kids to bed and then go through to a living area and watch TV or do something else once they were in bed, like the kind of setup in a self-catering apartment or bungalow.

Also maybe just us but the room was an absolute tip most of the time. Trying to manage four people in a relatively small space meant there was just stuff everywhere. It wouldn't be somewhere I wanted to spend any time!

I think it would be fine, we go away in one room and there’s 6 of us, it’s never been an issue.

I totally understand about us adults wanting to chill in the evening when the kids sleep but honestly when we go on holidays each year we’re all in bed by 10pm anyway as we’re so knackered from the full day we’re out. even back in England ! I’d love to be able to stay up past 11pm 😅
I’m an ocd clean freak plus there’s the lovely cleaners at the hotel so it wouldn’t be an issue for me

@Schum wow 6! Seems like I’m swaying towards the idea of sharing a room as a family rather than 2 rooms

Also this is a new baby and you sound like you maybe haven’t flown that far since your now 4YO was 8 months old. So it’s going to highly unpredictable as to how everyone manages. E.g. how the 4YO copes with jet lag, if the new baby sleeps through by then and what they need to do so. At those age DS had rain noises and a blackout blind in the nursery whilst DD had a night light and had to chat to her teddies as she was falling asleep! We couldn’t put them in together until DS was 18 months. And that’s without 2 adults also in the mix who probably fancy a bit of alone time and maybe a cheeky drink once the kids are asleep! Maybe it’ll be fine, some babies are easy, some 4YOs power through jet lag and lots of kids do sleep through anything but it’s an awful lot of money to risk having a crap time because no one sleeps properly.

We have always only done one room with the DCs at all ages including young babies. We have 3 DCs, 6, 9 & 11 and still share a room. Yes it can be hard but you just need to find your rhythm. We’ve always been happy to go to bed early so late nights were never an issue or if we did decide to stay out late we would tag team, one getting the baby to sleep then sneak in and put the older ones straight to sleep.

I think it always helped that once asleep our DCs were really hard to wake.

Just being curious - what will you do when you're there? I barely made it through a day trip to Weston super mare when kids were that age, isn't it too hot and sunny for small kids in Thailand?

Not being goady, open to being persuaded! Just sounds like hell to me, which is why we usually holiday in rainy Wales

@AuntieJune I took DS to Thailand aged 18m. He wore sunsuits and most kids pools are shaded with canopies. We would siesta 12-3 to avoid the heat. It was wonderful.