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Original poster

Please help with sleeping arrangements!!

26 replies

Mintymoomoo · 22/02/2014 21:27

Currently have 3 girls, oldest 10 has own room and 8 & 6 year old share the big room!

I'm 10 weeks pregnant with dc4 and was first thinking I would put oldest girls who will then be 11/9 in big room and the youngest who will be then be 7 in the small room with cot in for baby to go into once it's sleeping through and to big for Moses basket!

But now I'm worrying this won't work! Will a baby and a 7 year old be ok to share? Thinking about when baby is down for afternoon nap wtc DC will not be able to play in her own room etc and worried about the baby waking her in morning as DC loves her sleep and is always the last up!

Have thought about all 3 girls sharing but just can't see that as a option, can barley fit 2 and all there rubbish in one room

How do you fit your children all in

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ThinkIMmad · 22/02/2014 22:34

Can the 3 girls not share? I guess would depend on your 7 year old but suddenly sharing with a baby maybe a bit much i know i struggled to suddenly start sharing with a younger sibling when i was a child. Its a tough decision, keep the girls involved though :)

Good luck

jen2014 · 22/02/2014 23:02

Watching with interest as I have a similar situation looming. DSD is 8.5 and currently shares with DS who is 2.5. They shared in our old house and she wanted to continue sharing when we moved last year even though we have another room in the new house.
She seems to manage with playing around his nap time, I tell her when I'm putting him down and she gets out toys, games to play for the afternoon. In some ways this means quality time for us as she'll often choose down thing to play with us rather than on her own in her room. But then she is also only with us every second weekend and half of holidays etc.
But with DC2 on the way (gender unknown!) I'm not sure what to do either. At the moment I'm thinking baby will have the smallest room until 2yrs then swap baby and DSD (who will then be 10) so she has her own space and baby shares with 4yr brother. But trying to make the room decoration work with a gender difference is hard too!

mousmous · 22/02/2014 23:09

is the small bedroom large enough for your bed?
so that it would be easier to 'zone' for the sharers?

catbus · 22/02/2014 23:09

Keep baby in with you?
Worked for me with DC4 and kept everyone sane..

Spellcheck · 22/02/2014 23:31

We lived in a 3 bed house with 4 DC. The plan was always to go into the loft but every quote was coming in at over £35k which isn't going to happen soon! DC4 was 4 months and still in our room when I found out I was expecting surprise DC5. Sheer panic forced us to think about what to do that was quick and cheap, so we split the biggest bedroom in two using a stud wall to make two nice but smallish rooms (luckily had 2 windows). One of the sitting rooms downstairs was split into a bedroom and a corridor using another stud wall, so we now have 5 bedrooms. One of these is a nursery for DC4 and DC5 (another boy) will share with him when he comes along, and the 3 oldest have their own rooms. Cost £6k, and everyone's happy. Could this work for you?

MultipleMama · 23/02/2014 04:21

Can't you have cot in your room? Our twins shared our room up until recently and they're 17mo.

Also I think it depends on how good a sleep your baby will be, I don't think it's fair to put a baby in with a 7yo if they school in the morning and the baby is up most of the night with you in and out of her room all night. But that's just my opinion.

You could always do a trial period of the set ups and see what works best.

mathanxiety · 23/02/2014 04:51

Another vote for cot in your room.
I had 5 DCs including one boy, spread into 3 bedrooms. DS (second child) had a room of his own. DD1 (oldest) had a room of her own. Both were small rooms. The biggest room accommodated DD2 and DD3 until DD4 was big enough to go into a toddler bed and was sleeping reliably through the night. Then they all squeezed in together.

DD1 was 11 when DD4 was born, and DS was 8. DD2, 6 and DD3, 3.

If you find your baby sleeps ok, you could put up a japanese style screen/room divider between the cot and your bed in your room.

cjdamoo · 23/02/2014 05:19

I have 5 kids Boys aged 15 11 10 and 6 and 2 year old girl, and a 4 bedroom house. Eldest boy has his own room. 2 year old has her own room. 3 other boys share largest room with bunkbeds and a trundle so they have heaps of floor space.

drnoitall · 23/02/2014 08:52

A friend gave all dc a turn of having their own room for 12 months at a time. Was a fair bit of moving things around but the dc helped and they had a good clear out at the same time.

RandomMess · 23/02/2014 08:55

We had all 3 in the largest room and baby in the single room.

Then I had the eldest in the single room and the 3 youngest in the large room.

However I had a stroke of genius! The baby used to go in a travel got in the single room for daytime naps so the others had the big room to play in all day. Added bonus is that the youngest would sleep in any similar travel cot any place anywhere - bloody fantastic accidental discovery!

dancemom · 23/02/2014 09:04

Either baby in your room or if there is no space for a cot put baby in small room and put wardrobes, toy boxes etc in small room also so there is more space in big room for all three girls?

QueenofKelsingra · 24/02/2014 10:34

we're planning DC4 and are going to put our 3DC (DS1 (4) and B/G DTs (21m)) in one room when the DTs move to beds. This will free up DS1's single to be the baby's room. If DC4 is a boy, DD will eventually have the single and the 3DSs will share the big room. If a girl, the 2 DDs will have the big room and the 2 DSs the smaller room.

Would your 3 DDs not fit with bunk beds and/or trundle bed?

are you planning on moving at some point else how will you fit all 4DC when your youngest needs a bed rather than cot?? I realise its a bit late now but didn't you think about this before you decided on another DC?

personally I wouldn't put a baby in with older siblings until they were sleeping through as I don't think its fair to disturb the older kids sleep. I assume baby will be in with you to start anyway??

Original poster

Mintymoomoo · 24/02/2014 19:36

Thanks for your replies going to have to have a good think about it, I just can't see it working keeping baby in with me, does it not cause problems when you try to move out into different room at 18m or whatever???

I'm hoping that like my girls this baby will be a good sleeper and babt would be moved into own room around 3 months once sleeping through!

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Original poster

Mintymoomoo · 24/02/2014 19:41

Queenofkelsingra this is a "surprise" baby

I like the idea of 3 girls sharing the biggest room and having wardrobes in small room to few up space

Hoping one day I will be able to move to bugger house, keeping eye open and may become a option

OP posts:

MultipleMama · 24/02/2014 22:15

Not really, my boys are 17mo and have shared since birth, so it was just a matter of moving it into their nursery and as they're still sharing it wasn't a big deal for them. We had to go in a few times to settle them - I still bf them twice a night so nothing in their routine has changed and they're still baby monitored. They adjustes really well, thankfully.

DS1 was 2.5yo when moved to his own, we included him on everything from paint to a toddler "big" bed and he settled fine.

DD was in our room until the boys were 8mo so she was 2yo and she had a harder time since she's suffered from night terrors since about 14mo old.

I think it depends on how much of a big deal you make it. With us it worked mostly, for others it doesn't and prefer to do it earlier.

mathanxiety · 25/02/2014 00:54

No problems if you sell the 'big girl bed' idea enthusiastically and use a baby monitor.

Bugger house sounds fun

QueenofKelsingra · 25/02/2014 08:20

sorry minty my reply came out harsher than I meant, bad day.

another thought I had, assuming the 'big room' is a double, is your room bigger than it is? as in could you and DH/P move into the smaller double and give the bigger one to the 3 girls? Might give you enough space to have all 3 together??

Original poster

Mintymoomoo · 25/02/2014 20:29

The girls already have the biggest room, I'm in the smaller double and it's just a small room slightly bigger than a box room but not much only a single

Bugger house....... Lol

OP posts:

Original poster

Mintymoomoo · 25/02/2014 20:30

Might be away to get all three in, need to really sit done and work out how to make the room work

OP posts:

HappyHippyChick · 25/02/2014 22:43

You can get triple bunks

NAR4 · 08/03/2014 20:49

I was just scrolling down to write triple bunks, when saw Happy had already put it. I think its a company in Dorset.
Www.pinebed.co.uk

RandomMess · 08/03/2014 20:52

We considered the triple bunks too but I tell you using the travel cot for daytime naps was a stroke of genius, wish I'd used it with all my others.

proudbi · 30/03/2014 15:20

I have in one room my DSD 15 and 2dds 11 and 4. I have ds 11 in another which my other ds 1 will share and preg with ds3 who will share my room until we move to bigger house.

Onmyown1 · 30/03/2014 20:38

I changed my dining room into a bedroom and the eldest has that, older son in another room and 2 little ones together. Works well for me.

NachoAddict · 30/03/2014 21:07

Ds 8 has his own room. DD 6 and dsd 5 share when dsd is here and ds 20 months is still in our room bed.

We are planning to put him in with the girls for awhile soon then swap over so the two boys share and the girls have the smaller room since they only share part time.

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