Sharing Rooms - good idea or am I mad?

[Yay4may]

Hello....anybody have experiences with putting a 4 year old and baby to sleep in the same room. We have a 4 yo DS and another DS due in May and I am considering after 8-12 weeks (baby will be with us until then) having them sharing a room. I know a few Spanish families who do it (the concept of a 'nursery' rather than any room belonging to one child) and it has a practical element but then I wonder about encroaching on my eldest's space at a sensitive time and about how it could go v bad if it doesn't work. We don't need to do it - we have a room available for baby (and if she is going in there I want to get it ready now) but of course it would be nice to have it as a spare and I think the girls could learn something by sharing.

Anyone want to make an argument for or against?

My 5 yo and 1 yo boys have shared for the past 8 months. No problems here! If anything, I think baby learns how to settle a lot quicker. The only time we've had trouble is when my 5 yo was sick through the night and woke baby up.

I put 9-10mo DD2 in with 5yo DD1 and they were absolutely fine. Up to this point I was pulling my hair out with DD2 waking in the night to reach for me crying. As soon as she was moved she slept through beautifully.

my dd and ds shared til she was 5 and he 7. Great company for each other at bedtime and first thing in the morning. At first we lived in a very small house and needed spare room for washing/ visiting grandparents, but when we moved to a bigger house they were still happy to share. So I'd say give it a try. (My DH is Spanish, but I was not aware of this being a typical Spanish thing to do)

My Dds shared through choice until this year when my eldest was 7. They loved sharing, and still my youngest goes back into her big sisters room for a 'sleepover'.

When they were younger, my eldest once declared that she felt sorry for children who slept alone, because mummies always had daddies and she had a sister to keep company but what did all the children who slept on their own do?

It worked perfectly for us, alllowing us to use the spare room as a study. And it was only at 7 1/2 that DD1 started wanting her own space.

So yes, I would recommend it, and it didn't cause us any problems .

DS aged 4 and DD aged 11 months have shared since DD was 12 weeks. It's been fine and it's definitely made bedtime easier for us.

I worried about DS losing his personal space too but actually I'm not sure a 4yo needs much personal space. In reality the room still feels like his except that it's got a cot in it. I actually worry more now that she's going to feel like a lodger!

The only thing I should have done differently knowing that they were ultimately going to share, was to keep DD in with us for longer. We moved her at 12 weeks because that's when DS went into his own room, but we underestimated just how much edgier we would feel about her waking in the night. We've been very quick to pick her up and settle her etc because we didn't want DS to wake. The irony being that he sleeps like a log! All this has done has prolong the time it's taken for her to sleep through.

This is really reassuring - was planning on putting dd (due in 2 weeks) in with dd1 age 3.5 . The alternatives involve a room on a different floor which I don't like for either. Also I like the idea of them sharing together.

The point about rushing to pick up dd2 is an interesting one.

I had thought I would do this with DD1 and 2 (5 years appart) but it ended in a nightmare for me. They don't have the same sleeping pattern, one is a light sleeper, the baby wouldn't settle back to sleep because wanted to play with big sister at 2 am... Had to get DD1 out of the room when bay was napping and had to restle baby out of the room when the big one had reading or homework to do. We all sleep much better in separate rooms.
But I shared with my brother no problem until 10, we had both the same sleeping pattern and where very close in age so same needs.

My Dss aged 7 and 4 share and have done for 3 years (before that DS2 was in with us).
It works well, easier to put them to bed and nice for them to ahve company both at bedtime and early in the morning (also if one of them wakes, DS2 does tend to wake in the night still).

I shared as a child and loved it, nice to have company at night, I think most kids dont like to be alone in the dark...

I considered this for DD aged 4 and DS (6 months) because I shared with my Dsis very happily until we were teenagers but decided against in the end:
DD is a light sleeper and she sometimes wakes up when DS cries in the night even in his own room so I imagine it'd be worse if they were together.
DS hero worships his big sister and finds her very exciting so he won't settle if he can hear her voice and she won't stop talking!
DD has lots of toys with tiny bits in her room and when DS can move I think it will be a nightmare trying to keep him out of them
I think on the whole its going to be better for each to have their own space with their own stuff in given different sexes and the age gap there isn't much that is shared interest.