two in the same room waking each other up

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How do you cope with it?

We moved our two DDs into the same room a few months ago-they are age 4 and 20 months. Generally they like it but every so often nights like last night happen...

So one of them (usually the little one) will wake up, I try to leave her for a bit to see if she will settle but I know if I leave it too long DD1 will wake up. Last night I went in and DD1 had woken up too. I BF DD2 while whispering to DD1 I will give her cuddles in a minute. Put DD2 down, go to lie down with DD1 for a few minutes. DD2 hears me, starts crying again, so I have to go pick her up. Then DD1 starts randomly crying. I try to tell her she needs to be quiet or DD2 won't settle back to sleep, but she's overtired, confused because she's been woken up and not in the mood for reasoning! It ends up with DH coming in and lying down with DD1 to settle her. DD2 was then restless all night and I had to settle her several more times.

If they were in separate rooms I would be a lot tougher- but I know that if I leave one to cry the other will wake up.

DH thinks if they wake up we should just leave them to it!

As I said it doesn't happen that often, but when it does it's a nightmare! Any tips?

Yep, it can be a nightmare! DD is a 'good' sleeper whereas DS has no need of it. We muddled through the newborn and toddler stage with DS sleeping all over the house; including the lounge so DH and I were confined to upstairs from 6:30pm!

Now though ( 4yrs and 2yrs) they love sharing a room; DS still wakes early but comes and gets into bed with me until it's time to get up. Sorry to not offer any practical advice, we just gave DS much more leaway with coming into our bed than planned, and muddled through. Our house is now on the market....!

Thanks for the reply- good to know it gets better eventually. I was worried I was being too soft, nice to know we're not the only ones who just muddle through to try and make sure everyone gets some sleep!

Thanks for the reply- good to know it gets better eventually. I was worried I was being too soft, nice to know we're not the only ones who just muddle through to try and make sure everyone gets some sleep!