3 year old and 6month old sharing a room...

[imwithspud]

Those who have the same or similar age gap sharing a room.. how did you do it?? We've had to move dd2 in with dd1 as she has outgrown her moses basket and there's no room for a cot in our room, co sleeping isn't an option either. Tonight's the first night and so far it's been a complete nightmare. Took them both ages to go to sleep, we put them both to bed at the same time which I think was our mistake. DD2 still needs help to get to sleep 9 times out of 10, I'd imagine things would get a lot easier once she can self settle a bit more.

Any tips would be appreciated.

My older 2 have the same age gap. It was about 9m before we put them in the same room I found it was easier to do separate bedtimes until dc2 got a bit older

Thanks, I was thinking separate bedtimes too.

I have a 2 year old and 7 month in together.
Staggered bedtime works for us - baby feeds to sleep or sometimes self settled at 7pm, toddler in bed by half 7. They've learned to sleep through each other's noises but a white noise machine helps a lot.

We do it and they got used to it. Ocassipnally bad night but it's actually worth it for the ease of bedtime when it starts working. ..I often keep the younger one up a bit later...but do bedtime stories etc together then when I turn the light off I take the baby out with me !

It's so sweet when they get used to each other...

Thanks for the replies.

Third night in and it's been so-so. Yesterday was fine, but tonight hasn't been great. Staggered bedtimes work better than putting them both to bed at the same time, but dd2 can be quite a light sleeper when she first drops off, and DD1 will sometimes talk/sing to herself, get out of bed etc which inevitably disturbs DD2. We can't put DD1 to bed first because DD2 is verging on overtired by the time bedtime comes around anyway.

Tomorrow night we are considering letting DD1 sleep in our bed, and then transferring her into their room later on. I'm just worried that she will come to expect to be allowed to sleep in our bed every night and it will be difficult to eventually encourage her to start the night sleeping in her bed.

I know it will get better, it's just difficult right now.

Personally I would probably try and stick with the routine you want to end up with for a few more days as it may just settle down quite quickly (fingers crossed). On the plus side I found with my two, once they were used to it, that they were much happier than being on their own. My eldest was even reassured about no monsters as he was sharing with a toddler, and we all know from monsters inc that monsters are scared of toddlers
Hope it works out quickly

Thanks husband. I am leaning more towards sticking with what we're doing for a little longer. I just know that once we let dd1 sleep in our bed she will expect it every time and tantrums will ensue. It would be easier if dd2 could be popped in her cot and left to it but she still needs someone to sit with her to drop off. Which is fine, dd1 was the same as a baby and she outgrew it so hopefully dd2 will soon too.