siblings sharing bedrooms - at what age?

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Our dd (7mths) is getting disturbed by even the slightest noise in our bedroom. Do I contemplate moving her into ds' (2yrs)bedroom? Ds is still in a cotbed with sides.I am hoping ds will sleep alot better with her in his room as he feels the three of us are in one bedroom and he has to stay in his on his own.However will they disturb each other so much that I will feel sleep deprived? Has anyone else been there already and if so what happened? Please tell.

Dd2 went into dd1s bedroom when they were 6 months and 3 and a half.

It has been very successful, and actually our HV recommended it as they sleep better together, and its worked. Apparently each others breathing noises help to reassure them.

This is interesting - I've been wondering about doing it - mine are 3 & 1 & a half. Don't need the room, but wondering if they'd like it. Does it make the bidtime routine easier. You all sound so positive - there's really no downside / big problems?

My three are in two bedrooms that were originally one, so there is only a parition wall between them and this has a door in it. I have to put them all to bed separately or they play, argue, fight and never go to sleep. Once the youngest (3) is asleep I can send the middle one (6) to bed and hopefully he will be asleep when the eldest goes up (9). I'd love to have 3 separate bedrooms for them.

I used to be quite happy to have my own bedroom but my younger sister wanted to share so we stayed like that until we moved house aged 11 and 9. I don't think we were too troublesome.

This is something DW and I have discussed as if/when No2 arrives we don't know whether to make one room a bedroom and another a childs playroom or to have them in seperate rooms.

Also what do people think about having different sex children in the same room? What age do people think that they should be seperated?

We don't have the luxury of choice there but a playroom would be very nice because at least I wouldn't have to clamber over toys in the boys' bedroom to get into DD's bedroom. Being able to close the door on a toy room would mean that mess could be contained and the toys would be less of a distraction at bedtime. If 2 children are happy to share I don't see a problem but my eldest does get cross with the younger 2 because they play with his things and this probably wouldn't happen if he had his own room.

I don't think there are any set guidelines about mixed sexes sharing but I do seem to remember something about councils being required to provide housing with separate bedrooms for children over 6 years. At 9 DS1 is just starting to become more shy but we aren't able to separate our kids properly because you have to walk through the boys' bedroom to get to DDs room. I need a lottery win so that I can have a bigger house.

Sharing a bedroom can be an awful lot of fun, as well as causing huge rows. My two boys share - and when we go on holday to a bigger house than our own, they choose separate bedrooms for novelty and end up pulling a mattress into one room so they can be together!
We are just about to have a loft extension for DD: the plan is for her tiny little box room to be thrown into the boys' room with an archway between, to create a slightly separate area for the 10yr old, while still giving him the whole of the big room for playing. I can't decide if this is sensible or not - but it seems the fairest way to give everyone a reasonable amount of space.

Do other people find that boys stay young longer than girls? DD was nowhere near so interested in long and concentrated playing at 10.

I shared a room with my sister until I was 14, wehn she left home. I loved it and was distraught when she went. I'm not sure she viewed it with the same fondness, although she was a patient soul.

As for playrooms - I've never mamnged to get my children to use them. When we've had a playroom they've just hauled all the toys along to the sittingroom, leaving a long trail of lego or jigsaw pieces or dolls clothes behind them!!

I shared a room with my brother until I was 12 (he was 8). There were only 2 bedrooms in my mother's house. I suffered very badly at that age with whooping cough and was sent to Switzerland for 3 weeks to recouperate (there was an organisation that helped pay for children from single parent families to have holidays). When I came back, as a surprise, Mum had moved me into her room and completely redecorated it for me, and she then slept (for years) on the sofabed downstairs. It was lovely of her to do that, but I couldn't stop crying as I was so upset that she didn't have a bedroom anymore.

I thought girls and boys could share a room up to aged 7, but I could be mistaken.

Our kids had separate bedrooms for a while but we moved them into one in October (then aged 5 and 2 and 3 quarters). The vacated bedroom became a playroom. But yes, they still have toys all over the house! They like sharing and will continue to do so when we move house soon and it's useful to have the playroom available for building railway tracks, etc.

As the eldest is a girl and the youngest a boy, we'll have to separate them some time. I hope that when the time comes they'll want to separate. Is there any law about children of opposite sexes sharing? Or is this a daft question?

They don't disturb each other.

I don't think there is any law as such, XAusted. I know that housing associations/councils etc generally award extra housing points when there are different sexed siblings sharing a room but only once the oldest child is eight years old.

I can't imagine my boys not sharing, though they can rev each other up to wild delight or anger within seconds which is not always too peaceful! My sister and I had separate bedrooms from a fairly early age- I think for this very reason!- but we were always desperate to be in the same room. We sometimes used to "stay the night" with each other but it usually ended in tears (my mum's and dad's!).

My sister had a boy and a girl in a two bedroom house. In their area, the max age for boy/girl sharing rooms in council property was 10 but there is no law about it if you own your own home, as my sister did. She and her DH moved into their dining room eventually, so the chldren could have their own rooms.

My DS and DD have shared a room since they were 1 and 2.5. Before this I always had to stay with DS till he fell asleep but once they wentin together it was magic. I was worried they would wind each other up but in fact its better as they both know they are both in bed and not missing something. They get up together and sometimes play togehter in the mornings too. I'm more worried about what will happen when I eventually have to seperate them. We do have another bedroom but keep that as a playroom/ my office (I work from home). I think it helps with bedtime that they don't have toys in their bedroom. They know its the place for sleep.

My situation is that I have 3 children - girl of 9 (nearly 10), boy of 5 and girl of 11 months.

I have a third floor which is a (proper) loft extension but this is my office/playroom/used to be husband's bedroom before he moved out.

My son has his own room and my two daughters are in together. When my eldest daughter wants her own space, I will let her sleep in the loft (integral part of the house) but at the moment she is happy to share, especially as baby is not crawling/walking (another story!) and is not into her things. Although the loft is the playroom, I find that my DD1 does prefer to play with her things in her bedroom but I keep all the toys they are not playing with in the loft.

Regarding sleeping together - I am not sure if this is relevant or not, but when you go on holiday and some hotels make/let children bed-share, this is only if their combined age is less than 11 but obviously this is not relevant as they are not actually bed sharing, you are only talking about sharing a bedroom. I think the only time a problem might set in, is when the eldest starts puberty and starts going through what all pubetic children go through and then they want their own space.

A friend of mine who has a council house has 3 bedrooms and has a boy of 13 (own room) and twin boys (age 7) and a girl (5) who share a room - boys in bunk beds, girl in single bed. She wants a larger house but the council don't seem too concerned that two boys (aged 7) are sharing with a girl (aged 5).

Just to say thanks to those earlier in the thread. I was mulling over putting my 2 in together, but worried they might be awful together, but we are considering a 3rd - don't you all know it!, so would like to make the move way in advance so there isn't any association with no. 3.

Anyway, we had a holiday recently, and they had to share, and it went really well, like others have said, really cute talking first thing etc.

when we got back we asked the elder if he'd like to carry on sharing w. brother & he was really pleased with the idea & they've been together ever since. They are such a delight to listen to, now, 1st thing. the most wonderful thing to wake up to, so thanks all of you for the encouraging words.

Oh, and it makes bed time routine a doddle, because we just read them the same story (similar tastes & close in age) so it takes half the time!

Am just reading this while sitting outside dd's room, ds is sharing with her for the first time tonight. He is 6mo, she is 3.5 yo. She is still awake, pretty typical, but has been reasonably quiet. She just seems to struggle with winding down which makes the first part of the eve quite hard. Ds also need to be down or having milk by 6.30 which means i have to fob dd off with telly or iPad till I'm finished settling him... I know it wick get better but not really worked that well for me yet!!