New baby on the way, should we move DD to a big bedroom?

[claire002]

Hi there - we've got baby number two due in three months or so, and our house has 3 bedrooms, one of which is a tiny cot room really and is currently DD's bedroom. I always assumed (I don't know why) that we would move DD to the big spare bedroom, and the baby would have DD's current tiny room. But, DD (18 months) is a champion sleeper who loves her bedroom (won't sleep anywhere else mind you!), and I don't know if moving bedroom will jinx this.

Anyone have any experience of moving their child's bedroom - or if there are any other practical issues to think about re whether the bigger child has the bigger bedroom?

Thanks

If your DD is happy where she is, why move her? You may find that you need more space to do baby related things like dressing this time round, as your DD might want to "help"

Some friends of ours moved their eldest child into the big bedroom, but ended up having to move her back. This is because as the children grew, they wanted to play upstairs away from adults and they needed to use the big bedroom for that. The DD's temperament was such that she didn't like having her space invaded, whereas her younger brother loved it.

So my vote is for status quo.

I would not move her, if you plan to have the baby in with you in your room initially, I would make the big room into a nice playroom. also you could have a chest of drawers in there for all the baby stuff.

that way your DD gets used to playing and begin in there. Then when the baby is ready to have its own room, you could see if your DD wants to go into the bigger room that she is more used to playing in, by then she will be older anyway and appreciate the space. You could even put a 'big girls bed'/ toddler bed in there already for playing and naps, to make the transfer even easier. My DS really liked it when we put big transfers up and made the room look different and nice. she would then go into the bigger bed at around 2 years. so kind of make it 'her' room without transferring her yet. this is just my suggestion!

might dd feel a bit ousted if she has to give up her room for the new baby. I would leave her there, keep the baby in with you for the first however long then put them both in the big bedroom

We had the same dilemma and decided to discuss it with my daughter in a positive way. By this I mean we wanted her to move to the bigger room, more space for her stuff, further away from baby room to be disturbed and so forth. As she was about 2 at the time we were able to discuss it with her and we even decorated the room a colour she was able to 'choose' (we picked two colours we liked to avoid something grim and she picked the one she preferred).

18 months on she stills talks about the move and why she has the bigger bedroom and that she gave her bedroom to her little brother. For us it was a positive move and it was for her.

My Dd was/is a good sleeper and we never had any problems with the move and have not looked back. Perhaps it is how you approach the subject with her? I have found that by not making too much of an issue about these sorts of things with the children at this age they are not really that bothered.

My DD also pointed out to us that her bedroom is the biggest in the house!

I am not sure if that helps. It depends on your daughter really......

I wouldn't move your dd. There will be enough upheaval. And she's happy where she is.

Our dd is 21 months older than her brother and we didn't move her. She is still in the smaller 'nursery' bedroom whereas her younger brother has the bigger bedroom.

A new baby doesn't need a bedroom initially anyway...if they do, it's only to sleep in...

What I've found out also, regarding toys and space is babies have bigger plastic crap/ toys. So you need a bigger room for these. The older children get, the smaller toys are...(girls stuff anyway..)

I'd leave it as it is just now - my opinion..

Thanks for all the replies - it helps hugely (finding it very difficult to make any decisions at the moment, pregnancy brain!). I think we'll leave DD where she is, it feels like the right decision, and yes, why move her if she's happy? For some reason I just felt a bit guilty that she wasn't getting the bigger room! I forgot that the baby would be with us to start, so good idea to use the bigger room as a joint play/dressing area, then we can always move DD later if she shows any interest in wanting that room instead (although she's a bit young yet to be expressing a preference!).

Thefearlessfreak - good luck, hope you're not waiting for too much longer and it all goes (relatively) smoothly

justneedsomesleep - very happy to hear that the toys get smaller, if we get any more we might need to move house just to get a room for all the toys

Thanks everyone
(PS haven't managed to persuade DH yet, but the one who gets the bigger room might have to share, as quite keen on 3!!)

i always feel like the younger child gets the rubbish deal in many things - e.g hand-me-downs etc

So them getting a bigger room is only fair...