toddler and new baby sharing a room - can it work?

[wem]

I'm very early days pregnant with dc2. DD is 15 months, so assuming we have dc2 in our room for 6 months, DD will be almost 2 and a half by the time we need them to share a room (we are thinking of extending eventually, but don't think we'll be able to do it by then).

Anyone had a similar situation? How did it work?

DD (3.5) and DS (22 mo) share. DS went into her room when i stopped bfing at night (i think its a bit hazy) at around 6 mo

We have a big room (they share the largest) and dds bed is against one wall and ds' cot a couple of metre away against another.

There were some points when i depsaired and was desperate for them to have their own rooms but overall it went really well, dd can sleep through ds screaming and is happy in her room before she felt lonely.

If one of them is ill they do automatically sleep with me or downstairs though so as not to disturb the other. I put them to sleep at the same time.

We moved dd2 in with dd1 when dd2 was about 9 months old and had stopped breastfeeding. There are 2 years 5 days between then, so similar to yours in ages.

It was a very long time ago (9 years!) so memory might be playing tricks, but I don't remember any problems with them sharing then. They fight loads now though!

With dd3 and ds we kept them in our room longer. In fact dd3 only moved out at nearly 3 years old 2 weeks before ds was born!

Thanks, good to hear some positive stories. Although littleducks - what had you despairing and desperate for their own rooms?

I was wondering about whether there would be space for them both in the smaller room, but then not sure there'd be enough space for us to go in there instead! There's room for a double bed but not much more than that.

we had dd & ds in same room for a while. dd was nearly 3, we kept ds in with us until he was 9 months because he was quite an unsettled sleeper and didn't want to inflict that on dd. When we went for it though he actually started sleeping much better. They were both very able to sleep through any noise from the other. We moved 6 months ago and they now have their own rooms - we do fairly often end-up extracting ds(now 3yo) from his sister's bed where they have both fallen asleep cuddled up!

As for space - we had cot beds, dd has only just got too big for hers, might that be an option for you if no space for a single bed for dd? And by the time your dd has grown out of it maybe you could move on to bunk beds (or a bigger house!) We didn't have space for toys in their bedroom, but that was no bad thing as it sent the clear message that the room was just for sleeping!

We have 22months between ours and they've shared since DD moved out of our room aged about 8months(14mo now) - we put it off cos she's never been a good sleeper and we didn't want to inflict her on DS, who after a little bit of getting used to it, can comfortably sleep through her screaming the night away.

Our other worry was that he seemed to be an early riser and we didn't want her woken if she'd had a bad night so we bought him a glow trainer clock, and he seems to be doing much better now.

I still couldn't say I enjoy putting them to bed by myself but maybe that's because its a break in their routine so its different anyway?

21 months between my two, and they have shared a room since ds2 was about 12 weeks old iirc (tis all a bit hazy). They're now 2 and 3.9yo.

Mixed success here. Initially ds1 went through a phase of climbing into the cot and waking ds2 up.

Often ds2 (a real lark) wakes ds1 up at 5am and wants him to play.

The problem I'm having now is that ds2 has moved out of a cot into a bed and won't stay there. I used to put a stairgate across their door to stop his escaping antics but now I can't because ds1 needs to get out to go to the bathroom (have recently stopped night time nappies).

They will play with each other in the mornings which buys dh and I a little more time in bed, and it is lovely to hear ds1 read stories to ds2, and to hear them chat to one another.