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Original poster

Three children in a two-bed house?

56 replies

SouthEastLondonMummy · 16/04/2007 23:05

We have two small kids and a two bedroom house, and at the moment our two girls share. We have no money to move to a bigger house, and can't move away from London because of our jobs. But we are both desperate for a third child! Has anyone out there had a third child despite it being totally impractical? I'm 33, so time's getting on.

OP posts:
MarsLady · 17/04/2007 00:54

No... the DTs were in with us, the DDs shared and DS1 was in the closet. Apparently it was the third bedroom!

Original poster
SouthEastLondonMummy · 17/04/2007 16:44

Oooh, encouraging replies!! We will go for it then.

Co-sleeping is not an option. DH hates babies in the bedroom, their squeaking and grunting wakes him up in the night! Though it might work as a good method of contraception for us.

OP posts:
EachPeachPearPlum · 17/04/2007 17:24

Just wanted to say Flexa do a triple bunk bed (as in 3 single beds on top of each other, not a double at the bottom) but it's kind of expensive... (link)

Original poster
SouthEastLondonMummy · 17/04/2007 17:57

Great idea EachPeach, they seem to have cheaper similar things on ebay. Wonder if our ceilings would be high enough?

OP posts:
misdee · 17/04/2007 17:59

i have a 3bedroom home, but have all 3 girls in one room as dh is in the small room i na hospital bed. surprisingly its not that cramp even with the room only being 8ftx9ft

ohDearie · 17/04/2007 18:00

We have an 11 yr old ds and 3 yr dd in a 2 bed house. It's a big house, much bigger than 3 beds we saw in our price range.

Go for it.

fannyannie · 17/04/2007 18:04

we will have 3 children in a 3 bedroom house - but like another poster above our 3rd bedroom is the junk room/study/etc - and needs lots of money spending on it to make it warm enough to be inhabitable by small children in the winter (the insulation is appalling - and it's not cavity wall.....).

So all 3 DS's will be sharing a bedroom (once 3rd one arrives).

Have a friend who has a 12yr old girl, and 2 DS's aged 3 and 11 months in a 3 bedroom house. The 12yr has one bedroom, the DS's the other and they have a sofa bed in the lounge

snowwonder · 18/04/2007 14:36

i have seen triple bunk beds on ebay???

i have 2 girls 2 bed house, my dad has recently split there room in 2 as the age difference was big and oldest wanted her own space,

good luck

snowwonder · 18/04/2007 14:38

sorry should have read the other posts before repeating

ScottishThistle · 18/04/2007 14:42

My Mum grew up in a 3bed & she was one of 5, 3 slept in a double bed & the other 2 in a single bed top/tail!.

She always reminded me of this when I complained about sharing a room with my Sister!

Oblomov · 18/04/2007 14:45

I know that there is an guidelines / age limit, as to when different sex children should have their own rooms, but surely not everyone in the world can manage this.

Is it the be-all-and-end-all for different sex children to share the same room ?

nappyaddict · 18/04/2007 16:47

there is no law about it as you say just guidelines. the only time where it has to be enforced is in foster homes.

Kelly1978 · 18/04/2007 16:56

I had four kids in a 2 bed flat. The smaller bedroom fitted a bunk bed and that was it, dd and ds1 were in there. Ours was a generous size, so we had our bed, and the dts cots in it. The only thing that really bothered me about it was that we didn;t have a garden, the lack of bedroom space wasn;t a huge issue. Go for it!

Original poster
SouthEastLondonMummy · 18/04/2007 22:43

What do the guidelines say re number of kids/age and sex of kids/number of bedrooms?

OP posts:
nappyaddict · 19/04/2007 23:24

2 children under 7 of any sex can share a room, or 2 children of the same sex at any age.

nappyaddict · 19/04/2007 23:37

in scotland one room is allowed for:

a couple
a person over 16
two children under 16 of the same sex
two children under 10

Beauregard · 19/04/2007 23:39

Nappy-Furball said to direct you to the worcs meet up thread.

nappyaddict · 19/04/2007 23:47

i got it wrong the last post i made is for all over the uk. the first post must have been for something different - a shelter i think.

ZisforZebra · 21/04/2007 13:45

I shared a room with my two sisters until we moved house when I was 17. I was okay, not a big room but we were only really in there to sleep (bunk beds and a single). The upside for my mum was that if we were fighting and arguing through the rest of the house, she'd make us tidy our room for the afternoon. By the time we'd finished tidying, bitching about how unfair it was throughout, we'd all be friends again!

When we moved, we all got our own room and none of us could sleep without the radio/stereo on because we were so used to other people's noise and couldn't sleep in silence!

You should definately go for it. Good luck.

NuttyMuffins · 21/04/2007 13:58

Had 3 in a tiny 2 bed flat for about 18mths and it wasn't ideal but we coped.

serenity · 21/04/2007 14:19

With regards to the guidelines for how many can sleep in aroom, you should be aware that any room that isn't a bathroom or kitchen can be counted as a sleeping room, which is why we aren't classed as overcrowded. as far as the council is concerned we should/could/are able to have some of us sleeping in our living room.

Judy1234 · 21/04/2007 14:59

We have 5. What's wrong with children sharing? A lot of parents think depending on age of the child it's wrong NOT to share a bed, never mind a room, with small children.

Gobbledigook · 21/04/2007 15:02

At the moment ds1 (6) and ds2 (4.5) share a room and ds3 (2.7) has his own room. We are looking at putting them all in together because this is what they want!! We have a big house with enough bedrooms for everyone but it's still what the kids are asking for! They love sharing!

I gave ds1 the option to go in a room on his own but he said he wanted all 3 of them to share!

So - go for it!

pointydog · 21/04/2007 15:05

I've got friends with four children in a two-bed house.

Don't get hung up on it if that's what you want.

Spidermama · 21/04/2007 15:05

I have three boys in one bedroom. They have beds like these which I bought from ebay to make the best use of the available space. It means they have their own unit within the bedroom so a sense of their own space.