Bedsharing siblings... should we just give in to it? Big bed? (essay alert sorry)

[PontyMython]

Not that we are opposed to it I should say - actually it's pretty sweet. DD, 4.3, was in a room on her own until recently, when DS finally moved in with her just before turning 2. DS has taken brilliantly to being away from us and sleeps through, DD... not so much :( she says she hates her bed and as soon as we tucked them in she'd jump in with her brother and keep him awake.

So we decided to give her some special time after bath, in case she was jealous, and anyway she is 2 years older - so one of us tucks DS in and the other has a quiet game/puzzle/drawing etc with DD for a bit. DS is asleep within minutes so it's great for him, but DD still gets upset and on some evenings has woken him up again . But when we've allowed her in his bed to sleep she is fine, and asleep really quickly just snuggled up with her little brother.

Problem is his bed (cotbed, still has the bars on) is already broken from DD jumping in it, so he will need a new one soon... we are even pondering getting them a bigger one to share. We can't afford to get rid of DD's bed though, as it's one of those with loads of storage and there's nowhere else to put anything. Financially we can't really even afford a replacement cotbed at £100 right now. Their room is tiny, we considered swapping rooms (2 bed house) but our modest-sized double won't even fit in there! So a bigger bed may not work anyway.

Any advice or experience on this please? We are stumped. And exhausted :(

Well if there happy sharing a cot bed why not just buy a single divan or one of the ikea beds that grows.

You could always ask on freecycle if anyone is giving away a single bed.

Is there room on the floor for a mattress if you shift out DS's cot bed?

Maybe use your DD's bed with one of this toddler bed rail things on for safety? My boys age 7 and 4 love sleeping together and now we let them at the weekends sleep together so fri and sat night!

I shared snuck into my brothers bed for years, he's 5 yrs older than me. Was gutted though when my parents put their foot down ( I think he was 12) and said no more, had to go back to sharing a room with my two smelly sisters! did us no harm and it was a single divan type.

2 of mine share an ikea toddler bed . They have separate beds but they "need" to sleep together as they "are frightened". They are 6 and 8.

My two have bunkbeds but have slept in the bottom bunk for the past two years (they are 8 and 6). It all started when dh was first ill and spent some time in hospital so I have never tried to split them up as they are obviously getting some comfort out of it. As they are getting older they are gravitating to their own beds after going from sleeping side by side to top and tail. We did think about getting them a double bed but I think singles are better as they have a choice in where to sleep!

I have to admit bedsharing siblings isn't something I ever considered, being an only child, even though both DCs slept with us in babyhood.

I don't think there's any room for a mattress TBH. Not sure of the measurements, but in their room there's a low and narrow cabin bed with some storage, the cotbed and some of those Ikea Trofast storage unit things. There is about enough floor space for them to get changed and have bedtime stories, barely enough room to play.

Argh - this house is so tiny - we were hoping to stay for a couple more years and we can't afford to move anyway. Will have a look at freecycle, and I get staff discount in the charity shop I work in. We are currently clearing out horrific amounts of some stuff from the house, maybe then the answer would be to move more of their stuff into our room

I like the sound of the Ikea bed, what do you mean by 'grows'? Will have a proper look tomorrow (I should really be doing my work now...) - although right now, as DS is a right little monkey and I am too much of a wimp to want him in a proper bed without sides, a massive cotbed would be perfect, maybe they do bigger ones for twins...

Thanks for all your ideas :) I keep checking on them as this is the first night DD has actually stayed in his bed (before she got annoyed when he moved around) they are so cute snuggled up together!

DD1 and DD2 love sharing a bed. Always in DD1s bed. They are 7 and 8. I try and limit it to weekends though.