Toddler & 5 year old Room Sharing Hell...

[Bibblebobbleparsnip]

We've moved our 27month DS in with his big sister. Trouble is it's taking him ages to fall asleep. Bedtime is 7pm in our house, but he's been only dropping off about 9, and therefore so has his sister. Not such a big issue now it's the holidays (though far from ideal), but we HAVE to get this sorted before school starts again... DS still has an hrs nap in pm (which I'd really like to keep as we also have 6wk old) though we make sure he does plenty of activity during the day. He eats well. Nothing else had changed in his routine other than the place his bed is in. HELP!!! It's getting increasingly tricky to deal with such overtired children. We've tried leaving him to get on with it & also going in every time we hear a noise, all to no avail. it's been 10 days now. Once he's asleep he's fine, it's just getting him to stop talking/playing with his blanket/banging his feet against the wall etc... Aaaaarghhh....

That's so great! Really pleased for you

Well mine went down late as they had their tea and bath at my mums so had a bit of a stop up. So were still chatting at 8 but quietened down soon after. No hysterics from DD at all thank goodness, they seemed to mainly shout "Aliens" at each other for a long time and then were abducted by aliens quiet.

DD just let out a 20 second cry though; she often cries in her sleep, it's very unnerving!

Will we make it two in a row? Not looking like it at the moment...

Hands Bibble a glass of

It does get better, good days and bad though, when they first share a room. Even mine still play up sometimes.

Thanks Dontstep, my first MN glass! They did settle, but not as quick as last night. Only in once myself and DH in once. Distracted myself with knitting and GBBO... You ladies have been great, thank you so much for the virtual handholding- it's so easy to become tunnel visioned at times like this- good to lift your eyes and see it isn't really such a big deal...

Mate - tonight I survived by putting them down and going out!!! (my mum was here to babysit - was BF's birthday). Mum was saying (to a soundtrack of whinging/playing/crying/shouting) that it's all about consistency. Be strong!!!

PS am drunk. Hence confidence.

Haha! At the risk of sounding like Gok "it's all about the confidence!" Seem to have taken a step back though tonight... Grrrrr

Oh no

Oh rubbish. Mine are ill so conked out fairly quickly (for them!). Thank god because I'm hungover! Are yours asleep now?

we have 7yo, 4yo, and 2yo in the same v small room! we leave the blind halfway down so it lets some light into the room and they are allowed to sit up in bed and look at picturebooks as long as they don't get out of bed and they get to bed by 7.30. from down stairs we can hear a bit of goggling but generally speaking they nod off happily after about 30 mins and we tuck them in. i think they think that its a bit of an extra treat or something. but it works better than our previous nightmare of staggering bedtimes and running up and down shouting at them to be quiet every 5 minutes. that had DH and myself fighting with each other too.

sorry goggling should have read giggling

Last night was Not Good. Spent too much time up & down... But they were asleep after about an hour. Maybe it's the excitement of the holidays & once school/nursery kicks in it'll all iron itself out.... I'm telling myself everything and anything to excuse them & hope it just gets better by itself. At some point I'll have to DO something but at the moment it's nothing as I don't know What To Do

Two hours... Two flipping hours tonight! Ended up putting DD1 on a fold up bed in another room- at one point we had all three of them screaming (oldest two woke up the baby)...
We've been putting DS to bed first and then taken DD up about 15 mins later but it's almost like he's waiting for her so he can start messing/chatting. He was really upset when she was banished elsewhere. Cute that they love each other so much, but really guys SLEEP!

Ah Bibble did toddler get a nap today? Does that make a difference?

He did. But she was the problem tonight. DH was really cross with her and she screamed so much she set off the others. At 5yrs 8 months she does know better and think we have to tackle it differently with her than her 2 yr old brother.
It seems like we've been in this cycle do long now that DS has to have a nap to cope as he's soooo tired, but if he was to not nap he might manage, but he's too tired to go down well at night so we put him down for a nap and off we go again...
This really is getting ridiculous... Serves me right for having 2 that slept through from 3 months old- they were saving it all up for now!!

Separating them is something I used to have to do sometimes and that did work and then I'd slip them in much later when they were both asleep. It is hardwork when they first begin to share and my DD despite being the eldest, can be a right pain in the neck sometimes

When they begin school etc again, they will be much more tired at night.

It was a long road to get mine to share a room at night and go to sleep at times and required patience and consistency. Some nights I was tearing my hair out. Being divorced, I had to do it all myself but I didn't have a baby too!

I really feel for you. It does get better in the end.

I know what you mean re: naps - that's why my older one (3.2) still has to nap often, otherwise he's spiralling out of control by 4pm! Can you withdraw some privileges from your daughter as a message to her regarding last night?

I'm doing a dance!!!! They're asleep! WOOHOO! DH popped up as he heard DD chatting and found DS conked out already. He'd had no sleep (spent the day at the beach) and run round lots and had a bath so think we tired him out.
Oh and on another note, I fitted into my tankini today... Having a "Go Me" moment!

Woohoo!

Go you

I thank you.... Tomorrow, as they say, is another day...

One day at a time, but sounds like you're getting there, so hang in there

They went down well tonight. DH and I just stared at each other in disbelief!!