Baby & Toddler Sleeping in the Same Room - How??!!

[Scotinoz]

Hi,

I need to move my six month old in with my 23 month old. We can't fit the cot in our room and, quite honestly, want to reclaim our bedroom.

They're both crappy sleepers.

Almost 2 year old sleeps through once every few weeks, has a crap night a week and wakes every five minutes (well, it might be every hour but who knows), and averages an 11pm and 4am wake up. She used to sleep 7 until 6 reliably but those days are a distant memory.

Six month old sleeps averagely for the most part I guess. Still feeds to sleep, still wakes several times to feed during the night, and lately enjoys a 'being awake and ready to play' session around 1am for a few hours.

Is it possible to get them in the same room at night and have some sleep? Do I just chuck them in and shut the door?

Any pearls of wisdom would be gratefully received!

Watching with interest as we are due to do the same in a few weeks. I'm dreading it!

No advice but I'm entertaining the 'spray room with lavender scent, pop white noise on then shut the door until morning' technique with my 18mo...... Only kidding, wish I had the guts to do that though.

You can try putting them in and see what happens. Might help your 2yo to settle better with someone else in the room? Depends how you feel having to go into a different room to deal with 6mo I guess.

They get used to it I think. Ours have always both shared our room. So eldest was 1 year when baby born. Eldest slept through when newborn was waking up for feeds etc so I think sleep stays the same.

However if yours both don't sleep and you think it will be worse I would just keep baby in with you. If he's still waking you will have further to go anyway in the night to settle

I'm watching with interest too. It's something we're considering but undecided yet.

Dd will probably be 21 months when we move dc2 in with her. She currently sleeps through though. I know we're very lucky with that and I'd hate to do anything to ruin that.

Think we'll probably try it and see what happens.

I've resigned myself to the fact I will be sharing my bedroom with dd until she is at least 12 months. Possibly even longer if she still isn't sleeping through. Ds2 will be 3 then (v good sleeper) but for me it's not worth the potential disruption to either of their sleep until I'm confident that they can self settle if they disturb each other. Wish I had a bigger house!

OP if neither of your dcs are able to self settle back to sleep without your help I think it might be unlikely they will able to sleep in same room without disturbing each other. Could you look at smaller cots in your room? Failing that maybe work on helping your 2 yr old to self settle so they become more reliable sleeper before you move in 6 month old?

Thanks all. Glad it's not just me

Two year can self settle...when the notion takes her. I think she sometimes wakes with nightmares, but mostly just fancies playing. She just needs put back into bed (wellies removed, teddy found, random discussion about buses etc) and then she's asleep again.

Six month old was having a lovely time and I just got bored, and put her in the cot in her sisters room.

(Midnight in Australia...)

Toddler still asleep and baby still rolling around. It's going to be a long night!

I did this with my 2 dc at a similar age. It was tricky at first and we have adapted our nighttime routine, etc as time has gone on i.e. dc2 used to feed to sleep, now just has a story and gets drop-kicked into her cot.

It goes through phases of being ok and a massive pain in the arse. Worst for us is if one of them has a cold and keeps the other up with that horrid little dry cough they get.

But on the whole it is fine and our dc (now 3.9yo and 1.9yo) settle better because they're in a room together. They chat and sing songs to each other and like the fact that they aren't being 'left alone'.