letting children sleep in the same bed - advice needed please!

[hippmummy]

My DS2 is 18 months old and for months now has been an early waker. He goes down to bed perfectly well at 7 pm but has been waking progressively earlier and earlier. It's now normal for him to wake at 4.30 and not go back to sleep.
He's not really ready to get up, but just can't get himself back to sleep so cries and cries til we get him up.Also, if he does wake in the night, he cant get back to sleep on his own - we have to go in and pat him and shush him.
Anyway, I heard that children who sleep together generally sleep better and was wondering whether to let him sleep with his brother who is 3years old and a very good sleeper. I think the theory is that if they wake up they have the comfort of someone else there and can go back to sleep.
My main concern is that he will disturb DS1 which is not fair on him and I'll have 2 problem sleepers.Co-sleeping with me and DH is not practical as he already has a great bedtime routine and goes down to sleep no problem - I don't really want to change this. Also when we've tried bringing him into our bed at 5am he won't sleep - just wants to get up.
Anyone have any experience whether this is a good idea?

anyone?

sorry - we have a similar problem with dd2 but we let her co-sleep with us, not either her brother or sister.

Can think of lots of reasons why not iykwim.

If you wanted to give it a go, you could try it for a night and see what happens.

Do they both sleep in a cot still? Will ds2 fall out of ds1's bed?

DS1 is in a single bed (bottom bunk) and DS2 is still in a cot.
We could put the 2 bunks together to make one big bed for them.
Maybe we will bite the bullet and give it a go - just wanted to find out if it had been a disaster for anyone else first!

Thanks for responding x

bumping for the afternoon
any advice welcome, thanks x

bumpity bump.

Mine have the same age gap as yours hipmummy and they co-sleep. Thery both seem happy with it and although DS1 has always been a better sleeper DS2 doesnt seem to have disturbed him at all. They are very close and I think it is nice for them. There are 2 beds in the room but they prefer to use 1.

mine are 18 mths and since my dd was 18 mths old and went into a bed she has slept with her older brother, sh eloves it and cuddles up to him and slept much better when they were together, it has never botherd my older son and only now aged nearly 6 and 7 1/2 ar ethy in seperate beds bu tif itwas up to my older son he wuld stillbe sleeping with my dd! he` now in top bunk and she in bottom , and happily chat to each other before going to sleep..its actually very sweet to hear them chatting about their day together before they go to sleep and i must admit they are very close and everyone always says how well they get on..is it to do with being together in the same room i dont know? give it a go and see

Thanks for the positive replies - I think I will give it a go, we've got nothing to lose as nothing else is helping with his early waking!
I'll keep you posted on how it goes!

Quick update - the boys have been sleeping together since monday and so far so good..

My worst fear hasn't happened, which was that if one stirred it would disturb the other and they'd be up all night. In fact DS2 woke one night yelling for about 10 minutes and DS1 didn't even stir!
DS2 seems to settle better when he wakes and today for the first time he woke at 4.50, I shushed him and he went back to sleep until 6.10 (unheard of for him!)

Another great thing is that because they are in 2 single beds pushed together, there is masses of room so I can get in and lie with DS2 if he needs it, rather than have to sit on the floor next to his cot in the middle of the night!

And of course, the other bonus is when we look in on them before going to bed they just look so cute in bed together