Three year old and sixteen month old sleeping in same room?

[PiperG]

I'm thinking about putting my three year old and sixteen month old in the same room - they have never slept in the same room, but as we are squeezed for space I think it's going to be necessary. I am fine with this in principle as I think it's nice for young children to share rooms but am terrified about the reality of what it will mean at night time! My three year old DD usually wakes once a night for various random reasons (needs a cuddle - teddy fallen out of bed - duvet off and is cold - etc etc) and my younger DS does wake on occasion and just needs a very quick stroke/drink of water.

Will this be hell - will they wake each other up constantly (also it's a VERY small bedroom so they will be very near each other)?? Or will they adjust very quickly? I can't imagine that they won't wake each other - but perhaps they will just get used to it. I need some reassurance!

Watching with interest as need to move dd2 (10 months) in with dd1 (2.1) at some point soon but cannot comprehend how it will work! Hope you get some good advice.

My 3 share a room. They are 4 (last week), 2.5 and 10mths.

They have been in altogether since the little one was 6mths.

The older two shared from when dd1 was 9mths and ds was 2.

It has always been fine. They get used to the noise and tend not to wake up if one of them cries or wakes up for some reason. It's much easier when we go away as they are already used to sharing.

They love sharing too!

We have 4 bedrooms but this way we have a spare room which we currently let out, and a massive playroom so it is a much better use of space.

Oh and ours share the smallest bedroom in the house. They have bunks and a cot along one wall and a wardrobe. There is only enough room to walk in and sit on the floor to read stories. However it doesn't matter much as all their toys are in the playroom.

My 4 year old and 15 month old share a room and have done so since the youngest was 6 months old.

It works well - they don't seem to disturb each other bizarrely. And in the mornings they chat to each other which means i don't have to get up at 5.30am more like 6am.

My dd's have shared a room since dd2 was 6 months old (dd1 was 20 months old). They rarely wake each other up, even if one is screaming the place down. Strangely us going to bed and clicking the stairgate does wake them up, and one thing we have found that helps is to have a cd playing very, very quietly (lullabies or classical) on a loop, so if they do wake each other up, maybe this would help.

Their room is tiny, and they are now both in beds (dd2's first night tonight - eek!), but it is lovely to see them both snuggled in together, and hear them on the baby moniter saying good morning to each other (far too early, though!)

Good luck.

Thanks all ... sounds as if I can hope that they will get used to it! I was also wondering though about the best way to introduce my 3 year old to this idea of sharing with her brother - it'll mean moving into a different room for her, so a double whammy in terms of changes - and she's at a rather sensitive age in terms of everything being just as she wants/expects it to be ... traceybath, how did you get your older one used to the idea of sharing? Or did you just go for it ...

we talked about it but he was really keen! But it was a sort of fait accompli to be honest.

Oh and it helped that ds1 moved from a small room to a larger one to share with ds2.

Am sure they'll be fine - we've got enough rooms for them to be separate but they seem to enjoy being together.