Little ones sharing a room - does it work for yours?

[Gem13]

Have been wondering about getting DS (nearly 3) and DD (16 months) to share a room.

There are various reasons...

We would like more children at some point and I would like them to be able to share a room and not be too precious about having their own room (as I was!). I don't want to end up where we need to buy a house with enough rooms for everyone to have their own, plus one for us, and one for guests. It's also a pain when we go away.

DD is a ridiculously light sleeper and I think she might benefit from some company. A lot of her crying seems quite panicky reactions to things like the hall light being turned off, someone in the bathroom, etc. DS sleeps soundly so he wouldn't disturb her.

But - there is quite a lot of fussing at bedtime at the moment and I don't know how easy it would be to get them both off to sleep. It's usually not too bad with both of us dealing with them (one each) but it would be hard when DH is away. Also DS is an early riser (6.15) whereas DD will sleep until 7.30.

I don't know whether to wait until I can reason with DD more or whether there isn't a right time.

Any thoughts?

Our 2 boys (now 4 3/4yrs and 19 months) have been sharing a room since last October.

DS2 sleeps longer in the morning, - so he's go instructions to get up and go quietly out of the room (to go downstaris and wastch TV).

Before they shared a room DS1 was a bit of a pain to put to bed, we had to leave his door ajar until he'd fallen asleep and if he woke in the night we had to leave the door open until he was asleep again and he wouldn't often make a fuss too.

Since sharing a room it's been SOOOO much easier.

They both go to bed around 8ish. DS2 into his cot, and DS1 into his bed. They do often 'play' together, giggling and laughing at each other, but then both settle down to sleep really nicely on their own (with the door shut and light off - just the night light on).

I have dd 6 and ds 3. They started sharing last year ie dd 5 and ds 2. It works really well and they seem to entertain each other. They only disturb each others sleep occasionally We converted other room into toy room which they love. Works for us!!

Ours have shared since DD2 was about 6 months old. Works great so far, I can imagine there would be hell to play if we tried to separate them.

Downside - they sometimes bugger about at bedtime (now aged 2 and 4). Ocassionally wake each other up early in the morning (but more often it's us they wake).

I sure do hope so. This is a two-bed flat and we're here for the long haul.

My two share a room - they are 3.5 and 19 months, and have shared from when ds2 went into a cot.
They both go to bed at 7, and sometimes can be heard 'talking' for a while (which I think is so sweet! ds1 will ask ds2 questions, and get a 'yes / no' back!), or ds2 will go to sleep quickly and ds1 will look at books. I let them get on with it really - they know that they aren't allowed out of bed, so just settle themselves.
They don't tend to disturb each other at all - ds1 may shout for us if he wants a drink or something but never wakes ds2, and if ds2 ever wakes in the night he doesn't wake ds1.
In the mornings whoever wakes up first tends to call out for us but again the other one doesn't wake up. Ds1 will sometimes just come into our room.
Maybe we've been lucky, but they love sharing a room. Ds3 is due soon and ds1 is adamant that the baby has his own room as he wants to keep sharing with ds2.

reading this thread with interest as I am thinking of putting dd1 and dd2 (3.5 yrs and 20 months) in the same room. Dd2 who is 20 months has always been a bad sleeper and wakes a couple of times a night, but settles again easily with a drink and tuck back in her cot... I am wondering whether putting them in together may help her settle back on her own.
My only worry is that if it doesn't work after one night of trying - how much of a fuss they will kick up if we have to move them back into separate rooms again??
Also dd2 wakes up early in the morning, sometimes at 4.30, but does go back to sleep with a drink of water, until about 6.00am and whether this will wake dd1??

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My two have shared since dd was about 1ish and ds was 2 1/2. Works well for us. We do now stagger bedtime so the 4 1/2 year old goes to bed at 7 and the 6 year old at half past, as she likes music to settle, and he likes it to be quiet.

They can mess around terribly at times, but mostly it's been fine. Dd usually gets up before ds and is usually fine about not waking him up (he's very grouchy in the morning). Amazingly they never wake each other up with their occasional nightmares, or even the time when dd threw up three times in one night.

Actually I think it's easier to put them to bed together. When they were little I would read them a story together, and then sing to them or talk to them in bed. I think it would have been harder trying to do it in two rooms.