4 answers

• courtcarp

  380October

  Stagger bedtimes. I have twins and when I started putting their younger sister (yep…3 to a room) it was rough. We had a triple bunk bed in there and that helped a lot because they were all secluded into their own space in a sense. We also invested in a baby monitor that had a camera so I could watch their interaction and take note of their bedtime habits

  Comment on this answer
• CharleeTSmith

  90October

  We have 2 boys (8 and 6) in one room and 3 toddlers in another.

  We don’t have any toys in the bedrooms. I like to keep bedrooms as areas for quiet, calm activities. Sleeping, reading stories, homework, getting dressed, ect.
  It means it’s an uncluttered space and I think it’s a part of why my kids keep so well. It also really limits the opportunities for contention.

  So sharing that space hasn’t been hard for us during the toddler years.

  At bedtime when it was just our older boys, one of us sat in the room until they fell asleep and that worked really well for us. I also found that having a consistent bedtime routine with our oldest helped our youngest transition into the same bedtime routine, but again, we liked staying in the room until they fell asleep to ensure they stayed in their own beds.

  For our toddlers (twins and surprise sibling 11 months younger,) we have a group snuggle at night until they’re all asleep and move them to their respective beds afterwards. I just don’t have the energy to force them to stay in their own beds. 😂 However, my 3 year old twins occasionally ask to go sleep in their bed with me sitting in the room, so we’re getting there naturally at their own pace. (Not an ideal option for everyone, it’s just what has worked for us.)

  Since all of their toys are in other areas, they spend most of the day around the house and only sleep in the bedrooms at night.

  As they get older, I think there are a lot of variables that make sharing a room healthy and happy vs miserable and toxic. Personalities, other spaces available, how well siblings respect each other’s things, ect.

  For us, the issues with sharing started when my oldest grew to needing his own space to decompress, but his “roommate” is as high energy as a child comes. We ended up building an indoor “tree house” for our oldest to decompress away from everyone. It’s his space no one else is allowed in and our 6 year old has a sensory swing installed in the garage that isn’t necessarily off limits to everyone, but no one else uses it.

  Comment on this answer
• 

  rachel

  9802October

  My kids are all squished together (3 kids in 2.5 years). So there has been a lot of room sharing. One thing I’m really grateful for is when they were tiny if one woke up in the middle of the night I soothed them and helped them in the room. My kids learned to sleep through the noise. Now, as they are older, I’m so grateful for that! If one wakes up with a bloody nose or from a nightmare and makes noise, it’s rare for my other kids to wake up as well.

  I second @CharleeTSmith on the toys. We didn’t have toys in their room when they were little. Instead, we had a pile of books in the crib and/or next to their bed (and idea I got from @sarahs). They could sit quietly and look at books till they were ready to fall asleep. That helped keep things quiet when one kid wants to go to sleep and the other isn’t ready to fall asleep yet.

  Comment on this answer
• 

  mamakat

  30November

  Everywhere we’ve lived, our 3 boys have shared a room. I don’t have deep sleepers and everything morphs with age, but when they were babies/toddlers we’d have the baby temp. sleeping seperate (like in a pack and play or parents room until the older boy(s) were down for the night, then transfer the baby into the room last. It’s a game changer when they can share a bedtime, but that will have to wait.

  Comment on this answer