Babies or Baby/toddler sharing room questions

I'm not sure how odd our situation is here on LI. We have a small house and we haven't found a new larger house we like. At this point, we agreed to wait till after the baby is born to move - I don't want to be in the middle of boxes when I bring the new baby home. We're discussing adding another level to our house, but aren't 100% yet on it.

Anyway, assuing things stay as they are structurally... my DD will be about 15 months old when #2 comes along. DD has slept through the night since she's 2 months old. We don't have space in our room for a bassinet... DD went right into a crib when we brought her home. My plan was to do the same with #2. I was just wondering.... how do people manage not to wake their older child when the newborn cries? Also, when it's time to cyo how do you keep the infant from making your older baby crazy? Should we have the older one sleep with us for the night or 2 (assuming this one's as good as she was)? I dont want DD to start the habit of sleeping with us. I know people manage in smaller homes, but I'm scratching my head with the sleeping at night situation.

Re: Babies or Baby/toddler sharing room questions

My girls are 14 months apart. They didn't share a room until my youngest was 11 months old though.

At 11 months old my DD still woke up 1-2 times a night at least 3 days a week. The first few nights my oldesdt DD would wake up. I would even hear her yell "brookie shut up"

But after a few nights she learned to sleep through it. My younest DD is now almost 16 months old and has started waking up in the middle of the night again and it doesn't seem to bother my 2 1/2 year old. My 2 1/2 year old sleeps through me going in there.

The only problem I have had with them sharing a room is my oldest DD would throw all their toys into her siters crib and climb into the crib with her so I bought a crib tent to keep her out. My youngest DD just moved to a toddler bed and now the girls stay up later playing

Re: Babies or Baby/toddler sharing room questions

my 2 girls *will* be sharing a room....they don't yet. My 3 YO STILL wakes up 1 or 2 times at night some days and the baby is still waking at night to eat. I just don't see that as fair to the 3 YO.....to go in there, disturb her to get the baby, then to bring her back in there.

I think when the baby starts sleeping through the night they'll transition

Re: Babies or Baby/toddler sharing room questions

Re: Babies or Baby/toddler sharing room questions

DD will be btwn 16m-17m old when this baby comes. We only have one room for both dc.. so new baby will be in dh and mine room for the first 5 months or so, then I going to see how both babies are.. If I cant put togther in dds room, then Ill have to put a crib in our living room for new baby.. We are trying to save for a house, so not many choices right now.

Re: Babies or Baby/toddler sharing room questions

I wanted to not have the baby in our room for 2 reasons..., one - it will be really tight, I mean a small bassinet may not even fit as we crammed a king sized bed into a very small MBR... and 2- I'd be concerned that we'd wake the baby when we go to bed. We may not have a choice though. Guess we have to throw the cats out too - huh?

DH is talking about moving his desk downstairs and giving up his office as a formal room. That room is crazy small too, but it's an idea. The only other option is to add a level, but I really didn't want to stay in this house another 5 years. We have no idea what to do.

Re: Babies or Baby/toddler sharing room questions

the baby co sleeps with us for now(with me really..DH gets his side to himself!) as well as 1 of our 2 dogs (sometimes both dogs are in bed too

Re: Babies or Baby/toddler sharing room questions

would extending your house be an option?? we have a big backyard and added to the back of our house and now we have more bedrooms.....plus increased the size of ours and added an apt downstairs for fil when we bought it (before we had kids....we used to have 2 guest rooms, then one and soon we will have the pull out couch!

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We have 4 bedrooms but 2 are on a different floor and honestly I'm not comfortable leaving the baby or my 19 month old on another floor from the rest of us. Someday sure - but not now. Honestly I would think the baby would disturb the older child. Is there really no way to put a small bassinet in your room or just outside your room just until the baby sleeps thru the night? You won't wake the baby - We did this with DD and she never woke up even with the TV on or DH getting dressed in the mornings. For this time around we plan to have the baby sleep in our room for a little while - like we did with DD. I'll be BFing and having a repeat csection so it is easier for me to do it this way anyway for night feedings.

I think if you are going in and out of the children's room all night to get the baby when it wakes it would be disturbing.

Re: Babies or Baby/toddler sharing room questions

We only have a 2 bedroom apt. We had this discussion a couple of nights ago b/c I would like to start TTC at the end of this year.

We decided we were either going to have to put the baby in the pack and play in our bedroom or in the pack and play in the living room until the baby has a decent schedule. Kaydyn is a VERY light sleeper for the most part and we know she will be woken up constantly if we put a baby in her room.

We have cats also, but we are lucky enough to have a finished basement that we put them in at night. Is there a way you can put the baby in the living room, hallway, or your room and maybe put the cats in a different room or put a net/tent over the baby so the cats can't get in?

Message edited 2/7/2009 9:42:54 AM.

Re: Babies or Baby/toddler sharing room questions

We have a 2br apartment so DD & the baby will eventually share a room. For the first few months, we'll definately have the baby in our room. I'll be breastfeeding & it's just going to be much easier on everyone that way.

Re: Babies or Baby/toddler sharing room questions

Posted by ABCiverson


The only problem I have had with them sharing a room is my oldest DD would throw all their toys into her siters crib and climb into the crib with her so I bought a crib tent to keep her out. My youngest DD just moved to a toddler bed and now the girls stay up later playing

Re: Babies or Baby/toddler sharing room questions

We have a tiny property - we can't extend out, but we can go up... and DH left some messages today to get estimates. I'll cry if we stay here more than 5 years though! He'd better still want to move after all this and he promised me he does once the market turns and we can get a decent price for our house again (we're actually adding lots of value by making it 2 floors plus basement anyway I guess - in the end we'll have a 4 full bath and 5 bedroom house - wow! That should move well in Nassau when it's time). I'll also cry if we end up forfeiting a lot of the rooms and updates we already made on the house. We're already aware we will lose our 3 year old roof. Now DH is talking about bricking the bottom front so the whole house doesn't look like sidng... so we lose some of our 3 year old siding too. We just redid our bathroom on the main floor in May... we haven't completed paying that off yet. At least I'll finally get a functional kitchen and a master bedroom suite.

I agree afterall this that sharing a room is out of the question... it may have worked somehow back in the day when our parent's were having kids, but I will be going back to work and I can see this becoming a disaster. Last option... DH loses his office and will have to put his desk in the basement/family room. That room is rediculously small, but I guess the baby will just use it for sleeping and floor time and stuff can be in the LR or DD's room. Our bedroom just will not work for a bassinet and we can't co-sleep. So I guess our decision has been made