[Nowfor4]

Hi,

I am pregnant with no.4. Currently ds has his own room, and dd1 who is nearly 6 and dd2 who is 2.5 share, and then the other room is the babies room. This is the way that we had it worked out, but there are a few issues. DD1 needs her own space, she is troube when they are together, and is the kind of child that needs time out. So, have you had a toddler and a newborn together? Is it doable? Or am I going to wake my toddler everytime I go to feed?

TIA

[Flutter Bug]

I did. It didn't work out for us and DD2 currently resides in the study!

It really depends on how well they both sleep and how disruptive the older child is.

I found DD1 was always waking DD2. She likes to read and chat in bed (to herself!). It was too hard to quieten her down!

Their nap times clashed so had the same problem with keeping each other awake. Baby required lots of settling which was a challenge with a noisy/talkative/inquisitive toddler in the room!

My toddler didn't wake during the night though when I went in to feed which was the only positive! She did get woken if the baby cried excessively. I found it disruptive to both children and their routines (I use that term loosely!). But you won't know until you try yourself, yours might surprise you!

Best of luck!

[Guest_3Keiki_*]

Could you put babe in with you for a few months?
I have my 1 and 2.5 yr olds together. And it is actually pretty good. Although yes before LO started sleeping better I was often waking toddler up. Although she learnt to sleep through a lot of it. I didn't start them sharing until LO was about 6 months though. Sometimes if one or other is having a bad night I will put toddler in my room, as out of two she sleeps best in my bed. At moment I have started putting them to bed at same time and it is the funniest thing listening to them having little chats to each other!!! eventually toddler says 'ok I am getting cross now - to sleep!' very very funny

[lynnemine]

Not a large family, but yes, DD1 and DD2 shared from the start and still do at 4.4 and 2.8. DD2 was in our room until about 9 months, but then we moved her to her sisters room. DD1 woke up when DD2 did for a week or two.

DD2 can now be screaming (full tantrum) and DD1 will sleep through it. She is a heavy sleeper and has become a heavier sleeper since DD2 moved in.

We now have a few spare rooms, but they like sharing. Hope my experience helps your decision.

[dogsneaker]

I was going to suggest what 3Keiki said.

Have baby 4 in with you until they are old enough to share a room with DD2.

My two are the same gap as your DD2 and baby no.4. They are sharing a room at the moment. We only started this recently as any earlier poor DS would have been constantly being woken up by DD crying for milk. It's really cute when they talk each other to sleep

[Nowfor4]

Thanks! Will depend on what the baby is like, re: sharing with us. All 3 have been really noisey, and the last 2 refused to sleep in the bassinet, they went straight into the cot, which won't fit in our room. We just renovated the babies room, we were going to make two but decided to just do one bigger one, grrr, should of done two

[ubermum]

Yes. We were renovating and had two cots next to our bed. They still share. It was never a drama.

[sophiasmum]

Yes, DD1 was 2 yrs 4 mths & DS was 4 mths. It didn't work a lot of the time. We ended up moving house so they each have their own room. But I hear lots of people don't have dramas, it just wasn't for us.

[librablonde]

I've done it and it's do-able but depends on a couple of things: is your toddler a deep sleeper? Mine could snore through a bomb exploding so a crying baby was no big deal. Can you have the baby in with you for a while? It helps if your toddler is a bit older before sharing. I strongly suggest staggering the bedtimes as my hassle was getting the kids to go to sleep if one was still awake when I put the other one to bed. Then they'd act like monkeys and not go to sleep and everyone would end up tired and cranky I arranged the bedroom furniture so that the baby in his cot couldn't easily see the toddler when she was in her bed. A dressing table acted as a sort of visual barrier for them both. And I used no nightlight at all to avoid stimuli and them being able to see each other and thus starting acting like monkeys again.... OP, a lot of it will depend on the personalities of your kids and how easily they can re-settle themselves.

[CharliMarley]

Do didn't work. The toddler would get out of bed and go and poke the baby.