we have two girls (now 3.5 and 6yrs) who have been sharing a room since they were 6mo and 3yrs. it's worked out really well. there have been some little phases where one of them has trouble sleeping, but i feel like that would happen even if they had their own rooms. we put them to bed at different times so the youngest one is usually asleep when the older one comes to bed, which helps with them staying up too late or keeping one another up. when they were both napping (which didn't last long) we did have the baby sleep in a pack n play in our room if need be, but it was a really minor adjustment to the norm and not a big deal in the long run. they LOVE sharing their room and it's been a great solution for us for many reasons. good luck!

Our daughter was 19 months when we had our son. He slept in the room with us for the 1st 5-6 months. After that they both shared a room (and still do @ ages 5 and 3.5). I learned early on that I had to get both of them on the same nap schedule so they would both go to bed at about the same time.

My daughter is a pretty good sleeper, so even when our son would wake-up in the middle of the night (almost always between 2 - 4 am), she never woke up. And my son was almost a year old before he would sleep soundly through the night.

I cannot stress to you enough that getting your baby and toddler on the same nap time schedule is KEY!!!

We have a one-year-old and a three-year-old and we planned on having them share a room but we couldn't ever get them to properly sleep together so even though the baby's crib is in their shared room he sleeps in a pack n' play in a different room. I'm still holding out hope it'll work better when he's a little older, maybe by 18 months or 2 years old.

My almost-3 yr old daughter and almost-1 yr old son share a room. My son slept in a pack-n-play in our room until he was sleeping through the night, and then we moved him into the other bedroom. While he was learning to sleep in that new place, we moved my daughter's mattress into our room and she slept on the floor. That took about a week. Now, they sleep together well. My daughter has a slightly later bedtime, so my son is already asleep when we put her down. They aren't on the same nap schedule yet, but that's my next thing to tackle!

I have two girls ages 5 and 2 1/2. They have always shared a room and it works just fine. Even when baby woke in the middle of the night, it didn't bother her older sister. She slept through the crying and I always picked up the baby fairly quickly. I can only think of a couple of times they have woken each other up, but they always went back to sleep quickly. Now that they are older, it takes longer for them to actually go to sleep at bedtime because they are talking and singing to each other. I think that is sweet though. =) My advice is to try it and see how it works out. Every child is different.

I love shared rooms but think it is a misery until the babe is older. Very easy transition from co-sleeping/toddler bed hopping at about 2 1/2. My kids are 5 (boy) and 3 (girl) and love sharing a room.

My daughter (4.5 years) and son (just over 2 years old) have been sharing a room since he was about 6 months old. At naptimes I separate the two, she will sleep in the guest bedroom or on my bed, and he is in his crib. Like another poster, my younger child is put to bed a little earlier, so by the time it is her bedtime he is already sleeping, or just about sleeping and he doesn't wake himself. We have also had phases where one or the other has their sleep issues, but we worked them out and they did not last long. I shared a room with my sister and we felt comforted knowing the other was there, and I think that especially with my younger child he loves having his big sister in the room. He also has had less sleep trouble overall than my first child, but I suppose that could just be him. As they get a little older we will let them have their own rooms, but for now it works for us!

I'm so glad for this post! We just bought a two-bedroom house. We currently have a five month old daughter and another who just turned 2. We will probably keep the baby in our room for a few more months but am already thinking about the transition. Our 2 year old is a fussy toddler and a light sleeper. She adores her baby sister but I'm worried they will be waking each other up all night. I'm heartened to read that it has worked out well for others!

Excellent question. I often wondered but didn’t have the wherewithal to ask.

Our 4 month old is still in a minicrib in our room, where she’ll stay until she is sleeping through the night or close to it. We had hoped to move her in with her 3 year old sister by now, but decided to have at least one sleeping child. The baby wakes more than I think she would if she had her own space, but there is truly no other location for her or us in our 2-bedroom home. We’re going to try a couple of nights with the toddler bed in our room and the baby in her crib.

However, nap schedules are aligning well. She takes her morning nap in her crib in the shared bedroom and typically naps at the same time as her big sister. I don’t anticipate too much of an issue with naps once they are sharing, although it probably won’t be as smooth as if they were in their own room.

Like @MusicMama, my two boys (currently 4 & 7) shared a room immediately after the birth of my second. Fortunately, my oldest sleeps soundly so it was never an issue. And he was short enough at the time that I could sit at the end of his twin bed for midnight nursings!

I hope it works because we've done the same thing.

My daughter is 3 years older than my son - although they are now grown and no longer share a room, they did share a bedroom from the day he was born until he was six. Our apartment had three bedrooms but we opted to put them in the same bedroom and use the third bedroom as a playroom. I strongly believe Play time and Sleep time need to be separate and toys do not belong in a bedroom. It worked super for us! And I think the fact that they shared a room made them great friends...

This is a reminder from a mother of a single 6-year-old that even when there is ONE child in their OWN room, they STILL go thru phases where they can't sleep, want
to sleep in their parents' bed, etc. So no matter what the sleeping arrangement, you will be dealing with this from time to time.

Overall, having our 2 boys share a room has worked out very well and has made them both better sleepers. They're exactly 3 years apart. The baby was in our room for longer than I'd have liked, but I waited til the nighttime feedings were done (4 months?). There were a few rough nights when big brother would be woken up by little brother, and he'd get mad that his brother was in there. I also keep a pack & play in our room for daytime naps; that has never worked in the same room. At night, if I put them to bed at the same time, sometimes they keep each other up for a while, making each other laugh.

You can do it! Most kids will adjust to anything, given enough time.

My boys (3 years apart) have shared a room since #2 moved from a bassinette in our room to a crib. We're in a four bedroom house now, and I've tried giving them their own space, but they always end up together. Yes, sometimes one wakes the other in the middle of the night (and then EVERYONE'S miserable) but mostly it works.

So part of the equation is the kids themselves.

I ended-up moving my son to the living room after I tried to transition him into the shared bedroom with his 3 year old sister. When he woke up, she woke up, and they thought it was time to party at 3:30 a.m. After a good six months in the living room, he was sleeping through the night much better and I tried it again. That time it worked and they shared a room for a couple of more years until we moved and they each got their own.

Our 8 and 4 year old have shared since the second was born, although we coslept for the second half of the night for the first 2 years or so. It worked out fine for us, but only one was ever napping at a time. First the baby napped 2 naps a day, morning and mid-afternoon, and the preschooler napped once in the earlier afternoon. They would both go to bed at the same time and have the same bedtime routine. At midnight-ish, the younger would wake to nurse and I'd just bring him in our bed, so he didn't tend to wake the older. Just recently, the 4 year old told me what he misses most about his sister being at sleep away camp is whispering "I love you!" to each other in the middle of the night. I think it can work, at least for some kids!

Has anyone else done this with kids with a larger age difference? My son is going to be 6 when the new one is born and they're going to be sharing a room once she starts sleeping through the night until we can buy a 3-4 bedroom house.

Has everyone here grown up with their own rooms? It used to be normal for kids to share rooms.

we tried this when my daughter was born. my son was 19 months at the time. we didn't even consider the possibility that it wouldn't work... but it was a DISASTER! i think it all depends on how heavy a sleeper the older child is. mine is a pretty good sleeper but the baby would wake him up or she would wake him up and it would turn into a scream fest at 2 int he morning. we ended up having to put the baby in the living room which was pretty depressing. as a result we moved to the burbs where they have their own rooms now and if they want to share in a year or so (my brother and i opted to share until he was in 5th grade) then we will pop them into one room.
good luck..!

we have a nine month old and a four year old who share a room. at night the baby goes to sleep first... and on weekends, she naps in living room.

this mostly works even though she sings and talks and hollers for things (water, tissues, hugs) in bed, he seems to mostly sleep through it. he tends to crash at bedtime so that's a good thing.

when he does wake up they play a game I call giggle puss, where they egg each other on cackling and laughing and never go to sleep.... this has happened twice total so far and it's completely brutal and also hilarious.

I'm sure when we look back fondly at these years we'll smile about it. We smile about it even now but it's really really tiring... because of course staying up until 9:30 somehow makes them wake up even earlier the next morning (ie five am).

last night he went to bed late (7pm) so I kept her up until 8pm to prevent more giggle pussing... and it worked. also I gave her a quarter for being quiet. :)

Unfortunately we won't have a choice and our children will have to share. But I'm excited for it. I think it is important to be able to share spaces and compromise. We'll see what happens when the little one is actually here. The one thing I am looking forward to is not having to buy more/new furniture. They can share the dresser we have, the changing table (my older one will probably still be in diapers) and the glider. We bought a toddler bed but we'll be reusing our old crib. Instead of having to worry about decorating another room, I can relax and not freak out about it.

I have a 5.5 year old boy and 7 year old girl who have shared a room for 5 years. There have been phases when it has been more difficult but on balance it has worked well. I really think it is good for kids to share a room, if nothing else it helps them be a little bit more flexible about their sleeping environment but I might have talked myself into that because we don't have another option ;).

We didn't have trouble with her waking him up as an infant because she was sleeping more continuously. Toddlers are notorious sound sleepers so even when he was still getting up at night, he didn't wake her up. Since he's been sleeping through the night, they've pretty much maintained the same sleep schedule, so we didn't have one needing to go to bed or getting up consistently earlier than the other.

After the night nursing ended, my husband put down a prohibition about kids in bed with us (after the very rare nightmare excepted) -- he says there is barely enough room for the two of us let alone a mini-cyclone. We've always been flexible about where she takes naps. We often end up with her in our bed or the couch and him in his bed (yes, they still nap when given the opportunity -- I am one lucky mama).

It did get a little trickier when they were both toddlers/preschoolers. They kept each other up talking and playing. We moved all toys and books out of their room and we'd often have her lay in our bed until we went to bed and move her (sleeping) back to her bed.

Now that they are both grade schoolers, they have their books and toys back in their room. Bunk beds significantly reduced the after-bed chatter because they can't see each other.

A commenter above asked how it works with children who have larger age differences. I can't speak from the parents perspective, having none myself, but I did share a room with my younger brother from the time I was about nine (he would have been two.)

Moving him in that late was tough. The tweens are a time of tremendous, awkward, awful growth and sharing a bedroom with my baby brother wasn't ideal when friends from school found out (the completely imaginary horror of it all!). I remember a lot of broken CD's and missing bottles of nailpolish before my parents figured it out.

When he was about four, they installed a lock on the door and moved his toys into the living room. During the day, our bedroom was mine and he wasn't allowed in. At bedtime, our bedroom became a shared space. There were still some issues though. He liked to sneak is gameboy into bed and the sound effects drove me nuts. For my part, when I was about fifteen, I started to struggle with insomnia and couldn't sleep without the radio on. Between the noise and my tossing and turning, he had a few sleepless nights, I'm sure.

All told, we lived. Would it have been nice to have separate rooms - OH MY GOD YES - there certainly would have been a lot less fighting. I should also say though..we're 26 and 19 now and I know him better than anyone else on earth and he still can't successfully lie to me. (Kid can lie his butt off, but when he tries to lie to me, he bursts out laughing.) We've bonded over our many shared nights, but I spent a LOT of time kicking the mattress on his bunk to get him to stop wiggling :P

"having none" = having no kids. I actually have a couple of parents ;)

We plan on having our 4 year old and 1 year old share a room once the 1 year old can sleep without nursing once at night. The four year old has a trundle bed so waiting till the baby can sleep on the pull out is a must. Also, we turned our walk in closet into a nursery for the baby and he sleeps so sound in there right now I hate to mess that up. Its such a cozy, comfy room. I told my husband we are putting our bed in there when the baby is out of there!

My two, age 7 & 10, started out together and all was fine as big sister was excellent at tuning out all the baby cries of her brother. Around the time of my daughter beginning grade school was when we saw the first hints that separate rooms might be a good thing. She wanted to have friends over to sleep. So those nights we let him camp out in our room or the living room. When he started first grade, the fighting became so bad(and always about little things), that we converted a laundry room into a very compact bedroom. Fighting stopped and they were friends again. We are finishing up an addition to our house that will let them have their own bedrooms and I asked them which one they would choose-they are now talking about sharing a space and using the other room for a fort! Kids.

Try it, maybe it will work, maybe it won't, maybe it will at a later time.

When she was 3, my sister famously marched into my parents' room one night and said "Get that baby out of my room." The guest room promptly became my room.

Mine are 2 1/2 years apart and both boys. I wanted them to share a room but didn't plan to do so until the little one was in the toddler bed we had used for the older one. He has bunk beds in his room, and I'm not ready to put a 4 year old on the top bunk. So for now, he sleeps on the bottom. My baby has NEVER been a good sleeper, so I held out as long as I could to help out the big boy. But at 20 months, the baby started climbing out of his crib, so I had no choice. They've been sleeping in the same room now for about 6 weeks, and it has been WONDERFUL! My 4 year-old doesn't nap anymore and crashes at 7:30 or so. The baby still takes a nap in the crib (in the nursery) in the afternoon (he doesn't climb out at naptime for some reason). While he would often chat for an hour or more when put down in his crib at 7, he goes to sleep within 15-20 minutes in the shared room. I credit positive peer pressure. I think he actually knows he doesn't want to keep his brother up. They do climb in bed together around 6:30am and proceed to giggle for 30 minutes before they get up for the day. But that's just too adorable to worry about. So I say (long story short), it can work, but you may have to wait until it's right for each kid. Or in our case, you do it because you have to, and it actually turns a bad situationi into a great one!

my boys 19 months apart share a room since the younger one was six WEEKS. they are so used to each other, they never wake each other up. i think kids just learn to sleep through the other ones cries...
i love that they share a room!! (they are now 2 and 3.5)

Oh boy, you've had a lot of help! Here's my 2 cents...it really depends on the kiddos! We have been living with our 2 boys, 2.5 years apart in a tiny room (9x6). The baby is a poor sleeper and my older son is a light sleeper. This amounts to poor sleep for us all. BUT, a lot of kiddos can make it! I think once my little one sleeps better at night, we'll try it again! There is a lot to be said for siblings who grow up in the same space...Best of luck to you!!

I have four kids that share a room! (11,9,6,3) Yes there are sometimes problems but hey what can you do? We sometimes stagger bedtimes (easy- with the person who asked about large age gaps - the olders get to stay up later while I read to the youngers) and sometimes if too much giggling is going on someone gets banished to mum and dads room to fall asleep alone and moved later into their bed.

my kids have woken up in the night but we are happy with cosleeping, but they woke in the night when we only had two kids, or they had their own room. So sharing doesnt really affect that.

however THEY will wake eachother in the morning, so when they were little we often had them all up at the same time.. now my 11 year old sleeps through ANYTHING and I get her sisters to force her out of bed :)

@bitterepiphany, thanks for your story! I wasn't intending to have them share a room past my older going into puberty. He's excited about sharing his room now (he's always hated sleeping in a room alone) but I can't imagine he will be at 12 or 13.

A question I would love to ask my great grandmother this question. How she handled my grandmother and her siblings sharing the same bed! idk how she managed! not only the same room but the same bed...while they were little!

LOL, @jackied302. I should ask my mom that question. I slept in the same bed with siblings when we were younger. I would guess it was a non-issue back then since it was commonplace to share a room or even a bed with siblings. Funny thing is, after I became pregnant with my 2nd child, we moved into a bigger house so each child could have a bedroom but they've ended up chosing to sleep in the same room together. I always kept a twin bed in the nursery room. I think they were 2 and 3 1/2 (maybe even younger) when they first started sharing a room. The older son would climb into the twin bed at the delight of his brother. It got out of hand some nights with one waking the other up but most times they slept well together. My older son has never been a great sleeper but seems to sleep through his brother's cries without a problem. When we moved again, I was delighted to find a house with master plus 2 small bedrooms with a Jack and Jill bathroom. Perfect for 2 brothers, I thought. They're now soon-to-be 5 and 6 1/2 and are still sharing a room, out of choice. Go figure!

Our son was 11 months old when my daughter was born (seriously). She slept in our room for the first 5 months and then we transitioned her into our sons room. It's most challenging when they are both or one of them is sick and sometimes one wakes the other at 530am and everyone gets up but all in all it's great and they don't know the difference. They are now 13 months and 22 months and are quite happy sharing their bedroom...I think.

My two boys, now 7 and 41/2, have shared a room since they were 41/2 and 2. My older son was a terrible sleeper, not sleeping through the night consistently until he was 4. As soon as his younger brother moved into the room with him, he began sleeping like a champ. He has always had an overactive imagination (he is 7 and still won't watch anything scarier than Backyardigans), and I think he was scared in his room alone at night. My younger son has always been a great sleeper, and sharing a room has been a wonderful experience. We only had a few kinks with the shared room, like my younger son had a hard time learning to stay in his bed with the freedom of no crib bars, and figuring out naps (they took turns sleeping in our bed at nap, and then when my older son outgrew his nap, he would read books and have quiet time in our bed). It also has allowed us to use the small third bedroom as a playroom for the boys, which has been great at containing their toys and providing separate play and rest areas.

I think sharing a room has made my children closer and taught them how to share and compromise because they are together all the time. I love hearing them talk to each other at bedtime, and wake up giggling together in the morning.

Be careful of sibling rivalry if you are introducing a "new occupant" to your older child's room. Slowly start to refer to it as the "Children's Room". Designate a special area just for the older child to decorate. Point out the fun aspects of sharing a room with a sibling.

We are thinking of having a second baby (our son is two and two thirds now, so we are looking at minimum 3.5 years apart), and I am so nervous about this issue because we can't have the baby sleep in our room due to my husband's sleep issues. Thinking sofabed in the living room for baby and me until baby sleeps through the night!

I shared a room with my two younger sisters for many years - from the time the youngest was a baby still in the crib, with me and my middle sister in bunkbeds. I have only good memories. And we all learned how to sleep with some disturbances, which helped us all.