Room Sharing Tips With A Baby And Toddler

So if you have been keeping up with me on Instagram, then you know my baby girl and toddler are currently sharing a room.

If you aren’t following me, then I will share that short video of their shared bedroom below.

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For anyone who is new here, I currently have a 1-year-old and a 3-year-old.

And they have been sharing a bedroom since my youngest was 6 months old.

Ever since I shared on Instagram my girls’ shared bedroom, I have been asked about our experience on what is like with a 1-year-old and 3-year-old sharing a room.

And it has been interesting.

When my youngest was a newborn, we created a nursery nook in the corner of our bedroom for her to sleep in.

We had a playpen for her to sleep in during the day and at night, we found it easier to bedshare with her.

• Read More: Safe Ways To Bedshare With A Newborn

Around 6 or 7 months, we attempted to transition her to her crib with no success.

We tried again around 11 months and even though we still were having trouble with her sleeping in her crib at night, we were starting to experience success with naps in the crib.

Fast forward to today and at 15 months, she can start off in her crib sleeping for a few hours but will likely wake up and wind up back in our bed.

I will go into further detail about sleep training my second daughter in another post because it has truly been a journey.

But for now, we have been navigating the girls sharing a room and it has been going pretty well so far.

And of course, I want to share with you all what has worked and what is working for us when it comes to a 1-year-old and a 3-year-old sharing a room.

If you are interested in some room-sharing tips for a baby and toddler, then just keep reading.

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When Should You Move A Baby And Toddler Into The Same Room?

Before I get into my room-sharing tips for my girls, let’s talk about this.

When should you move a baby and toddler into the same room?

I really think it depends on the parents.

Some parents will say that it is better to transition siblings into the same room when they are younger.

While others will say that it is best to wait until they are older.

Our experience has been a bit of both.

We attempted when our youngest was 6 or 7 months but found it difficult because she wasn’t sleeping through the night and I was having to get up quite a bit.

So we waited until she was closer to 1 to try again and then we had issues with her crying and waking up our older daughter.

She was also much more resistant to her crib which made settling her in there much more difficult.

So based on our experience, I would suggest that if you are going to transition before your baby is 1, then do so when they sleeping through the night or longer stretches.

If you have to wait until after they turn 1, make sure they are able to soothe themselves and put themselves back to sleep in order to not disturb their sibling.

Because now that our daughter is 15 months, we are having a much harder time with crib resistance and wind up having to put her back in our bed if her crying is keeping our older child up.

As much as I love the girls sharing a room, I want to also mention the moments when sharing a room is not a good idea.

It is definitely not recommended for babies to share a room with a sibling when they are under 6 months.

In fact, according to Safe Sleep Space, it is recommended that the safest space for a new baby to sleep in is the same room as their caregiver.

And as you all know, we did that and continue to do so with our 15-month-old.

Other instances when room-sharing is not recommended are:

• If your toddler is still too little to understand they cannot climb into the crib with their sibling.
• If your toddler needs constant supervision around the baby and you don’t feel they’re safe leave them alone without supervision.
• If your baby’s crying is continuing to disturb their sibling.

Now that we know when it is safe to move a baby and toddler into the same room, let’s get into my room-sharing tips for my 1-year-old and 3-year-old.

Room Sharing Tips With A Baby And Toddler

Talk To Your Toddler About It

My first piece of advice for room sharing between a baby and a toddler is to talk to your toddler about it.

Especially if it was your toddler’s room first.

If you have been keeping up with the blog, then you know that I shared that we had already been preparing my oldest daughter to share her room with her younger sister.

• Read More: Preparing My Toddler To Share A Room With A Baby

And part of preparing her was to talk to her about it.

Our oldest daughter has known that she was getting a baby sibling since I was pregnant and also knew that she would have to learn how to share things with her baby sister.

• Read More: Preparing My Toddler For A New Sibling

Which would also include her room.

As opposed to just bombarding her room with all the baby stuff, we talked to her about it and even let her help with putting her sister’s things into their new room.

Talking to her about it not only made her feel more involved but also excited her about getting to share a room with her sister.

Set Up Crib & Toddler Bed Up On Opposite Walls

Once your toddler knows that they will be sharing their room, it is time to set up the room.

When setting up the bedroom for a baby and toddler, you have to keep safety in mind.

And the way to do that is to set their beds up on the opposite wall.

The last thing you want is your kiddos getting hurt while in the same room.

In our girl’s room, we placed the crib on one wall and my older daughter’s toddler on the other wall in the corner.

There is enough separation between the crib and toddler bed for there to not be any accidents if my baby girl decides to learn how to crawl out of the crib.

Babyproof The Room

While on the topic of safety, you want to make sure the room is babyproofed.

I have shared in a previous post the babyproofing essentials that we use in our home.

And in that post, I talk about making sure you have outlet covers, cabinet and door locks, and furniture mounted to the wall.

But something else to consider is the different baby and toddler items in the room.

Since my 3-year-old and 1-year-old share a room, they are obviously items in the room that are more so for my baby girl while other things are for my older toddler.

And the items that are more for my older toddler are usually off-limits to my baby.

She has toys with smaller pieces and books with paper pages that if my baby got a hold of she would either put in her mouth or rip out the pages.

So to make sure this doesn’t become an issue, I put these items up higher and out of reach for my baby.

If my older daughter wants to play with these items, she can ask and I will get them for her while ensuring her younger sister doesn’t get them.

Keep Naps Separate

I know one of the first things people are going to ask about is how the girls nap in a shared room.

And the answer to that question is that they don’t.

My 1-year-old still takes 2 naps a day and my 3-year-old only takes one.

• Read More: Nap Schedule For My 10-Month-Old Baby

For my baby girl’s first nap that she takes in the morning, she will either nap on the go during errands or in her crib.

Her second nap usually happens around the same time as her older sister’s.

During this time, her older sister will nap in our bedroom .

And my baby girl will nap either in her crib or on the couch in our living room.

We have to separate them during nap time because if we don’t then they will keep each other up and neither of them will nap.

When they get older, they may be able to nap together but for now, napping separately works for us.

Put The Least Resistant Child To Bed First

And my last room-sharing tip with a baby and toddler is to put the least resistant child to bed first.

What I mean by “less resistant” is the child that is easier to put to bed.

Out of your baby and toddler, you will notice that one of them is easier to put to bed.

For us, our older toddler is much easier to put to bed than our baby.

We can lay her down in their room with her music machine and she will put herself to sleep.

Whereas our baby needs to be held and nursed in order to fall asleep before being moved.

So what we do every night during their bedtime routine is brush their teeth, read books together, and then once we are done with reading books, we will give our older daughter lots of hugs and kisses and leave her to fall asleep on her own in their room.

After leaving our older daughter, I will take our baby girl into our room where I will darken the lights and nurse her to sleep.

I like to wait 30 minutes or so to make sure our older daughter is asleep before moving her younger sister into her crib in the room.

My older daughter is also a really good sleeper and can sleep through the noise so if her baby sister does wake up momentarily and starts whining in her crib, she won’t likely wake up.

My baby will usually sleep in her crib for 3 to 5 hours before waking up and most of the time, she winds up back in our bed.

Especially if she is inconsolable.

As I said above, we are working on sleep training but this can be difficult to do with her older sibling in the room because we don’t want to disrupt her sleep.

I know some parents will say that it is easier to put the baby down first but putting our toddler down first is what works for us.

Your Turn

Well, those are my room-sharing tips with my 1-year-old and 3-year-old girls. I want to hear from you all now. What are some rooms sharing tips that you have to offer with a baby and toddler? Let me know in the comments and while you are still here, check out my previous post below. Until next time!

• Read More: Helping My 3-Year-Old Get Through Her First Day Of Preschool

Love,

Just Jass