Toddler And Baby Sharing Room Decorating Ideas

8 Steps To Baby and Toddler Room sharing

Baby and Toddler Room Sharing – 8 Simple Steps

Is baby and toddler room sharing even possible? Why one earth we would even allow a baby and toddler to share a room? That must be a nightmare! Trust me, we thought it would be too. However, we weren't prepared to move to a three-bedroom and pay almost double our current rent.

We prepared in advance for having a toddler and baby share a room. We knew our current living situation would probably be "home" for quite some time. Keeping this in mind, we gave the girls the master bedroom to create more space for them.

If you want to see how doable this transition is, keep reading. Let's break down these 8 steps to baby and toddler room sharing.

Transition the baby and toddler early

Don't wait too long to make the move. Our youngest was 3 months when we moved her from her bassinet to the crib. Instead of cold turkey placing her in the crib, we put the bassinet in the crib. This allowed her to get used to her surroundings of the crib, while still familiar with her bassinet.

At almost 6 months, we decided it was time to move the baby into the bedroom with her sister. I think this was a good stage to do it because it gave her a few months to be comfortable in her crib before changing her surroundings.

Put the baby to bed first

In our household, our oldest use to go down at 7:oo pm and our youngest would go down at the same time. However, when they started sharing a room we realized this could not happen. To be honest, we started this room sharing process by putting our oldest to bed at 7 pm and keeping the baby up until our oldest settled.

The problem is she's a toddler. This means she wants to get up a few times because she miraculously needs to use the washroom again, or is all of a sudden starving, or will die without an ounce of water (you toddler parents know where I am going with this – haha).

By the time we thought she was finally settled, we would go put the baby in the crib and it would wake her up, therefore waking the baby up. DISASTER. The minute we switched up the routine and put the baby down at 7 pm and kept our oldest up till 8 pm, it was a game-changer.

This not only made our oldest FEEL like a big sister because she gets to stay up later, but it allows an hour for the baby to settle, sleep quietly and gives us some one on one time with our oldest before bed. It's also nice and dark in their room, so by the time our oldest goes to bed, not only is she more tired, but she can't see the crib and it's nice and quiet because the baby is already settled.

Set them up on opposite sides of the room

If you have space, I highly suggest setting them up on opposite sides of the room. Not only does this give them each their own personal space, but it makes it a lot easier to not wake the other one if/when you have to be up in the middle of the night. They have a shared play area but separate sleeping arrangements.

Another suggestion would be if you had the room to buy a little room divider for at night to keep things private.

8-steps-to-baby-and-toddler-room-sharing

This right here is our toddler's space

But how does it work when you get up at night?

Thankfully our little one only gets up once in the night, maybe twice. Since she's started eating solids, we usually give her some baby food at 6:3o pm and by 7:00 pm she has a 6 oz bottle right before bed. This soothes her enough to put her to sleep right after she's done.

I think due to being nice and full, she sleeps so well through the night and only gets up at about 4 or 5 am for another feeding.

You must act quickly! The second I hear even a squeak out of her at that time, I get up and make a bottle and sneak in the room quietly. I try to do it while she's just whimpering rather than when she's got that blood-curdling scream so we can do more of a dream feed.

So far, it works every time! I will say, we do thankfully have a pretty deep sleeper of a toddler, so even some of the nights that she has been crying, our toddler has slept through it. There have been a handful of times that it has woke up our toddler but we just quietly tell her to go back to bed and we take the baby to our room to calm her and then when she's soothed, settled and sleeping, we put her back in her crib.

Nap Time Solution

I am not going to lie when I say naps are a whole different story. My daughter is three and she still naps every day. I think the only reason why they sleep so well together at night is that it's dark and my daughter can't see the crib so it doesn't tempt her to go and try to climb in her sister's crib or play with her.

But day time, when it's light out and you can see everything, it simply doesn't work. My daughter slides her chair over to the crib and stands on it and fiddles with her sister's soother that was in her mouth and touches her head, attempts to crawl in (you get the picture).

For me, I have their nap times remain in different rooms. Our toddler gets her room and I put the baby in the middle of our bed and that's where she sleeps. If you have a playpen or something of that sort, you could set that up in your room for nap time too as another suggestion.

Since I made their room a playroom because it's big enough, I prefer to have the baby sleep in our room for nap time so that it doesn't discourage our toddler from playing with her toys when she wants too.

8-steps-to-baby-and-toddler-room-sharing

The baby's space. Where the bassinet is, is now the mini crib.

Be Consistent

We find consistency is everything when it comes to training our girls. Whether it is about their manners, potty training, sharing a room, bedtime routine, etc…

Consistently remind your oldest that the baby is sleeping. Encourage them to remember to be quiet so as not to wake the baby.

The more consistent you are, the easier it'll be for them to understand and obey the rules. A kid is still a kid though. Our daughter still sings and talks and we have to remind her a few times to be quiet, but again, just stay consistent with it.

Don't get discouraged

Every kid and baby is different, so each will react differently. I am simply sharing my experience and what has and hasn't worked as a guide for you. I am not saying that this is a fool-proof plan, so please don't take it that way.

Be prepared to make small adjustments. Be prepared for some nights to be better than others. Most importantly, don't get discouraged on those nights. Don't give up on it to easily because it does get so much better. It has made our girl's relationship even closer now that they share a room.

Do consider your sleep

If you have consistently tried this for a while and you're lacking in sleep, take a break! Do what works for you and try again maybe a month or two later. As moms and parents, we need our sleep. I get it! No harm in that and in no way is that a mom fail, so don't feel it is! Use these tips again in the future to transition your children into room sharing.

Check out some of these baby and toddler room sharing decorating ideas

Finally, if you have any personal experiences about this, please share. Whether they are good or bad, it's good to openly talk about it so other parents can get an idea. I encourage you to comment below or comment on my Instagram.

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Xo, Asia