Girls Sharing Room

The only thing I can think of is to put them to bed at different times. Put the younger one down maybe 30 minutes earlier than the older one.

My mother used to put my younger sister to bed first by about 30 minutes, maybe an hour. She was usually asleep by the time I went to bed and I just got into bed quickly and quietly. I remember feeling quite grown up getting to stay up "late".

I would suggest not putting them down at the same time. Put the 2 year old down first wait atleast a half hour to an hour and then put the other one down.

My girls share their room (4 1/2 & almost 7) too and I have faced many of the problems you've shared. Their bed time routine starts at 7. We do baths (if needed), brush teeth, pick up the days mess and then they're aloud to read or play quietly until 8. Usually by then they're tired enough they don't bug each other much and quickly drop off. However, some nights for whatever reason they're cranked and they may come out for any numerous excuses. If it's just to mess around (there are only so many bathroom trips, sips of water or hugs a person can have) we start docking time and they don't like that. So for instance, each time I have to send a girl back to bed I subtract how much quiet time they have the next night and lights are turned out early. They really don't like that one. A few times I've had to resort to removing their light although that doesn't help much anymore. Our new house has a street light that shines into their room. >.< You could also try staggering the times your girls are put to bed. Keep your older girl up later (that would be a good one on one time for you two, much needed in this transition time) until the little one was asleep and then send her to bed. Several years ago I had three children in one room and that's the only way I could do it. Good luck!

If I have to go downstairs after bed time because of talking my boys both spend 5 minutes standing with their noses in the corner. I rarely have to go down more than once.

what about having younger sister put down (alone)
and allowing the other one to hang out with you until you know the lil one's asleep. Then the 'big sister' can show how quiet of a mouse she can be as she sneaks in to be put down later?
Just a random thought, tell the little one... she too will get to be 'BIG SISTER' someday, and that 'this is how its going to be'

My kids are all fairly close in age, so bedtime has been a challenge since they have always shared rooms. I did not want to stagger bedtimes (with 3 in a room it would have been an all night process!), so instead I would go through our regular bedtime routine, and then I would sit in the bedroom doorway while they went to sleep. Most of the time I would read them a book or a chapter from a longer book, and then I would just sit and read my own book while I waited for at least one of them to fall asleep. It was great to have a little reading time for myself at the end of the day, and my presence there helped them stay more calm and go to sleep more easily!
It practically eliminated issues with the playing at bedtime and made for a much more pleasant bedtime experience.
(and for what it's worth, I have VERY active children, not those docile little kids that will just lay quietly in bed!)

I don't know if this would work for everyone, but here's what works for my kids. I've told them that if they stay in bed, they can talk softly or sing to each other. But if they get loud or get out of bed, then the one keeping the other one awake gets taken out of the room and has to sleep in our spare bedroom. For whatever reason, they HATE that. They hate being separated. Because they hate it so much, it only takes one time of following through every 6 months or so & having one of them sleep in the other room to keep them pretty well behaved most of the time. Good luck.

i had the same problem. i did different bed times for my kids, about 30 to 45 min apart, and do a routine with each of them so they get their special "me and mommy time"

they are older now and use an alarm clock to get up for school , so i also have them get up at a staggered time (no fights over the bathroom in the morning)

Put the youngest to bed first. Wait about 30 to 45 mins and then quietly walk the older one in. That's what works for me. I have 4 yr and 2 yr old girls. Otherwise they just sit in there and play and giggle. Good Luck and congrats on the new one!

I agree - try putting them down at different times. If that doesn't work, I would go back to the way things were. You have 5 more months until the new baby is here and he/she could sleep in your room for 2-4 months. That would give your other girls (especially the 2.5 yr old) time to mature a bit and then the transition might go smoother 7-9 months down the road.

How about staggering bedtimes or putting the baby with the oldest for a while? For a while I had all 3 in the same room. They will all sleep eventually. Congrats on your new arrival!

My two girls have shared a room since they were also 5 and 2, they are 8 and 5 now. We have had problems with them talking and keeping each other up and night as well, we have tried several things to stop it and now they do really well. The first thing I did was send them to bed a little earlier (7 instead of 7:30) so they could have some time to talk before they had to go to sleep, my older daughter will often read to her sisiter during this time. When they continued to talk beyond the allowed time (after a warning or two) I grounded them from cartoons the next day. When this became less of a deterent, I took all of their toys away and stored them in the basement, they could earn back one toy a day only if they were obedient, did their homework and chores, and didn't talk after 7:30. This worked really well, and they have stayed quiet and not had any trouble with talking late at night since school started last fall. Good luck!

My boys moved into bunk beds in the same room about the same age. As luck would have it the younger was a great sleep who could sleep through anything, ONCE he fell asleep. I just waited til he was out cold, THEN I put the older one to bed. I'd guess the first went down about 8 and the older at 9.

Good Luck!

:)

My boys had to share when they were 3 and 1, for about a year. They giggled and played for soooo long! Finally, we had to put the younger one to bed first. After he zonked out, the other one would go to bed just fine. After a few weeks of this, we could put them together at the same time sometimes, and it wasn't too big of a deal. I don't remember if it ever got to be a regular thing to put them to bed at the same time before we moved and they had separate rooms, but even if it means the older kid gets to stay up half an hour later, that's more sleep than she's getting now!

Hope that works. I'm facing the same dilemma here in the next week or so when they're going to have to share again (and now they're 7 and 4.5)