Pregnant with 2Nd Child Trying to Decide If They Should Sleep in Seperate Rooms

When my second child was born in June we kept the bassinet in our room until he was ready for a crib. My other son was 1 at the time. I still find it hard at times with them both in the same room. The baby never cries, but when the older one goes down for a nap or bed time before the baby, he always wakes the baby up. I would keep the newborn in my room first, and then if you have enough space I would give them their own rooms. When we move, it will have enough rooms for the boys to sleep seperate. If they decide down the road they WANT to share a room, then I will let them with pleasure.
Good luck.
R.

I would keep the baby in your room for a while at first. That way it will help prevent the baby from waking your other (at least SOME). I started a chart to reward my daughter for sleeping in her own bed. Every night she fell asleep in her own bed without mom's assistance, she got a sticker. After about 2 weeks of stickers, I took her to pick out a new blanket, a really nice fuzzy fleece one! Then after that, if she wasn't going to bed like a big girl...she didn't get her big girl blanket. You could try something like that.
K.

I'm a stickler for sleeping in your own room. I never put my kids together unless we were traveling. And, I never put them in with me either. They had their own rooms and they went in there when they came home from the hospital.

If your oldest won't stay in her room, put up a gate. You don't want her up and into things she shouldn't be into. Right now she's coming to you, in a little while, she'll be downstairs watching TV. I gated mine in - we had stairs and I was afraid he'd fall down.

YMMV
LBC

Well my suggestion would be to keep the small baby in your room if you have the room in a bassinet until they can't be but move it to the older baby's room at that time. More so because you don't want to go in the older child's room all the time unless you have to. So I would wait BUT the smaller baby might not be out of night time feeding by the time it has to move. So I would just hold my ground don't let interrupting the older child cause you to RUN in to get the small baby right when it makes a noise. You will end up with a larger prob. than you want. Your older child will get used to it. We are going to be going through the same thing ourselves. My daughter will be in another room but they are next door with paper thin walls. (my daughter is 6yrs old and a girls so i know I'll get alot of talk back but she will just have to deal with it)

I personally would keep my infant in the room with me until she/he was sleeping through the night. For your 16 month old I am sure I am not the one to give advice as my 12 month old is still sleeping in our bed. (We are getting a crib in 2 weeks.) I would maybe take her to the dollar store or something of the sort and show her a 'big girl' toy and tell her if she can be a 'big' girl and sleep in her own bed at night then she will be able to come back and get the 'big girl' toy. Then maybe take a picture of the toy and put it above her bed so she remembers. Just a thought, but then you might have to keep that up after she gets the toy, which may not work.

Keep the baby in your room and tell the 16mo old she cant come into your room cuz she will wake the baby. Put a crib tent over her crib to prevent her from getting out. Im assuming shes still in a crib? If not put a gate up and tell her she cant come out til morning. YOu might have to try taking her back to her room each time she comes into yours. Until she stays on her own. I had to do that finally w/ my 2 and 3 year old. I dreaded it, but it went better than I thought and only took a few nights for them to get the idea.
They can always share a room later.

I would definitely keep the baby in your room until he/she is no longer waking in the night. As for your daughter getting into your bed , if you really want that to stop then you will have to keep putting her back in her crib/bed until she get's the message , yes you will have many tantrums and have to repeat the process over & over a few times for maybe a week or so but it's better to sort it now before the baby arrives as you are going to be tired enough.

Good luck!

Keep them together when you are ready for the youngest to be in a different room. All four of ours shared a room for sleeping and did great. The crying did not wake them only me!

I would not worry too much about your 16mo. coming in. If you want to further encourage her to sleep in her bed then you can go and settle her back in her bed when she comes into yours. This may lead to you falling asleep in her room a few nights. If she is not out of your bed when the baby comes have her lay at the foot of the bed or over by her dad. I would also suggest sleeping with the newborn. You will get so much more sleep and so will everyone else. You can nurse while still laying down. Every bit of rest you can get will be valuable. I have 6 kids and I have found that I get the most sleep by sleeping with the baby and then we avoid the whole waking and crying thing which upsets the whole house. Just relax and enjoy them both as much as possible they are only little once.

I kept all three of mine in our room until they were 4 months old. Then I moved them into a shared room. They like not being alone in a 'BIG' room. They sleep through most everything too.

I think you've answered your own second question. If you don't want two getting up in the middle of the night, you probably want them in two different rooms. Your infant will wake several times for meals and you'll also wake anyway to check on him or her and change the baby, which could wake your 16-month-old if she is a light sleeper. As for helping your 16-month-old stay in her room, I have no suggestions, other than bribery if she can understand that. Make a chart (or ask Dad to do so if you have no energy), and each time she gets through entire night without coming into your room, she can earn a goodie. Then, stretch it out. If she can get through a week without disturbing you, a bigger goodie. A month? Etc. Hopefully, that will help.

I think you should keep your newborn in your room for the first 2-3 months. It'll be easier to feed him/her this way since they will be right there with you and waking up every so often. We are expecting another daughter in May and that's what we are going to do. I also bf so it makes it a whole lot easier. The 2 girls will be sharing a room after about 4-5 months so I also want to make sure that older daughter, who will be 18 months when her little sister is born, will be ready to transition into her twin bed from the crib.