Transitioning Siblings Into Room-Sharing

Transitioning Siblings Into Room-Sharing

Many families find it helpful and/or necessary to have their children sleep in the same room. It can be a wonderful set-up and create great memories for the children, not to mention giving them each a little extra dose of comfort knowing they are not alone.


However, this is a big transition, and depending on the ages of your children, can come with some challenges in the beginning.


There is no perfect time to make this transition. If you are sleep training one of your children, I would recommend waiting to make the transition until they both are able to mainly sleep through the night with little to no protesting.


Here are some extra tips for making this transition to room-sharing as smooth as possible.

• Arrange their room so the older sibling is on the far side of the room and the baby’s crib is near the door for easier in and out for middle-of-the-night feeding.
• Depending on the children’s age and schedules, staggering their bedtimes is helpful. Most likely, the infant is going to bed earlier than the older child (unless the older child has already dropped their nap). The infant should be asleep within about 15 minutes, leaving you extra time for stories and snuggles either in the bedroom or elsewhere.
• Make a plan to respond to baby if needed in the night, but avoid falling into the trap of responding too quickly often due to the fear of waking up the older sibling. You may need to have a brief conversation with the older sibling to warn them of some sounds in the night along with some quick reassurance when you go into their room in the night.  Many older kids will actually sleep through their infant siblings.
• Offering a brief check-in with your older child after responding to the baby in the middle of the night can be helpful, especially if he stays lying down and calm during the disruption (praise him for laying so nicely).

In most cases, moving siblings into the same room takes time for them to adjust to each other – at least a week or more.  You can expect some excitement and disruption; maybe the older sibling is checking on the infant in their crib, etc. After the change and excitement wear off, things should settle down.