Tips for Toddler and Baby Sharing a Room

Do you have a small space? Do you only have a certain amount of rooms in your home? Whatever the case may be, here are my lessons learned and tips for toddler and baby sharing a room.

For my family we rent a 2 bedroom home, so we had no choice but for our daughters to share a room when I found out I was pregnant.

This meant my then toddler, now a preschooler, and my baby (now a toddler herself) had to share a room.

I dreaded it.

I freaked out thinking my oldest wouldn’t stay in her bed, that she wouldn’t nap anymore, or that she would wake the baby and we all know how that goes.

For the first few months of my baby’s life, she was in a bassinet in our room so I didn’t have to worry much, but I knew that would only be short lived.

I looked at so many different options and room dividers to try and keep them separated, mainly for noise.

My oldest was 3 and my baby was 6month old when they started room sharing.

They are now (almost) 5 and 2.5 years old. So for the past 2 plus years this has worked for us.

I won’t lie to you though, it was HARD in the beginning. But as I have made my way through the ups and downs of my toddler and baby sharing a room, I have some tips to share!

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Consistency is KEY!

This is probably thee most important tip I can give you. Be consistent. It will help so much in the long run, I promise!

You may want to just pull the baby back in your room because your toddler won’t stop playing and yelling and ends up keeping them both up…DON’T!

You may want to pull your toddler out of the room and make them sleep elsewhere…DON’T!

You may want to pull your hair out because you have had many sleepless nights and just want everyone to sleep….DON’T (but by all means have that extra glass of wine at night mama!)

My point here is, be consistent. Once you have made the decision to have your kids share a room, stick with it.

Unless there are serious issues arising then by all means go a different route, but lack of sleep for a few nights is not worth it the long run if you want to have them keep sharing.

Because one, you are teaching your child that they will get their way if they yell and scream and wake the baby.

Plus chances are, your baby is used to the noise from being in the womb and will learn to sleep through it.

Establish a Routine, Together

This helped both my kids learn what was about to happen. Once I decided to chug along in the room sharing adventure, (granted I didn’t really have a choice because I refused to let the baby sleep in our room any longer because it wasn’t helping anyone, including baby) then I decided everyone needed a routine.

Now you might have a bedtime routine in place, but my suggestion is in the beginning have both of them go to bed at the same time.

Don’t try and sneak baby in after toddler falls asleep or vis versa.

Because in the middle of the night if they wake up, they will be confused.

Try putting them to bed at the same time. This will let them both understand that the other is in the room and that it is bedtime.

Read to them, sing both of them a song, gives hugs and kisses and close the door. Establishing a routine is key for both kids to learn and know what is about to happen and may cause less fighting and issues down the road.

Noise Machines

Invest in a good one. This is key. This will help drown out not only noise from the outside or rest of the house, but it will help drown out the noise of the sibling.

I had put this noise maker on the dresser right by my youngest crib, so it was closest to her and it would drown out her sister playing with her stuffed animals and singing to herself.

Okay to Wake Clock

Now for waking up, my toddler has always been an early riser even still to this day she wakes up around 6am every morning.

But my baby was always one that could sleep in, usually until around 7am.

But once they shared a room that became an issue because my oldest would wake up my youngest getting up too early.

So, I decided to get one of these Okay to Wake clocks. I did a full review here on how it helped in detail.

But basically it glows green when it is okay to get up and get out of the room. Definitely helped with the waking up too early.

Take a Deep Breath & Stay Away

As a mom, you want to make sure everyone is getting good sleep so you can sleep right?

So you may feel inclined to keep going in the room to tell you kids to stop playing or stop being so loud, etc.

Instead of going in the room every 5 minutes, because that just starts the cycle all over again, just let them be.

Let them play. Let them laugh, giggle, and talk to each other without you interrupting. They will eventually wear themselves out and fall asleep, I promise.

To this day my kids still throw stuffed animals back and forth to each other “trading” and talk and sing to one another before my youngest finally falls asleep and shortly after her sister does as well.

So just take a breath, put the tv a bit louder, pour a glass of wine or whatever and just relax. They will fall asleep and this will help them LEARN to be together and share a room together.

Sometimes, we have to just let the kids figure it out themselves. They will be okay I promise.

They may have bad nights where they are up later than you would like but that’s all part of it. Just be consistent and don’t go in there unless there is blood curdling screaming happening.

Some people I’ve talked to that grew up sharing a room with their sibling loved those memories they made playing together before bed or just talking about their day.

They said it helped with their bond and to create those memories of just the two (or three) or them!

Hopefully these tips and items mentioned help you on your toddler and baby sharing a room journey! Leave a comment below how old your kiddos are if they are room sharing or at what age you started room sharing.