Why, when, and how to transition to toddler room sharing and how to navigate bedtime, naps, and bad nights.
If you’re wondering: Can two toddlers share a room? Why should two toddlers share a room? It When can toddlers room share? How do I transition to my toddlers to share a room? You’ve come to the right place.
Below i’m sharing my experience with having my two toddlers share a room, but this advice can be applied to siblings of almost any age. If you’re wondering can a baby and toddler share a room? Can a toddler and older child room share? This post can help you too!
You might also like these related posts:
- Why to Have Kids Close in Age
- How To Get Your Toddler to Brush Their Teeth
- Best Toddler Learning Toys for 2-Year-Olds
Why Have Siblings Share a Room?
There are many reasons why you may want (or need) to transition your toddlers to room sharing. They might even request it and it may be their own personal preference. Here are some of the main reasons for toddler room sharing:
- Space – you may need your toddlers to room share because you live in a two bedroom house, or perhaps you have more rooms but want to use them for something else like a guest room or office. Our toddlers started room sharing when we moved into a two-bedroom apartment while we were between houses, although it was always my plan to move them together even if we had more space.
- Room Location/Layout – even if space itself is not an issue, the layout of the bedrooms in your home might mean having your toddlers room share is the best option. If your house has only two bedrooms on the main or upper level, you may not want one kid on a level by themselves. Alternatively, maybe you want your kids on a different level than the master bedroom and room sharing is the best way to make this happen.
- Functionality – another reason you might have your toddlers share a room is because it just makes more sense functionally. My boys can share some of their clothes and play with many of the same toys. It makes more sense for us to just have one dresser, one diaper changing area, and one area full of toys and books that they share.
- New Baby – having a new baby is another reason why you may need your toddlers to share a room. Instead of making a new nursery, you may kick your younger child out of the existing nursery (in the nicest way possible) and move them in with an older sibling.
- Ease when Traveling – it was always appealing to have my children share a room so that they will be used to it when we travel. They will get used to sleeping through each other’s noises and not sleeping in dead silence. We tend to get rental houses when traveling and now we are able to get a two-bedroom house or two adjoining hotel rooms and know that everyone will sleep peacefully.
- Building Friendship – a final reason to transition to toddler room sharing is so they can build a stronger bond and friendship. They get to go through their bedtime routine together every night and fall asleep after some giggles. They great each other in the morning and may even be able to provide some comfort after a bad dream.
My experience. My own boys are 16 months apart and I knew from the day I got pregnant with my second, that they would very likely share a room. Our house at the time was a 3 bedroom house, and I wanted to keep a guest room. Functionally, I knew it would be easier to keep all of our toys and clothes in one room instead of separating them out. Also, I was so excited for them to bond and build the friendship that comes with sharing a room.
When to Transition to Room Sharing?
There are a few options when it comes to the timeline for transitioning your toddlers to room sharing. There really isn’t a right or wrong time for siblings to start sharing a room, but there are some times where it might be a little easier for the transition!
- From The Start. While this is the most difficult option, it is most certainly possible. If you are short on space this may be your only option. One con of this option of course would be the possibility of waking your older child when feeding and changing your newborn overnight. Difficult, but possible! You may actually be surprised how much both of your kids learn to sleep through.
- Once Sleeping Through The Night. Another option for deciding when to room share would be waiting until your younger child is sleeping through the night. This can be anywhere from about 2–18 months (or more) depending on your preference to sleep train or not and your baby’s temperament. Waiting until your younger child sleeps through the night will make the transition a little easier on your older child since they won’t get woken up so many times during the night.
- When On The Same Schedule. The easiest option when transitioning siblings to sharing a room is to make the move once they are both on the same (or very similar schedule). We waited to transition my toddlers to room sharing until my younger son moved to 1 nap. My older toddler also still takes a nap (although it is in a different room; more on that coming up), and their wake and bedtimes are pretty similar. Having them on the same schedule helps a ton when room sharing.
- During Other Transitions. If your youngest baby started out in a separate room, is sleeping through the night already, and both your children are already on the same schedule, you might wait until another transition and ‘kill two birds with one stone’. Maybe you have a new baby on the way and need to move your younger child out of the nursery. Maybe you are moving and want them to share a room after your move. Or maybe you are making another big change like redecorating or potty training. Making the move to room sharing during another big transition might help make the process a little smoother.
My experience. I transitioned my toddlers to room sharing when the youngest was just over a year and my oldest was almost 2.5. I had originally planned on moving them in together when my youngest was on the same schedule as my oldest, which happened to be around 11 months old. Since we were moving shortly after that, we just planned the transition to overlap with our move to the new house. It worked out great!
Preparing Siblings for Room Sharing
Once you have a game plan for when you are going to transition to toddler room sharing, the next step is to prepare your toddler(s) for sharing a room.
If your younger toddler is less than 18 months, there probably isn’t much needed for preparing them for the move. They likely won’t really understand or fully grasp what you are saying (but, you can always try!). However, for older toddlers it’s a good ideas to talk about room sharing before it happens.
Some talking points to prepare for room sharing:
- Talk about what room they will be moving to or about how their sibling will be moving into their room soon.
- Discuss how the room will be arranged to accomodate two cribs or two beds.
- Talk through expectations on how they are to behave when going to bed or waking up in the morning.
- Go through what they should do if the other wakes up in the middle of the night or is crying/making too much noise.
- Discuss how their favorite toys, decoration, books, or stuffed animals will be making the move and where their new home will be.
- Talk about the timeline of the move and start the discussion about 1-4 weeks before the big day (depending on your toddler’s age, personality, and understanding).
My experience. My youngest was 1 year old when we moved to room sharing; he was too young to understand so we didn’t discuss much with him. My oldest was almost 2.5 so we did prepare him for the transition to room sharing. We asked him if he wanted to share a room with his brother which he excitedly squealed ‘yes‘ every time. We were planning a move to a new house at the time, so we talked with him for a few weeks about how he was getting a new room soon and he would be sharing it with his brother.
How to Set Up a Room for Room Sharing
Room set up may vary depending on the size and shape of your room. I transitioned with two cribs, so I will write from that perspective, but the advice can apply to two beds or a crib and bed as well.
Place the cribs far away from each other. The best way to set up cribs to ensure the most amount of sleep is to put them as far apart as possible. This way noises and crying from one toddler are less likely to wake the other up. You will actually be very surprised what toddler’s can sleep through (toddlers have been known to sleep through fire alarms!).
Use a sound machine. It’s also a good idea to put a sound machine or white noise machine in between their cribs to further help drown out noises that might wake them. Our favorite sound machine is the Hatch Baby Rest. We have this and use it for every nap and night-time sleep.
I like the Hatch Baby Rest because its a sound machine and okay-to-wake clock in one. You can control the volume and sound from an app on your phone; if you decide to watch a loud movie or if one toddler is crying you can turn up the volume remotely.
Additionally, the okay-to-wake clock is also a genius way to get your toddler to stay in bed in the morning! Let them pick out their favorite color and teach them that they can’t get up until the clock turns or or changes color.
Tips for Bedtime When Room Sharing
Now that you decided to transition to toddler room sharing and have the room set up, the next step is getting them down for bed in their newly shared room. Here are some tips for your bedtime routine with two toddlers in the same room.
Keep their bedtime routines consistent. If you did a certain bedtime routine when they weren’t sharing rooms, try to keep it the same as possible so your toddlers know its time for bed. A simple bedtime routine might be to take a bath, get on pjs, brush their teeth, read a book, turn on the sound machine, get into their sleep sack and then say a quick good night.
Stagger bedtime. If you put your toddlers down at the same time they might have a little party instead of going to sleep. I normally put my younger toddler down and then have a little one-on-one time with my older toddler. Once my one-year-old is fast asleep (15-20 mins) then I quietly walk in my older toddler and put him to bed.
Don’t worry about some fussing. You will be very surprised what kids can sleep through, especially with a sound machine. At first I was very stressed if my two-year-old chatted while falling asleep, since I thought he might wake up his brother. They very rarely wake each other up and if they do they quickly go back to sleep.
Tips for Naps When Room Sharing
If your toddlers still nap or do quiet time here are some tips for naps once they start room sharing.
Keep their nap time routine consistent. Like bedtime, try and keep their nap time routine consistent to what you were doing before they started sharing a room.
Use separate rooms for naps or quiet time. While my toddlers share a room for night time sleep, they take their naps in different rooms. If your older toddler does quiet time instead of a nap, it would also be a good idea to have them do this in different rooms.
There just isn’t enough sleep pressure during nap time to have them fall asleep in the same room. Additionally, my 2 year old normally takes a shorter nap than my 1 year old so I don’t want him to wake up his younger brother when he still needs sleep.
Move one child to a pack ‘n play or another bed. Since both of my toddlers are still in cribs, we have a Pack ‘n Play travel crib set up in our master closet. I chose to move my oldest since he doesn’t require as much sleep and I want to prioritize my 1-year-old’s nap. Another option if your older toddler is in a bed is to have him nap or do quiet time in a guest bed or your bedroom.
Navigating Bad Nights and Sickness
You’ve moved your toddlers to the same room and everything is going great. You have nailed down staggering their bedtimes and move one to a separate rooms for naps. But what happens for the occasional bad night due to teething, over-tiredness, regression, or sickness?
Don’t Panic! You will be very surprised how much your toddlers can sleep through. If one has a bad night with multiple wake-ups, your other toddler may sleep through it completely. Talk through expectations with your toddlers and let them know if they wake up to cries, they can roll over and go back to sleep.
Have a back-up plan. Since your toddlers don’t nap in the same room, you can use that pack ‘n play or guest bed to your advantage during a bad night. If one of my toddlers is sick or in the throws of teething, I may separate them to start the night by having one in the pack ‘n play. Or at the very least I know the option is there to move them in the middle of the night if needed.
Give yourself (and your toddlers) grace. There are bound to be bad nights, whether your toddlers are sharing a room or not. Give yourself and your toddlers grace and know that its only one bad night! You can do early or longer naps the next day or an early bedtime. If time allows, try to sneak in a nap yourself or grab an extra coffee or sweet treat while out running errands.
Thanks for stopping by!
