Moving three kids in one room - tips, please

My due date is in a few weeks, and we will need to move all our three boys (ages 9,4, and 2.5) into one room that the older two already share now.
I am beside myself with worries as to how they will all sleep (especially, hoping that younger two will let their oldest brother sleep). They are both early risers, but the oldest is in school and needs sleep.
The middle one has a tendency of waking up at night at least once to come to me and have him tucked back in. THe youngest always slept by himself in the nursery in the crib, but will be with two brothers AND in toddler bed.
I am so scared of all these adjustments, sigh....
Any tips on making it smoother?
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Gold Member Joined: Dec 24 2009 Posts: 2433

Take the youngest to the store and have him pick out "BIG BOY SHEETS". Let him pick whatever he wants and start with naps and then move to sleeping there at night.

Offer rewards for staying in his bed, etc..
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Platinum Member Joined: Mar 24 2008 Posts: 6528

My 3 dc share a room. But they are closer in age then yours so that may make it easier for me. I think just prepare yourself that the first week or 2 will be hard, but they will learn to sleep through each other and adjust. I love listening in on my kids in their room, it is so cute to hear them interacting.
Teach the earlier risers to leave the room quietly and play without waking others (if they are old enough to do so)
Can you put at least 2 to sleep at the same time (like 2.5 and 4). this way there are just 2 going to sleep shifts.
Prepare what the later to sleepers will need outside the room before the others go to sleep this way there will not be too much in and out.

I don't know if this would work with your kids but my 4 year old was getting up too earlyl and needed his sleep so I got a visual alarm clock and he had to stay in bed and try to rest until it indicated wake up time. This way we all got more sleep. I gave incentives in the beginning for listening and now he just listens. Even my second at 2.5 understood how it worked and wouldn't call me until it changed.

Moderator Joined: Mar 29 2005 Posts: 18276

Is your oldest particularly a light sleeper? I have 3 kids sharing a room (ok, last night, 3 kids slept in my room, but whatever) and wake ups are not a problem.

Today: my baby woke up. I put her on the bed with me. A few minutes later, my toddler woke up with a big smile on her face because she saw the baby. I had to wake up my son who was still sleeping an hour later.

My other son also sleeps in if he needs to even if his younger siblings have woken up.

I didn't see it as much of a big deal...

We always go in and out of their room to help kids go back to sleep, bring a training kid to the bathroom, pick out clothes for the next day, get the ironing board...I guess we started with the impression that we're not tiptoeing around our sleeping kids, and it has proven to make no difference how many kids are sharing the room.
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Posted: Fri, Dec 10 2010, 1:58 am Post subject:

We also have 3 in a room, and theysleep through each other's stuff pretty well. I wouldn't worry about it so much. It will take them a couple of weeks to get used to each other, and then things will settle out.

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Diamond Member Joined: Feb 27 2006 Posts: 2712

My 13, 12 and 4 year olds share a room. We haven't had any issues with the little one waking the older ones or vice versa. The older girls just know to be quiet when she is sleeping and the little one never wakes her sisters up. If they all go to bed at the same time, the older girls will even read her a story. My 2 year old was in the room with the older girls for a while until we switched the arrangements a bit. Never had a problem with her in there with the older ones either. Even if she would wake up in the middle of the night, the older ones slept right through!

Would it not make more sense to let the 9 year old have his own room and let the 4yo, 2yo and baby share? That way he gets some privacy to do schoolwork etc and isn't disturbed by the younger kids in the morning.
I would also start staggering the bedtimes of the 4yo and 2yo, since they're the once who are likely to give you trouble at bedtime if they are together.

I don't see the big deal. I have a 7.5 and a 6 y.o. sleeping in one room and expecting #3 in a few months. They already know the baby will be joining them, that they'll need to do some adjustments re-space (like sorting which toys we're moving out so we have space for the baby's things) and re- noise.
They know the baby will cry at night, and I told them that when they were baby they woke up from each other for a week or so and then just stopped hearing each other.... they both still tend to wake up once a night every so often (but come to us quietly and go back to their beds quietly too), they are both early risers but I've taught them to play quietly/read if one is awake before the other one....
In my opinion, if you don't make an issue of it, it more often than not turn out not to be an issue. Smile

Executive Member Joined: Dec 01 2009 Posts: 443

sky - please could u post a link of the visual alarm clock u have. does it help a child who does not know how to tell the time yet?

Our idea is to move the oldest with the youngest (oldest is OK with it) in a few months, once the baby drops night feeding. Thus, 4 and 2 y.o. will remain in the same room. For the oldest, we decided to create his study room over the upcoming summer in the basement area (get him a good table, chair, lamp, shelves, etc - kinda his school office to study and unwind), but sleep with the rest of the family upstairs...

Moderator Joined: Mar 29 2005 Posts: 18276

Visual alarm clocks for kids. I don't own any, so I can't recommend one over another.

http://www.amazon.com/Its-Abou.....amp;sr=8-1
http://www.amazon.com/Wake-Chi.....amp;sr=8-2
http://www.amazon.com/BabyZoo-.....amp;sr=8-3
http://www.amazon.com/My-Tot-C.....amp;sr=8-4

Executive Member Joined: Dec 01 2009 Posts: 443

Thanks so much HY - those are adorable. I am considering the idea...
(just saw your post now)

Platinum Member Joined: Mar 24 2008 Posts: 6528

What HY posted is the similar to mine:
http://www.goodnitelite.com/

It works most days. This week it hasn't. I wanted something very visual for my kids, and less features. But there are some very neat products out there for this purpose. the negative with this one is that its a pain to program and it plugs into the wall, meaning the kids can pull it out in the morining and then it has to be reprogrammed. It would be better if it could be placed on a dresser out of reach.

update...
Kids slept their first night together 10 days ago. It is not as bad as I feared, but.....the youngest is still having trouble falling asleep (in crib, he was out by 6:30-7) and sometimes is still up at 9 PM (while other two are already asleep). However, in the morning they still wake up early (around 6). So, his overall amount of sleep got slashed. He naps in daycare but only little.

I was wondering how long can I expect him to get "adjusted" to this new arrangement?