3 bedrooms, 4 kids, where to put toddler?

amother

Wed, Nov 25 2020, 11:04 am

I have a three bedroom house and 4 kids. My youngest is 17 months. He stayed in my room until he was 13 months. I moved him to my 8 yr old sons room and my son was thrilled. Problem is that my baby wakes up at around 6am. He chirps and plays in crib but it wakes up my son who then brings him to me and he is very grouchy and cant fall back asleep. My 8 yr old should be sleeping till around 7am so I moved my baby to my girls room.

My girls were so excited to have him in their room. My 4 year old can sleep through anything and many mornings anyway at around 5 am comes to my bed. This morning a little past 6 my 6 year old daughter brought my baby to me and that began our morning!!

My baby really needs his own room. Where am I supposed to put him? The only thing I can think of is to put him back in my room and buy a mechitza kind of thing and put his crib behind that so he won't see me in the morning.

amother

Gray

Wed, Nov 25 2020, 11:42 am

mizle10 wrote:

Can your 6 year old sleep with your 8 year old? And then the baby and deep sleeper 4 year old in the other room.

8= DS, 6=DD per her OP.
I would not do that at this point. If it was 2&4, I would and I might have or have not just left them for 4 or 5 years, I don't know, but to start now is weird.
I am MO.

mizle10

Wed, Nov 25 2020, 11:45 am

amother [ Gray ] wrote:

8= DS, 6=DD per her OP.
I would not do that at this point. If it was 2&4, I would and I might have or have not just left them for 4 or 5 years, I don't know, but to start now is weird.
I am MO.

Really?! You wouldn’t put a 8 year old son with a 6 year old daughter??
I would have no problem with that at all. And by the time her son is a little bit older hopefully her toddler will be sleeping better and she can rearrange.

amother

Wed, Nov 25 2020, 11:47 am

amother [ Gray ] wrote:

8= DS, 6=DD per her OP.
I would not do that at this point. If it was 2&4, I would and I might have or have not just left them for 4 or 5 years, I don't know, but to start now is weird.
I am MO.

I would not put them together now. These rooms have been their rooms for a while. All their favorite stuff have places, I am not switching things around now.

A white noise machine is a good idea but I really hate creating crutches. I know people that whenever they travel they must bring a noise machine or their kids wont sleep. I don't want to create the habit for my kids.

Rappel

Wed, Nov 25 2020, 11:53 am

Hashem_n_Farfel wrote:

Wait. Opposite gender siblings can’t sleep in the same room? 😳😱

Of course they can. But it's usual to separate them around impending puberty - somewhere between 9 and 12 years old - so they can have more privacy. If you don't have a lot of bedrooms, then when the oldest is heading toward puberty people usually separate the siblings along gender lines, to make things easier.

OPs kids are already in separate rooms, and one is almost 9, so why bother mixing things around if they're just going to get mixed again in a year or three? A white noise machine is simpler.

Rappel

Wed, Nov 25 2020, 11:55 am

amother [ OP ] wrote:

I hear you. But since your immediate issue is not that your children can't sleep, but that they can't sleep around a chatty toddler, I think a temporary solution like a white noise machine is a good one.

amother

Teal

Wed, Nov 25 2020, 11:56 am

amother [ OP ] wrote:

I hear you. I teach my babies to sleep in noise from Birth and BH no one wakes anyone Here despite blood curdling screams. But that’s not going on in your house. I don’t think putting your toddler in your bed is sustainable as he gets older and smarter. But only you know what’s best for your family

amother

Wed, Nov 25 2020, 12:02 pm

amother [ Teal ] wrote:

I actually just thought of a really good idea. My husband gets up at around 5 am. I can buy a noise machine and have my husband turn it on when he wakes up. This way my son will not get used to sleeping at night with it but it will be on the morning when my toddler starts chirping. Thanks for your suggestions everyone!!

Tzutzie

Wed, Nov 25 2020, 12:16 pm

amother [ OP ] wrote:

I resisted using a noise machine for exactly this reason. Then I just gave in and bought one. 3 years in, and it's been a lifesaver! My 18mo has been sleeping with one since birth.
Unless we go to a very noise place we do nit take along the noise machine when we go away. And its been ok. At one time the noise machine broke and till we got another one they slept fine. But I still got one so I have more freedom at night to create noise (think bosch / braun machine. Chatting on phone) We live in a smallish 4 bedroom bilevel highranch.

amother

Turquoise

Wed, Nov 25 2020, 12:19 pm

Fyi, when you travel, you don't need to bring a machine. Plug your phone or a tablet in,and use a white noise app or put on a white noise YouTube video.

Also, I don't know about you, but my toddlers tend to sleep so badly when away that they end up with me.

amother

Orchid

Wed, Nov 25 2020, 12:24 pm

My kids use a sound machine for this reason- not to be woken by the toddler. If we travel and they aren't sleeping with the toddler they don't need it at all. It's not a crutch. The sound machine will most likely wake people up if it's turned on at 5 am so I can't see that working. It has to be fairly loud to be effective, so turning it on or off while anyone is sleeping, especially close to morning, will probably wake them. I don't know what it means to train kids to sleep with noise. Either they will sleep, or they won't sleep. How many months or years of being woken up should I subject my kids to in order to train them in this? It's a nature that not everyone has.

mha3484

Wed, Nov 25 2020, 12:26 pm

I would keep the rooms the way they are but I would proactivly take the toddler out of the room when they wake up before it can wake up the older child. Its a pain to get up so early if you dont need to but I find that the quiet time is actually kind of nice.

amother

Amber

Wed, Nov 25 2020, 12:34 pm

Reading threads like this I thank G-d every day for giving me twins my first time around. None of my kids ever had their own room and at one point I had four kids in one room, including one who was and still is a light sleeper. This was never a problem because they shared a room from Day 1 and from Day 1 had to adapt to the presence of others.

mizle10

Wed, Nov 25 2020, 12:50 pm

Rappel wrote:

Maybe my kids are late bloomers, but to me an 8 year old boy is really little. And it wouldn’t be for a few years, only until the toddler is sleeping better and can be switched back with the girls.

SixOfWands

Wed, Nov 25 2020, 12:50 pm

amother [ OP ] wrote:

If your husband is up at 5, why doesn't he just bring the toddler to your room before he leaves.

banana123

Wed, Nov 25 2020, 1:03 pm

I would put the 6yo and 8yo together, and have the 4yo share with the toddler, until he stops waking up so early/ in the middle of the night. Alternatively, move the toddler back into your bedroom.