It’s time to let our daughters bond a little bit more, because they just became roommates. After countless sleepless nights for the Rabbit clan, we kicked the youngest out of our room (figuratively, of course). I have absolutely nothing against co-sleeping, but when I’m sleeping I like to sleep and not worry about rolling over my baby or having to put my boob in her mouth so she can calm herself back to dreamland. Plus, she likes to snuggle up against me, which is adorable except when she snuggles so close that I’m hanging off the bed half the night.
Basically, I’m selfish and want my sleep back.
Bunny (2.5 years) and BunBun (6 months) get along excellent during the day, and the few times they’ve already shared a room (while on vacations) it’s gone much better than expected. So we decided to just go for it!
They’ve been bunk-mates for a couple months and it’s going way better than I expected. I was mostly worried that the little one (BunBun) would wake up the toddler (Bunny) since BunBun still wakes up to eat a couple times a night, but so far it hasn’t been an issue. When she wakes up crying, 90% of the time Bunny sleeps right through it. I have no idea how she does it, but rock on, girl!
One other worry I had/have was how to sleep train BunBun. I definitely don’t want her to cry it out, and I’m sure her older sister thanks us for that, but I don’t know how to get her to sleep through the night. We used a modified version of the Ferber Method with Bunny, and it worked, but it required us to go in and soothe her at different intervals. I can only imagine how irritating that would be for the person sleeping next to you. All I can think of is that it may be worth a few really sleepless and bad nights for everyone until BunBun figures out how to sleep through the night?
On top of moving the girls in together, we also transitioned Bunny to a “big girl bed.” I was nervous about this change since she was completely content in her crib, but we needed the crib for BunBun. Luckily, the transition was fantastic. Bunny was ridiculously excited about her new bed; we really built up the idea for a few days before the big night. Plus, she helped Mister Rabbit build the bed, and then we went out shopping for her new bedding.
I was also worried about how we’d logistically actually put them down for the night. We had their own separate routines, but I didn’t know how we’d do for both of them at once, and in the same room.
Here’s their bedtime routine now:
6:30/6:45 pm
– I change BunBun and get her into her jammies and a night-time diaper.
– Bunny and Mister Rabbit stay in the other room playing and picking up toys.
6:45/7 pm
– I nurse BunBun and put her down in her room. She’s typically in her crib and asleep by 7 pm.
– Bunny brushes her teeth, gets into her night-time diaper and her jammies, and Mister Rabbit reads stories and sings songs in the other room. Then they, very quietly (they make it a game) get Bunny into her bed.
I seriously never thought it would be that easy. Some days it is, and other days our schedule shifts by 30 minutes or so, but usually BunBun is not a happy baby if she’s not in bed by 7 pm. (Her last nap is around 3 pm, so she’s more than ready for sleep come bedtime.) We’re more flexible with Bunny, but I really like to stick as close to 7 pm as I can. I know that time may seem early to some people, but it allows us to relax at night, and lets Bunny wind down in her room; she’ll typically talk while she’s in her bed (to herself and to BunBun if she’s not asleep) for about an hour or so, before she falls asleep.
To be honest, most nights BunBun ends up in our bed. After her last feeding (around 3:30 or 4:30 am), I’m too sleepy to function, so I pick her up and take her to our room where I’ll nurse her in bed. But on the off chance that I put her back in her own crib, she and Bunny will usually wake up in the morning and just talk and giggle with each other. It’s the best!
I was really nervous about the whole ordeal, but so far it’s gone way better than I ever could have imagined. I’m happy they’re learning how to literally live with each other, and I’m excited for the months and years to come!
Are your kids roommates? I’d love to hear how their transition went, and how it’s going now!
guest
Oh my gosh. Please tell me more about how you did this! We have LO 2 (whose 5 months) in his crib in our room and we (ahem, I) am terrified of moving him into his sister’s room (she’s 2.5 and still in her crib). LO 2 is still up at least 2x in the middle of the night to eat and I’m afraid it’ll wake LO 1 up. I’m more afraid of the ‘if he wakes up at 5 am’ it’ll wake her up (but then I’d bring him into our room…). DH wants to kick LO 2 out of our room next week and I’m afraid too — I know that I’ll sleep better without him in our room and it’ll give me the chance to respond to him a little slower. I’m just so afraid that it’ll wake up the older one…
blogger / clementine / 750 posts
@mamah (I hope you come back and see this!!) I was definitely in the same boat that you’re in now, and all I can say is that we just ripped off the band-aid and went for it. I’m seriously surprised every time I walk into their room and see my toddler still sleeping through her crying, but she does! And you’re right—you’ll respond to him a little slower. Unless the baby’s sitting up and wide awake, I typically don’t go in right away, and I’ll wait and see if she’ll fall back asleep. Before we got her big girl bed, for like a week the toddler stayed in her crib, and the baby slept in the pack n’ play, then we transitioned after about a week into the whole thing. You can do it!!
wonderful olive / 19353 posts
“…he likes to snuggle up against me, which is adorable except when she snuggles so close that I’m hanging off the bed half the night.” This!! This is the one of the things I hate about co-sleeping! I love waking up next to his smiling face and his cuddles and his random requests for hugs upon wake up, but man! The nights are rough.
Glad the girls sharing a room has been going great; and that Bunny sleeps through BunBun’s cries!
grapefruit / 4923 posts
Thank you so much for posting this! We have a 2.5 year old and a 6 week old. At some point they are going to share a room and it is great to hear about other people’s experiences. Did you talk to your eldest about sharing a room beforehand?
blogger / clementine / 750 posts
@edelweiss: We did! We really built it up about a week or so before we did it, when we were still thinking about it. She’s all about being the “big” sister these days, so we played on that. She was super excited, which helped a lot. We also told her (and continue to tell her), that she can’t get out of bed, and has to stay in bed until we come and get her.
guest
We originally thought we would transition our crib into a toddler bed but now that I’ve seen your big girl bed, I’m thinking differently. Where did you find the bed for Bunny?
blogger / clementine / 750 posts
@Kim, in case you see this (I could’ve sworn I included it, but I don’t think I did), we got the Orbelle Toddler bed: http://www.amazon.com/Orbelle-3-6T-Toddler-Bed-Espresso/dp/B0031AO1OW/ref=sr_1_2?&rps=1&ie=UTF8&qid=1440373400&sr=8-2&keywords=toddler+bed&th=1