Help Me Switch From Separate Rooms To Shared!

Does anyone have any help/tips/advice or stories about moving their kiddos into a shared room? Our twins are almost 18 months and have been in separate rooms since they were six months old. For space constraint reasons, we need to move them together. Jake is sick of sleeping in the bathroom! :blush:
One is a deep sleeper and the other is a light sleeper. I do have two cribs and they are across the room from eachother.
I'm SO nervous about doing this. I'm afraid we'll be up all night long and awake really early in the morning. I think we're going to try for tonight being the big switch.
I would really appreciate any comments anyone can give. Especially BTDT stories. Thanks in advance! :hug99:

 

Michelle, just jump in with both feet. I will tell you that you can expect talking and playing. But they will eventually go to sleep!! Good luck!!

 

No help here, but I'm hoping to do the same thing soon. We'd really like to have our guest room back . . .

Someone out there is bound to have useful information for us!

-Rachel

 

We made the switch about 9 months ago with our girls. The first few nights were a little tough. They wanted to talk and play, but we knew they would and just kept reminding them it was bed time they can talk again tomorrow, not every time they talked but often enough as a reminder. We have kept up a routine also, brush teeth, books, drink then singing every night and I think that has helped. Its gotten better after the newness wore off of having their sister in the room with them. Now its farely easy to get them too sleep without alot of talking. There are still nights when we will be up with them because they want to talk, but I did the same thing with my sisters and brother when we shared rooms. Good luck I hope it goes smoothly for you.

 

:8714bumper:

Sorry, no advice...we're in the same boat of wanting to put them back together but are too afraid to try it! Will be following hoping you get some good responses.

 

My story is a little different but maybe it will help....

When we moved here last summer, Aaron had just turned 2 and the twins had just turned 1. The twins were used to being together (in our master BR no less!) and Aaron had been alone. We decided we wanted all the cribs in one room so we set them up that first night. I think they were so tired from the drive that they hardly made any noise and went right to sleep. They are still all together and some nights take longer than others for them to fall asleep since they are playing and sometimes they wake a bit early because one woke and starts talking too loud. One thing that I think really helped is that they were already used to me not coming in for any reason unless TOTALLY necessary. They already knew that talking or fussing during the night wasn't going to change anything. I say just go for it and see what happens! I was nervous but didn't need to be.

 

Michelle,
Did you go for it? Are the twins in the same room again? How's it going?

I too have been wanting to put our twins back together in the same room, but my anxiety and their being sick with colds has postponed it. I am thinking of doing it tonight though. What I was going to do is use the Sleep Lady Shuffle (from "Good Night, Sleep Tight" book by Kim West). Basically, I already moved my "bad" sleeper back into the nursery and went through the Shuffle while the "good" sleeper was in our room. Well, let me be another advocate for the Sleep Lady :banana: ... it went much better than I thought. The first couple of days were hard, but then it was great! He barely cried after day 3.
Now, the "good" sleeper has not been such a good sleeper in our room. So, the last 2 nights, I started the Shuffle with him. But, I'm thinking, if I'm going to do it, then I should do it with them back together. So, if we get a chance to move the cribs back in the same room today, then we're going for it tonight (fingers crossed!). I'll let you know.

 

I'm thinking about doing the opposite....they have always shared a room but they are keeping eachother up at night so now I'm thinking about switching them to seperate bedrooms. I really didn't want to until their big beds. I think it just depends on your kiddos. Good Luck. If I was you I'd just do it and see how it goes.

 

QUOTE(BoysInTheHouse @ Apr 8 2007, 11:13 AM) [snapback]210527[/snapback]
Michelle,
Did you go for it? Are the twins in the same room again? How's it going?

I too have been wanting to put our twins back together in the same room, but my anxiety and their being sick with colds has postponed it. I am thinking of doing it tonight though. What I was going to do is use the Sleep Lady Shuffle (from "Good Night, Sleep Tight" book by Kim West). Basically, I already moved my "bad" sleeper back into the nursery and went through the Shuffle while the "good" sleeper was in our room. Well, let me be another advocate for the Sleep Lady :banana: ... it went much better than I thought. The first couple of days were hard, but then it was great! He barely cried after day 3.
Now, the "good" sleeper has not been such a good sleeper in our room. So, the last 2 nights, I started the Shuffle with him. But, I'm thinking, if I'm going to do it, then I should do it with them back together. So, if we get a chance to move the cribs back in the same room today, then we're going for it tonight (fingers crossed!). I'll let you know.


Yep, we did it!
We didn't try it Friday night like I hoped because we ended up having company over and I didn't want to deal with it with others here, so we tried it Saturday night. It didn't go that great, but it wasn't horrible either. They talked for about an hour and so they were tired the next day. Plus, in Jake's crib I didn't have a bumper up so his blankie and pacis kept falling out and he cried when he wanted them back. Last night we had the bumper in and it worked much better.
They did wake slightly earlier than normal this morning, but I think once they get used to eachother that won't be such a problem either.
Right now they are napping together for the first time. They talked for ahwile, and amazingly Mia, my light sleeper, slept through some of Jake's crying when his pacis were dropped AGAIN. I didn't think that would happen for awhile.
I think the only "issue" we may be having is Jake adjusting to a new crib. He has always slept well in different places but he has always been in the same pack-n-play. Now he has a completely new room with a completely new crib.
All in all, it is going well and I think it will only be a couple more nights before things go very smoothly. I am so glad I finally did it and encourage you to do so too! Let me know what happens with you too!
Now if I could only get the baby to sleep through....

 

Good for you! We did it too! On Sunday we got the other crib in. We started a little late and it took longer than expected, so we started the bedtime routine later than usual. So, they were tired. But they got so excited when they saw each other in the same room. They took at least 20 minutes to play hide-and-seek between the bars and "talk" and giggle with each other. It was soo cute at first, but of course that wore off when they weren't asleep half an hour later. They were so exhausted jumping up and down and walking around their cribs that they each hit their head once (luckily not too badly that I had to intervene). There were sooo many times that one looked like he was trying to sleep and the other just watched him that I thought, ok they're starting to wind down. But, nooo, someone would yelp or giggle and that would start the whole party over. So, all in all, Peter fell asleep about an hour later than usual and Michael about an hour and fifteen later. Kind of sounds like your experience. Not great but not horrible.

Tonight, going to sleep was better. Peter didn't want to play as much as Michael and fell asleep only about 15 minutes later than usual. Michael went down about a half our later. But Michael has already been up more than 4 times already. I'm thinking something is bothering him, maybe teething.

It's very nice that my DH and I have a room to call our own again (well, except for the pack-n-play that is there for emergency separations). But, now I'm super-sensitive to their crying. I don't want them to wake each other. Last night, they woke each other once and two other times one cried and the other slept through it. Tonight, Peter has woken up every time Michael cried (and started crying too once). Luckily, my DH is here to help if they're both up, but sometimes he travels for work. It sounds like your twins don't sleep through either. What do you do in the middle of the night when they're crying? Should I let them cry longer so they'll get used to each other's cries?

I'm also curious how you have their cribs. Maybe I'll put up a poll. I'm wondering if it makes much difference if they're further away from each other. I have their cribs in an L-shape because that's what works in their room and because I thought it'd be good if they're near each other. But, if they play a lot at bedtime in the future, I think distancing them may help with that.

Oops! Now, they're both crying and we're trying to do Sleep Lady and not pick them up. Gotta go. Good luck to you!!

 

Good for you ......glad its working out for you.