Our girls started sharing a room over the summer and they absolutely love it!
Ben and Maddie also shared a room previously for 2 years and they really loved their experience as well. There's something that's pretty special for siblings to share a room. But with that, there also comes bumps in their sleeping routines. (And if you're anything like me, sleep plays a major part in your morning mood!)
As we were getting them ready to share a room, we considered a few ideas on how to get them to sleep the best. We are really lucky that Maddie falls asleep really quick and easily, as long as she doesn't have any naps in the day. It literally takes her less than 5 minutes to be totally out. And once she's asleep, she's fairly good at staying asleep. For our family, it seemed like staggering the bedtimes was the easiest solution.
We decided to put Maddie down first in the room. Josh and I would take turns putting Maddie into bed and the other would read with Ellie in our bedroom until she was fast asleep. Then once she was sleeping, we'd sneak Ellie into the room and put her down. Ellie has always been a very good sleeper, and she ended up going straight to bed.
After a few months of this new routine, we recently just started putting the girls down for bed together. We started trying it when we knew both of them were really tired. Perfect days for the same-bedtime trials were when Ellie didn't have an opportunity to nap. Or if they both get alot of outside playtime in the later afternoon. That way we know they are both ready for sleep. We tried many many weeks of only putting them to bed together when they were really sleepy. And then just the last week or two, we started putting them to sleep at the same time. They are both wonderful sleepers, and we've only had a few hiccups with this new change. When that happens, we put Maddie to sleep in our room and move her over when we are ready for bed.
The girls sleep fairly well for most of the night (although Maddie has her share of waking us up in the middle of the night.) The thing we've been working on currently is keeping the girls quiet once morning comes. We have a gro-clock which helps kids know what time morning is by changing colours - but Maddie still doesn't quite get it yet. So we're still working on how to get a tiny bit more morning sleep in!
If any of you have any suggestions, I'm ALL ears!
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