Not all families have the space available in their houses for each kid to have their own room. And some families prefer room sharing in general, either with siblings or parents with children. And if any of that pertains to you, then you’re in luck because we’re going to talk about sleep training and room sharing.
I want to preface this by saying that if you have twins or multiples, this video is not for you. This blog is specifically for families who may be room sharing either parent, child or older sibling, and younger sibling.
6 Tips For Room Sharing While Sleep-Training Your Baby
The first thing that you want to do is prepare your older child. It’s really important to let them know exactly what will happen, and how the process will look. If you have a very sensitive child, and they don’t like it when they hear the baby cry.
You can have them write the other sibling a social story. If you haven’t heard of social stories. You want to write a very simple book for your older child, including pictures of your child with the baby. It can be things like Jack loves to help baby Stevie, and then you want to have a picture of jack holding baby Stevie. Or jack can feed baby Stevie and have a picture of that. So one sentence per page, along with an image. Towards the end, you want to say something like Stevie needs to learn how to sleep in his crib. So on the next page, you might want to have a picture of a crying baby. Then say something like, Stevie may cry a little more at night than he usually does, but we are teaching him how to sleep. So when you explain all of these things to your older child and let them know exactly what to expect. It’s going to go a lot smoother for your older child mentally, physically, and emotionally.
Additional Tips
- Use white noise to block sounds from inside/outside the bedroom.
- Have reasonable expectations. It’s going to be a process, but well worth it.
- Stick to a consistent plan. All caregivers should be on board.
- Have children nap separately in different rooms, and be consistent.
- Stagger bedtimes. Put the baby to bed first, and then the other sibling(s).
Need more Help?
If you need additional help with sleeping training, please check out my playlist on YouTube, or search the blog for the phrase sleep training. If you need more detailed lessons, you can purchase one of my sleep training packages here.
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Missy Yandow
Pediatric Sleep Consultant
Potty Training Coach
