OT: Preparing room for # 4

I may not be a lot of help, we do things completely differently! I’m expecting #8 and we’re in a 3 bedroom house. The baby/crib is in mommy and daddy’s bedroom. This means they can nap easily any time, they are close by at night, etc. Rigth now the 11 month old is there, but he’ll move out before summer when baby #8 arrives.

Then we have 2 other bedrooms. In one is DD11, DD7, and DS2. This is the room we’ll move the youngest to this spring. The girls are in a bunk bed, the 2 year old on a toddler mattress on the floor.

The second kid bedroom is DS8, DS5, and DS3. The 8 and 5 year old are in a bunk bed, the 3 year old in a toddler bed.

For daily quiet time we currently have the oldest two in each bedroom on their beds. The 2 and 3 year olds are downstairs on the couches near mommy (one naps every day, one is hit or miss but can look at books if he wishes. The 11 month old naps on his own timetable so he may or may not be asleep in his crib during quiet time. The 3 year old is going on 4 and will be allowed to do quiet time upstairs in his bed in the room with 2 older brothers at age 4. At our house that is a big privelage and the kids want to stay in bed so they don’t have to come back down to the couch with the ‘little kids’. I already know he can do it because bedtime has him in his bed with the rest of the older kids and going to sleep just fine.

A suggestion to help with others not waking when baby wakes – buy white noise machines for each bedroom. It also helps baby sleep better. It makes a huge difference – enough that when we take the 11 month old for surgeries we bring a white noise machine for his hospital room every time and he sleeps better even with all the alarms, machines, and vitals checks day andnight. (He’s had one spine and five brain surgeries in his 11 months).

I have found most of mine are better sleepers sooner when the house is not “silent”. I don’t have the children be quiet as mice when the baby is trying to nap, but they may only use indoor voices. Because of that my babies have all slept through just about anything during the day. Only one of mine was especially sensitive to noise and couldn’t shut down and nap if the normal household noises were going on around them. We have never put the baby in their own room, it sets them up for having a hard time transitioning to sharing a room IMO. At our house you are going to have to share a room, so we just start out that way so there is less retraining later on.

My all time favorite books about sleep for children are the No-Cry series by Elizabeth Pantley. Wonderful! She has 3 specific to sleep: The No-Cry Sleep Solution (for babies), The No-Cry Sleep Solution for Toddlers and Preschoolers, and The No-Cry Nap Solution. Check your library.

So I would say combine those you want to soon and work on obedience in quiet time as they adjust to the new arrangements!

houseofchaos – I have to politely disagree with this “between 2 to 4 kids in a room doesn’t stay very quiet” This is 100% a matter of habit training. It takes mom’s time to train the children to be quiet in quiet time, just like it takes mom’s time to train a child to stay in their bed at bedtime. If it is not a priority to mom then it won’t happen. Quiet time has been a priority in our house and one habit I’m diligent in working on or maintaining.

It’s okay if that’s not a priority to you, my sister doesn’t see the need for a quiet time at her house. But it is a realistic and possible habit for even large families to learn!

Well, we use a bassinett in our room (no room for a crib) until the child outgrows it (around 4-6mo) and then they move in with their siblings.

Our Son (age 9) has his own room that is quite small…   And then our girls are in another room – 2 on a bunkbed, with the 2.5yo in a crib.  I’ll be moving her to a toddler bed soon….   I’d moved all the kids out of the crib once they climb somthing – I think all the other ones climbed out of something at a younger age….   Delta and Foxtrot climbed out of the playpen… but Echo was a turkey and climbed over the baby gate for her first climbing feat!   Golf hasn’t climbed out of anything (we got rid of the playpen last year at this time…. we haven’t used a baby gate with her because the others just take it down…. and she hasn’t tried to climb the crib I guess because the others just take her out once she is awake and wants out….

We don’t do quiet-time…  I just haven’t had the discipline to do it….

I thoroughly believe that the whole “quiet” thing dependa on the family. Sure, almost anyone can learn to be quiet, but it’s a huge challenge for some kids and can take a while.

I, too, am expecting #4. We have a 4 bedroom house, but one of those roome is hubby’s office and the other is presently storage. My 5 and 3 year old boys share a room and the 1 year old boy is in a crib in our room. When the baby comes, she’ll be in our room and at some point, I’ll start moving the 1 year old to the boys room. But I’m not sure I want the crib in there since I want I’ll want it for the baby and I dont’ think he’s ready yet for a toddler bed, so I don’t know when I’ll move him.

For quiet time, I put the baby in his crib in my room, the 3 year old on the couch and the 5 year old gets to play in his room. That keeps everyone split up and usually works for us and I can get a nap, too, when I need one. When the baby comes, she can sleep in the basinet for naps or with me if I’m taking one, so it won’t be a problem for a while anyway. 🙂

Expecting #4 here too. Almost any day now! We also live in a 4 bedroom house, but made one bedroom into laundry/storage. Dd7 has had her own room while the boys, 5 and 2, share. The new baby girl will have a bassinet in my & dh’s room for the first few monthes, but also a crib in big sister’s room. We start quiet time with our literature read-aloud in the boys room. Actually, first I read 2 picture books and then start the chapter book. Ds2 falls asleep during the chapter book reading. When we are finished reading, dd7 goes to her room to play quietly and ds5 stays in the room with napping brother to play quietly. If I need to nap too, we all stay in the boys’ room and the 2 older look at books while I doze. I am not sure how, or if, this part of our day will change once baby arrives…

Wow such diversity.  It is neat to see how everyone works this out.  I tried the bassinet in my room with my children. I too am a light sleeper and that didn’t last to long either.  We have 3 bedrooms. 4 children.  When the boys were younger they shared a room and my oldest dd had her own room. Baby 4 came and I couldn’t sleep with her in my room. I put her in the livingroom and put a monitor on low in my room.  I put the other monitor away from her crib.  This way I could only hear her when she was crying.  Not every breathing moment.  Yes, I would listen to her breathe.  It would wake me up if she would sigh or move.  My other son would only sleep in a swing. I would have to listen to it all the time.  I eventually moved the swing out of my room. In the middle of the night, one night. 🙂  He eventually moved to the bassinet but was my night time nightmare for about 9 months. He hated to sleep. I would have to hold him down for a nap during the afternoon.  He would cry(scream) for 5-10 min and be out cold.  I am sure if I wouldn’t have done this we would have never seen him sleep. (or me either for that fact!)   It took some training.  I however was able to finally get some sleep. Then, I was pregnant with the next one… LOL .  We did nap time. When they were older we put the baby down and went on with our business. The were old enough by then that they no longer needed a nap.  Now that they are older we use the time for a educational DVD while everyone is quiet.  Sometimes I still need a nap. 😉 They know to be quiet and play games or do something constructive if there isn’t a DVD.