At what age should siblings share a bedroom?
Deciding when to transition siblings into the same room depends on when the younger child is old enough to sleep through the night and safely share space with an older sibling. This transition is often planned so families can free up a spare room to use as a guest bedroom for visiting grandparents or parents.
What people tried
Every workaround mentioned in the threads below. We haven’t tested any of them — and nobody here is claiming they worked.
Found another way around this?
Share your steps and trade-offs so fellow engineers don't have to reinvent the wheel. No account required.
- 1Keeping children in separate rooms and only having them share temporarily when guests visitDid this help you?
- 2Using a pullout couch for guests instead of a dedicated guest bedroomDid this help you?
- 3Putting a queen-size bed in the children's room so guests can use it and the child can sleep on an air mattress in the parents' roomDid this help you?
- 4Experimenting with staggering bedtimesDid this help you?
- 5Having one child fall asleep in the parents' room before transferring themDid this help you?
- 6Putting babies in with older siblings early depending on how deeply they sleepDid this help you?
- 7Trying out sharing a room and planning to separate them when they get older if privacy or fighting becomes an issueDid this help you?
- 8Keeping toys in shared bedrooms while utilizing other rooms in the house for extra play spaceDid this help you?
- 9Having older children sleep in a separate room on some nights while sharing at other timesDid this help you?
- 10Staying in separate living arrangementsDid this help you?
- 11Having children share rooms using room dividers, bookshelves, or loft setupsDid this help you?
- 12Converting alternative spaces like dining rooms or living rooms into extra bedroomsDid this help you?
- 13keeping children in separate bedrooms until they express a desire to shareDid this help you?
- 14waiting until both children are sleeping through the night independently before combining roomsDid this help you?
- 15trying a trial period to see if room sharing works outDid this help you?
- 16using room dividers or letting older children choose how to decorate their side of the roomDid this help you?
- 17giving siblings different bedtimes to help ease the adjustmentDid this help you?
In their words
Unedited, grouped by where they were said, most upvoted first within each place, each linked to the thread it came from.
“How old are you kids when you move them out of your room and into a bedroom? Did you put them together into the same bedroom? Or separate bedrooms?”source ↗
“I would love the playroom back because it was much more organized. Since moving toys into the oldest's room it just feels like everything between both rooms is spread out everywhere. It just feels like a mess.”source ↗
“When we ask him why he wakes up wanting to come to mommy and daddy's bed he says it's because he doesn't want to sleep alone.”source ↗
“I am concerned about privacy when my son is a little older (should I be concerned about this for awhile?) And I am also concerned about if we do decide to have another baby (we have been kicking it around, but not for at least 2 years) the playroom being taken away and that upsetting them?”source ↗
“We are also concerned with the baby sleeping so great, could this ruin that?”source ↗
“we hoped to move into something bigger by now but unfortunately that hasn’t happened, that being said it’s really getting to be the time that our youngest (3M) is out of our room and gets more comfortable in his own space.”source ↗
“now the reality of having a little brother has hit and they do spend quite a bit of time bickering and fighting over toys so i worry if this transition is a horrible idea lol.”source ↗
“I also am aware that a 5 year age gap is kinda big developmentally, so I’m wondering if anyone else has success stories of having their kids share a room, preferably ones with a larger age gap like mine.”source ↗
“For those who have two children, did you have them room share even if you didn't need to?”source ↗
“Concerned my early riser will wake the baby and then we’ll have two early risers 🫠”source ↗
“The girls DO NOT want to share on the nights my step daughter comes to stay, nor should they have to. They both deserve their own space.”source ↗
“We really don’t know what to do.”source ↗
“I didnt move my boys together untill they were both sleeping well on their own, otherwise they would just wake each other up.”source ↗
“At what age is sharing a bedroom appropriate for siblings?”source ↗
“Ideally we would like to have kids share a bedroom at some point so that we can have a guest bedroom for visiting parents. Do your kids share a bedroom? What age was the younger one when you felt confident they would sleep through the night and share with their older sibling?”source ↗
Where this came up
People with this problem also raised
- 5When is it actually okay to move a baby to their own room?
- 8Should an infant's bedroom be on a different level or in the basement?
- 3How to stop co-sleeping when your partner disagrees
- 3How to handle family schedules when siblings refuse to attend practices
- 9How to handle sibling rivalry when kids compete in the same activities
- 4How to avoid parentifying an older sibling