We knew when we had a second baby that it would end up sharing a room with Briar. We were not willing to give up our guest bedroom, and it seems silly for such little people to have big rooms all to themselves.
That doesn`t mean I was not dreading the day that we moved Boone in with Briar. I just imagined that it would be a nightmare! I worried they would keep each other up, Briar would climb into the crib, or nobody would get any sleep. I was so worried that anytime someone mentioned that their kids shared a room I would grill them about the details. When did you move them in together? How old were they? How did they do? Was there anything that made it easier?
When Boone was nine months old and we had guests coming to stay (his crib had been in the guest room) I finally went for it. And, drum roll please…. It wasn`t bad at all! The first night I made sure Boone was sound asleep before I took Briar in. We practiced whispering and did her goodnight routine in the living room (reading a book, praying, and kissing/giggling a bunch). Then I took her in and she went right to sleep. When Boone woke up in the middle of the night I ran in there really quick to soothe him so Briar would not wake to his cries. When I put him back in a bit later he did cry a bit but Briar slept right through it!
The next night I put them down at the same time. I told Briar that Boone might fuss a bit so she could read a book until she was able to fall asleep. She ended up returning his pacifier to him a couple times and reading to him. They both went to bed without any tears.
Boone sleeps way better now that he is in a room with his sister. Prior to putting them in together he was still waking up multiple times a night, now he gets up once or sometimes not at all. On the rare occasion he wakes Briar up she goes right back to sleep with no trouble. If I had known it would be so easy I would have put them together a long time ago!
I do attribute some of the success to a sound machine. They both have been sleeping with a sound machine since birth and I think it really helps drown out the noise that they make throughout the night.
I am so glad to be past that hurdle in my parenting adventure!