Tips for babies and older children sharing a bedroom

If you’re interested in having your baby share a bedroom with your older children, here are some ideas to help it work:

• Give yourself and your baby some time together at bedtime. You could try setting up your other children with an activity that will keep them busy, like a favourite book, game, television program or toy.
• When it’s time to settle your baby, ask your older children to stay out of the bedroom for a while, or to be quiet if they have to come in. Praise your older children for staying out of the room or for staying quiet in the bedroom – for example, ‘Darah, thanks for staying out of the room while I settled the baby’.
• Let your older children know that the baby might wake up during the night. But tell them that they don’t need to worry because you’ll take care of it. Older children usually sleep through babies’ crying.
• If your baby’s crying is waking your older children, consider whether the older children could sleep in a room further away from the baby (if possible) or whether you could move the baby to your bedroom.

Where your baby goes to bed is up to you. The safest option is for your baby to sleep in a cot next to your bed for the first year of life, or at least for the first six months. And it’s safer to put your baby to sleep in their own bed than in the same bed as a sibling.