A New Roommate and a New Bed (All at Once!): Our Experience

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Big Changes!

So we decided to put our two littles together in the same room AND transition our toddler to a “big girl” bed all at the same time. I have three words: don’t do it.

Just kidding!!

Image: Alexa's daughters sitting in the baby's crib (A New Roommate and a New Bed (All at Once!): Our Experience Alexa Gonzalez Contributor Miami Mom Collective)

It has actually been an unexpectedly wonderful experience. Let me give you a bit of a back story:

Giselle, my big one, is 2 and a half and Charlotte is 10 months old, making them 21 months apart in age. Giselle was transferred out of the bassinet in our room to a crib in her own room at about 7 months of age. From the moment I found out I was pregnant with another girl, my husband and I decided it would be best for the “organization” of our home to have them share a room. This posed many hypothetical difficulties–will the new baby wake up the big baby? Will our toddler’s solid sleep schedule get totally ruined? Will we have to get a second crib? Or should we move Giselle into a bed earlier than we thought we would? Long story short: we made a lot of transitions at once and we never thought it would go as well as it has.

What We Thought We Would Do

Originally we had figured that we would keep Charlotte in our room for about the same length of time and transfer her to the nursery at around 6-7 months (or even earlier). We thought ourselves to be baby sleep professionals and figured we could have baby #2 sleeping just as well as baby #1 in no time. We also thought Giselle would be totally ready for a “big girl” bed by the time Charlotte graduated from her bassinet. Ha. We briefly considered getting a second crib but decided that we wouldn’t give in to that thought and hang on to hope that we wouldn’t need the extra furniture.

Image: Two sisters snuggling in a crib (A New Roommate and a New Bed (All at Once!): Our Experience Alexa Gonzalez Contributor Miami Mom Collective)

What We Actually Did

Although our new baby was seemingly doing well as far as sleeping through the night, at some point she started to cry out frequently. And it was not as temporary as we hoped. This made us very afraid to put the girls together considering our toddler’s comfortable sleep routine. While Charlotte remained at our bedside, Giselle began to seem pretty uncomfortable in her confines. Although she is only two she is pretty huge and she started to seem to have a harder time falling asleep in her crib. After a bit of research and “hyping” up the idea of a bed to our big girl (thank you, JJ from Cocomelon) we decided to buy the bed. Simultaneously we found ourselves to be pretty ready to evict our roommate who, at this point, was literally keeping us on our toes with her light sleep.

Image: A reconfigured nursery with a crib and a twin bed (A New Roommate and a New Bed (All at Once!): Our Experience Alexa Gonzalez Contributor Miami Mom Collective)

After months of going back and forth about whether or not we could do it, we just DID.

From one day to the next, we just put the girls in together–one in the crib, the other in a pack-n-play–and the next day, Giselle was in a bed. I have never been a bigger believer of just facing your fears head-on and taking a leap! As it turns out, Charlotte sleeps better knowing that her sister is around (although being in a real crib and not a bedside bassinet is probably a big factor there).

And Giselle sleeps better in a real bed than in a crib. Charlotte is no longer interrupted by us going in and out, being that her bedtime is obviously earlier than ours. Giselle does not get out of bed until we go get her in the mornings because she is used to the routine from her crib days. Mama and Dada are so happy to have the ability to watch crime shows in bed late at night. Win-win-win!

Image: Alexa's toddler enjoying her new big girl bed (A New Roommate and a New Bed (All at Once!): Our Experience Alexa Gonzalez Contributor Miami Mom Collective)

Moms, if you are in a similar situation, I say just go for it! You can always go back but you might be pleasantly surprised. Follow me on Instagram to hear more about it and feel free to share your experiences with me!