When Siblings Share a Room with a Baby

How to Ensure Child Safety and Kidproof a Shared Bedroom Space

Feb 17, 2009 Renee Carver

When older siblings share a bedroom with a baby or toddler, babyproofing parents must take extra precautions to make sure that the room is safe for the younger child.

There are many benefits to having siblings share a room. If one of the children sharing a room is a baby or a mobile toddler, however, parents must kidproof the room carefully to make sure the younger child is kept safe both from its own explorations and from well-meaning but potentially dangerous actions taken by its older sibling roommate. After all, an older child may fiddle with certain child safety products and interfere with how well they work. Childproofing parents can adapt the suggestions below to their particular situations.

Use Baby Safety Products to Childproof Electrical Outlets and Lights

Babyproofing parents should only plug electrical items into outlets that are in inaccessible locations, such as behind heavy furniture or high on a wall. No electrical cords should be out where children can chew or tug on them. Exposed outlets should be covered by outlet covers rather than plastic plugs that could be popped free by the investigations of an older sibling.

Use plain white outlet covers rather than brightly colored decorative ones that will attract a curious toddler's attention. Instead of using a plug-in night light that toddlers will want to pull out of the wall, invest in a safe portable night light such as the Mobi TykeLight Portable GloMate or the Cloud b Twilight Constellation Night Light.

Use Child Safety Products to Keep Windows Safe

Conscientious parents should be sure to kidproof all windows. Use a blind winder to retract dangling blind cords or install wooden shutters or other window treatments that do not include dangling cords that pose strangulation hazards. Make sure all windows lock securely and are fitted with special guards to keep kids from falling out of the window.

Remove Potentially Hazardous Items from the Room

Items that are safe for an older child will not always be safe for a younger one. Parents must remember that young children will copy older sibling behavior, sometimes in dangerous ways. Any toy with small parts that pose choking hazards should be removed from the shared bedroom and stored away in a playroom or other room under constant adult supervision. Step stools or small chairs that toddlers could copy older children by climbing on should also be removed before toddlers climb on them and either fall off or reach up and pull shelved items down on their heads.

Bottles of medicine, baby oil, or other dangerous substances might be discovered and opened by an older sibling and then ingested by a baby or toddler. Rather than trying to store these dangerous items in drawers and cabinets behind childproof locks, move them all to another room, preferably inside a lock box.

Furnish Only with Safe Children's Furniture

Childproofing parents should attach all heavy items of furniture (such as dressers and bookcases) to the wall with appropriate baby safety products such as furniture straps or furniture brackets. This will keep large furniture items from tipping over. Cover sharp corners with soft foam bumpers. Hang mirrors, framed art, or decorative quilts high enough on walls that children cannot pull them down onto their heads. Store toys in toy chests with ventilation holes and lids that will not fall and crush children, or keep toys in open buckets or storage bins.

Communication and imagination are the keys to setting up a safe shared bedroom for an older and a younger sibling. Parents should make the older sibling understand that he or she must model appropriate behavior for the younger one. For example, older siblings should never teach younger ones that it is okay to climb up bookcases. Parents must also imagine what actions the older sibling might take that could be dangerous to the younger one, and then reduce this danger by forbidding the actions or moving them to another area of the home.

Once a safe space has been created, parents can think about what room-sharing rules to establish.

Resources

The Baffled Parent's Guide to Sibling Rivalry by Marian Edelman Borden [McGraw-Hill, 2003]
The No-Cry Sleep Solution for Toddlers and Preschoolers by Elizabeth Pantley [McGraw-Hill, 2005]

The copyright of the article When Siblings Share a Room with a Baby in Inter-Child Relationships is owned by Renee Carver. Permission to republish When Siblings Share a Room with a Baby in print or online must be granted by the author in writing.

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