We also live in a two bedroom and our ds and dd share a room. However, dd was almost 5 when ds was born so I don't have the toddler and baby dilema. The room sharing was a big reason there are so many years between the two. We kept thinking we would get a bigger house built - still hasn't happend, although I think we have the ability to go ahead - but that's another rant!
Anyway, I also have alot of friends that had kids that shared rooms (we live in a small agriculture commuity with lots of small, older farm homes). They finally convinced me that the older ones would sleep through alot of the babies wakings. I had another mom on a different board equate it to co-sleeping (family bed) also, where everyone gets used to the noises.
My dd will sleep through almost everything....hmmm.... must take after her father! I had ds in the bassinet next to me until 3 mos when he was down to two wakings (then up to 4-5, back to one for the now). When we finally started with some sleep coaching we did move her into our room for a few nights, and on some bad nights she still ends up there (mostly b/c I feel bad for her and move her - not b/c she wakes up), but so far this hasn't become a habit. At this point (ds is 9 mo) we put him down first and that seems to work. I also run a humidifier in the winter and a window cooler in the summer for some white noise.
Long and short - I wonder some nights if the room sharing doesn't wake one or the other up but I don't think, in my case, it is a major problem. I am also very happy we went ahead and had the second like we had always planned. I think eventually they get used to it.
Hope this helps. Let me know if you have any more questions.\
Jennifer
