Fifteen minutes ago, they were vigorously protesting the notion of going to bed with the sun still shining.

But now eight-year-old Michael Hamilton is stifling a yawn, and his big brother, Ryan, 9, is tucked in next to him. Their father, Rupert, reads them a bedtime story and their mother, Minnow, kisses them goodnight.

Then, after some whispered giggling and a few grumbles of “move over,” “no, you move over,” the two brothers settle in to sleep in the same double bed they've shared for the past five years.

As houses have grown larger and family size has shrunk over the past few decades, bed-sharing has become a matter of choice rather than necessity. But in an age of ever-grander children's bedrooms, toys and other accoutrements, some families are bucking the trend and bringing back the sibling bed.

Rupert Hamilton reads a story for his two sons as they lie in bed in their North Toronto home. Ryan Hamilton, 9, right, and his younger brother Michael, 8, began sharing a bed shortly after they outgrew their toddler beds. (Fred Lum/Globe and Mail)

The Hamiltons say they want to strengthen the bond between their children – and they've found it's the best way for everyone in their family to get some sleep.

“I want them to be close, so if they want to sleep together, I'm not going to fight it,” says Ms. Hamilton, who's the co-founder of savvymom.ca, a resource website and newsletter for mothers.

Though her boys have their own bedrooms, they began sleeping together when her youngest was 3 and had nightmares she ascribes to a premature Harry Potter movie viewing. Over the years they've separated occasionally, but they always gravitate back to the double bed in Ryan's room to sleep.

“I think there's something to be said for knowing there's another body next to you,” Ms. Hamilton says. “It's sort of developed into a habit. I'm not sure if the experts would say that's a healthy thing.”

Actually, experts approve of sibling beds, as long as everyone's happy and getting enough sleep.

Elizabeth Pantley, author of The No-Cry Sleep Solution, has encouraged “casual bed hopping” with her four children. They have all had their own bedrooms, but shared a king-sized bed in a dedicated sleeping room whenever they felt like it.

“It simplified the bedtime routine,” Ms. Pantley says. Plus, having a sleeping room cuts down on the nighttime distractions inherent in a bedroom stocked with toys.

She thinks sibling bed-sharing is more common than people might assume. The number of rooms in the average house has been steadily growing, from 5.8 in 1951 to seven in 1991, according to Statistics Canada, while the average household size shrank from four to three over the same time period, but Ms. Pantley believes even families in big houses are looking to simplify their lives.

The medical establishment approves as well.

“I don't have any problem with that,” says Denis Leduc, a Montreal pediatrician and past president of the Canadian Paediatric Society. In fact, he sometimes suggests siblings share a bed when one child is anxious at night and has trouble sleeping – a sibling's presence may calm and comfort, allowing everyone to get more rest.

“That often works very well,” Dr. Leduc says. “There is a lot of isolation in current Western sleeping accommodations, so there are certainly some theoretical benefits.”

Experts caution against allowing older children to share a bed with kids younger than 2. Jim Cairns, the Ontario deputy chief coroner who recently warned parents against sleeping in the same bed with their babies, says it's even more dangerous to let older children sleep with infants because children have less awareness of their body while sleeping and could hurt the baby while they toss and turn. But it's perfectly fine for toddlers and older children, he says.

“If you have two three-year-olds sharing a bed, they're past the stage where we'd be concerned,” Dr. Cairns says.

Ms. Pantley believes in the bonding power of fighting over covers and whispering to your sibling at midnight.
“It can cement a friendship, and it reduces the sibling rivalry. They need to work out their issues, because they're co-existing,” Ms. Pantley says.

Now ranging in age from 19 to 7, her children all sleep alone, but her 7-year-old recently crawled into bed with his 19-year-old sister when she came home from university.

“It was a great way for them to re-connect,” she says.

Ms. Hamilton says the shared sibling bed hasn't necessarily made her family's bedtime routine easier – Ryan and Michael sometimes get each other worked up when they should be calming down. But once they're asleep, they don't wake each other up. Another advantage, Ms. Hamilton says, is that threatening to separate them remains an effective method for quieting them down at night.

“The bottom line when they get this age is, whatever's easier for getting to sleep,” Ms. Hamilton says. Ryan has recently started talking about sleeping on his own, though he's not quite ready yet to kick out Michael.

Experts say the end of sibling bed-sharing usually happens naturally, without prompting from parents, before the children hit puberty. But
they say parents shouldn't hesitate to change the arrangement if they think one child's getting too old for it.

“Follow your gut,” Ms. Pantley advises. “If you're thinking it's time for them to have their own rooms, it probably is.”

For now, Ms. Hamilton says her boys will continue sharing a bed. When she checks on them in the middle of the night, they're usually sprawled across each other like sleeping kittens.

“If they want to sleep with their brother, how could you say that's a bad thing?” she asks.