Back in February, which in real-time was only five months ago but somehow feels like last year, we learned that Kristen Bell and Dax Shepard shared a bedroom with their daughters. It was presented as a temporary situation, that the girls slept on the floor because they enjoyed being in their parents’ room, but that there was no gameplan to get them out. Cut to July and Kristen has just announced that the great migration has happened. The Shepard girls are in their own bedroom at last! The only bummer is, this will probably mean more oversharing about what Kristen and Dax do now that they have the room to themselves once again.
Congratulations are in order for Kristen Bell and Dax Shepard’s two daughters for having “graduated” to their own bedrooms.
Over the weekend, proud mama Bell, 42, revealed that her little ones Lincoln, 9, and Delta, 7, have transitioned from sleeping on a mattress in their parents’ bedroom to officially sleeping in their own beds in their own rooms.
“We just graduated from them sleeping on the floor on this trifold mattress,” Bell told E! News. “So you can congratulate me — we did it, they now sleep in their room on beds right next to each other and they cuddle with each other instead of us.”
The actress went on to explain that when they were all sleeping in the same room, she’d give her girls a nighttime gummy with melatonin so that she and Shepard can have quality mom and dad time at night.
“It would knock them out quicker and they’d be great,” the Good Place alum said before explaining the creative ways they’ve come up with to ensure everyone gets the shut-eye they need. “We do not want to go to sleep when they want to go to sleep, so we would hook up our headphones by Bluetooth to the television, put on a show and they would be on the floor, like, trying to fall asleep.”
“So, that’s how we got out of having to go to bed at the same time,” Bell continued. Still, the girls aren’t fully independent just yet. “I desperately tried to get them to pack their own lunch, but it does not always work,” she added. “It’s like, OK, you didn’t like what I packed, you pack your lunch. And I looked in and it was, like, literally all Skittles.”
While I don’t need to know where the members of the Bell-Shepard household sleep, I don’t have any opinion on it either. I once had a co-worker who downsized to a one-bedroom apartment with her family for financial reasons. The whole family of four shared a king size bed. That would have driven me nuts, but they seemed fine with it. Kristen and Dax clearly had the space for the girls to be in another room, but it didn’t bother them enough to work this out prior. Some parents love their kids close by. I, on the other hand, am about to share a hotel room with my children and am considering appealing to the president of Mexico about lifting the age restriction on when they can stay in a room on their own.
There’s a discrepancy between Yahoo and Kristen’s statement in Lincoln and Delta’s bedrooms. Yahoo kept saying “rooms” but in 2020, Kristen said she purposely had the girls share a room to build character. I suspect sharing a room made transitioning out of their parents’ room easier for the girls too. Yahoo also had a big disclaimer about how melatonin is not FDA approved, which I did not know, and some other safety info. Obviously you want to consult the kids’ doctor first but I let my kids take melatonin too. It really helped my ADHD/OCD son when he was young. He gave it up on his own.
Photo credit: Instagram and Cover Images
a co-worker who downsized to a one-bedroom apartment with her family for financial reasons. The whole family of four shared a king size bed. That would have driven me nuts, but they seemed fine with it.
Erm… they didn’t have a choice not to be fine with it?
The room was large enough for more beds, the chose a family bed
Aaa, thank you for clarifying!
I will take any advice on getting my 4 year old into her own room. She was great up until she was 20 months – we moved and she’s been in our bed ever since. She won’t fall asleep unless I’m cuddling her. She calls me her “cuddle machine”. I am in the process of getting her a bigger bed for her room so maybe I can be with her until she falls asleep and then sneak out.
@Leonelda my 4 and 5 have always had their own room, but we do lie with them in their bed until they fall asleep. At least 1/3 of the time the 4 yo comes to get my husband at around 3 am, and we haven’t put a stop to that yet. (I could never, it would mess me up, but my husband doesn’t mind). I think falling asleep with them in their bed is nice because they get the comfort, but then we also get adult time alone after they’re asleep.
My 5 year old has her own bed in my room. It used to sit right up next to mine, now it’s further away. The plan is to get her used to that, then move her to her own room in her own bed, but with me in the guest bed in there, then eventually her on her own in her own room by herself. I’m all about doing things gradually and giving her time to get used to new situations before we try the next step.
I feel that’s super common, especially with COVID! I agree with cuddling them in their own room and setting up a dedicated space for them in yours.
First have to say, again, that I love her in the gingham patch outfit. Not for me but it seems brilliant for her. I trust the Dax & Kristin to do their kids right whatever they choose. Parent shaming feels out of control and needs to stop.
I agree with you. Nothing wrong with what they did at all. Most cultures co-sleep with their children.
Lol. Good luck on that petition, Hecate. Maybe adjoining rooms?
This story is pretty benign but she still shares too much about her children.
For the life of me, I will never understand why people who go to such great lengths to hide their children’s faces share such personal, and unnecessary, details about their lives. This isn’t even about so-and-so is starting school next year, or that one wants a cell phone. This is about where and how they sleep or whether they are still wetting the bed at their age. It’s a bit personal to share that stuff to the world. By comparison, I think it was better when they were talking about how often THEY bathed last year because that was their own personal information and if they wanted to share it – so be it.
They clearly love their children and are aware of what media exposure can do – hence the constant face cover-ups, but why does protecting their children’s privacy stop with the physical aspect?
My 9 year old daughter still sleeps with me, she’s gotten too big for the 3 of us to comfortably sleep together so my husband now sleeps in her room while she sleeps with me.
She says she’s too afraid to sleep alone and just plain refuses. I’ve been hoping she’s gna grow out of this for years.
I co-slept with my kid for so long that I won’t even name the age that he stopped because the pearl clutchers will go crazy. But it worked for us — as it does for billions of people in other cultures. My kid slept soundly every night, and in his waking hours was well-adjusted, and more independent than most of his peers.
I’m sorry, what’s with the melatonin? There are no reliable studies for children and melatonin use and it doesn’t sound like her girls have sleep issues? Kids need sleep of course so if there’s a problem, get help if you can. But don’t turn on the TV and give you kids a gummy?
I hope she’s just trying to stir the pot. Also, I don’t have kids so I probably don’t KNOW!
A lot of parents give a small dose of melatonin. Some nights my kid needs it. His little brain won’t shut off (just like mine).
But that means your kid is struggling and you’re trying to help. She sounds like she does it for convenience.
Room sharing is natural. I think North Americans are very into their big houses with more bathrooms than people whereas room sharing is more common in other cultures.
My three year old shares a room with us, and she likes being close and I like having her there too so I don’t worry she’s gotten out of bed or escaped etc. We did it for financial reasons and I never thought it would go on this long but I’ll miss it whenever we do get a bigger place.
What I do find icky about her comments is that she gave them melatonin so they could she’s adult time? Am I understanding this correctly? Because eeeeww.
Yea, I’m not a fan of these two but I can relate to letting the kids sleep with you. Sleeping alone is scary for kids – my kids didn’t understand why mom and dad got to share a room and they had to sleep alone. After the divorce, they started wanting to sleep w me again so I let them until the oldest was almost ten. And they are both now great teens.
See, I thought the same thing when I was young. Why do you two get to sleep together and I have to sleep by myself. I was the one that was scared. So my youngest is 8 and still sleeps with us. He needs the comfort from us so I won’t deny it from him. He’ll need his privacy at some point, so I don’t worry about it.
Big yuck on the melatonin, but room sharing is cool for those who like it. It clearly worked for them. We planned to do the typical timeline for our baby…bassinet/crib in our room for 6 months, then transition to his own room. He’s now 8 months and sleeps with us (no pillows or heavy blankets, plus a wearable monitor, for the pearl clutchers) and we probably won’t bother to transition him out until he’s ready. My husband and I both work full time, and baby isn’t a great sleeper, so it’s a nice way to maximize sleep and get in some cuddles.
She is promoting melatonin because she sells gummy melatonin as part of her Hello Bello line. This is a PR piece for her diaper and supplement line.
If you are not familiar, there have been recent studies done about the adverse aspects of melatonin and children. Please look them up.
As for Bell and Shepard, they are a big part of the Hollywood wellness and supplement industry. They have no medical background to be promoting these items, but they have no shame. Again, please read from legit doctors about what a scam the $300 billion supplement industry is. Try Googling Dr. Jen Gunter or Dr. Timothy Caulfield about their articles about supplements. Most people and children have no need for OTC supplements.
Lol, if you’d asked me about bed or room sharing 10 years ago I would have shredded several strings of pearls by clutching so hard. And now, after 4+ years of various scary and stressful events (including but not limited to a global pandemic) my kids prefer to sleep in sleeping bags on my floor. Every night. Does it interfere with adult time? Yeah, sometimes. But then I remember there will come a day when they don’t want to be near me, so I sigh and smile and roll out the sleeping bags. 🤷♀️
I was a huge Veronica Mars fan and loved Kirsten as a result. I always forget how tiny she is and I know this is a little rotten but Im shocked her and Dax have lasted this long. When they first started together he had a horrible reputation. It’s good to see how solid they both are as a couple and individually in their relationship. My husband and I agreed that we won’t bedshare. We felt that space our bedroom was for us as a married couple. So my son had his own room from jump. It worked out for us that he is a decent sleeper and slept well enough to not even need to start bed or room sharing. I know every family dynamic is different and to each their own
I have no room to talk here as my boys slept with us for YEARS. And YEARS. And every night each one would start in their respective rooms. Until my husband and I turned out the lights. The pitter patter of little feet running on the tile promptly ensued. Yes. I hang my head in shame (with a smile on my face).