First day of toddler beds - not going good - need help

OK so I know it's only the first day but I am about ready to rip my hair out and cry my eyes out. I was hoping to wait to make the transition until we got back from vacation (we leave on Friday) however last night both DS and DD kept climbing out of their beds (before only DS was able to and he stopped until last night) and opening the bedroom door and giggling their butts off. We have a gate in front of their room so they couldn't actually come out but we put them back to bed over 20 times before they finally stayed put and I think that was because we finally went to bed. I decided it was time and this morning I took the sides off their cribs, put a door knob safety cover over the closet door knob and all the toys went in there at naptime. I also ended up turning the main door knob around so I could lock it so they wouldn't keep opening the door. I felt really mean but I was in hopes they would get bored being in a room with no way to stick their head out and drive me nuts and they would go to sleep. Well naptime started at 1pm. It is now 2:18 and they are still in there making tons of noise. They've had to go potty twice (they usually don't but to their credit they did both go lots the first time I took them). I had to go in there to quiet them down because they were yelling (happily) so loud I was afraid they would wake up their baby brother. Everytime I try to stay calm and tell them they need to stay in their beds and it's quiet time. I told them they could read a book if they wanted to (they normally had a book in their crib) but they were to stay in bed and be quiet. Then they banged on the door SO loud it did wake up the baby (who just switched over to 1 nap so he REALLY needs his sleep). I swear I'm just going to lose it. My patience is about to zero right now and I'm trying SO hard to stay calm and tell myself this is a novelty and it will wear off and they will go back to their fantastic sleep habits. Now if we can all make it to that time is another question. I am hoping someone will have some words of wisdom for me. If it wasn't for the baby 2 doors down from them trying to sleep I would ignore them completely but I have to protect his sleep too. Oh and we only have a 3 bedroom house so there is no way to separate them. Thanks in advance!!

 

The fact that they are this age is wonderful! My guys started it shortly after they turned 2 years old.

Once we went to toddler beds we never turned back. I had many many sleepless nights. I'm not going to lie to you. My one had night terrors that his brother was going to invade his bed. I was sleeping on their floor between the 2 beds to comfort the one upset. 1 month after going to toddler beds we went to separate rooms. I realize that is NOT an option for you right now.

My kids were little terrors with their toddler bed room. They pulled down the blackout drapes, they knocked over the bookshelf, they threw stuff all over, they resisted naps and smeared pee&poop all over their room & carpet... It was not pretty at all.

Yes! Safety proof their room. Remove Everything now!!! Add it back in when they get used to their new freedom. Let them sleep on the floor. When they are tired enough they will drop.
My pedatrician said for us to make the whole room as safe as we thought their cribs were.

If you are using babygates, please consider getting a 2nd gate, a pressure one, that you can add on top of the current gate so it is more than 2 kids high. No joke.



In the meantime, stock up on wine, beer, etc... you will hopefully not need it.

Good luck!!!

 

We just let them be. Removed everything, closed the door and that was it. The first week they didn't nap and played for one hour at bedtime, but after they started napping again and falling asleep faster at bedtime. Mine were just 2 months older than yours when we did it. They did end up dropping naps at 39 months though.

Honestly I don't know how I would have done if we had a younger child too.

 

Hi - we just switched to toddler beds too - this is our 3rd night. First night was a disaster. Kids played in their room, screaming, laughing, yelling until 11pm then my daughter was up at 2:30am and again at 6:30am. Yikes. Second night was much, much better. Playing until 10pm then slept through. Tonight they played until 9:30. We took everything from their room except their beds, some books and their stuffed animals. EVERYTHING else we moved out. And I locked the sliding doors to the closet so that they couldn't get into anything then I just let them do what they want. My husband and I agreed before we started that we wouldn't go back into the room once we said goodnight so they would understand that eventually they needed to just go to sleep without our help.
What seems to have helped for us is that we also bought them special, new bedding and pillows and we made a huge deal about how exciting it is to be moving to toddler beds. And they have told EVERYONE they see about their new beds so this really worked. They rush in to look at their beds if we have been outside. Cute.
for naps it is easier for us as we just keep my daughter in the room and put my son in a pnp in another room. He can still fit (barely). I have separated them since they were about a year as they sleep much better separately for naps. They know that they have to stay in their rooms even if they are not sleeping for at least one hour so they usually just go to sleep. I know you only have the 3 rooms AND another baby but if there is any way to separate them just for naps you may find this is just what you need to get them to nap. Maybe a pnp in your bedroom or a little cot on the floor?
I figured it will take a while to get back into routine but they WILL eventually. Good luck!

 

It's been 2 weeks and it still sucks over here. Mine are almost FOUR! Ugh. Our problem is worse tho cuz we reunited them. GL!

 

Thanks for the replies. Sounds like this transition just sucks over all. LOL Last night they kept getting up. Tried to ignore them but when they yell they have to go potty I have a hard time ignoring that one. DS did go poop so it's really hard for me to say I just won't go to them because usually they do have to go. We did take them to the bathroom about 4 times each but they finally stayed in bed after about an hour or so. I think DH woke my DS up when he left this morning because he was crying at about 4:30am and his bedroom light was on. I went in, turned off the light, put him back to bed without saying a word, tucked him in and walked out. SO far it's 6:30am and I haven't heard them yet. They normally get up about this time so just waiting. LOL Yesterday at naptime they took apart half of their blinds (literally!) so I had to put a sheet up over their window. Hoping they leave that alone today at naptime. I'm just praying it will get better. They normally are great sleepers so I'm crossing my fingers they go back to it.

 

A couple of thoughts:

- It will get better, I promise!
- For the bedtime potty trips, we've had some success with including a potty trip in the bedtime routine. Then, if they both actually went to the bathroom at that time, they aren't allowed to go again for an hour, if they don't go, half an hour. We tell them we'll set the timer & if they still have to go when the timer beeps, they can go then. Usually, they're asleep by the time the timer beeps. Our girls have been in toddler beds since 18 months but just recently potty trained - the frequent potty trips were really just the latest & greatest bedtime delay tactic (and it worked really well at first too because, like you said, it's hard to say no when they're saying they have to use the potty).
- Do you have a white noise machine in the baby's room? Or a fan or humidifier? The white noise will help muffle the noise from our your older two & hopefully help him sleep through.
- We took the bulbs out of their room light when they started turning the light on & off. Instead, we put in a small lamp out of their reach. We've recently put their room bulbs back in but explained very carefully that if they turned their light on we'd take them back out. So far, they haven't played with the light at all.

 

Those are great ideas!! We'll definitely try the potty idea. They always go potty before bed as part of their routine and I cut down drinks right after dinner to just sips if they're really thirsty so honestly I don't know how they could have to go. LOL Somehow they usually squeeze some out. I like the timer idea. When they first potty trained they did the same thing (saying they have to potty every 5 minutes). We limited it to one time after they went to bed and ignored them after that and that seemed to work. Both the twins and the baby sleep with lullaby music. One of these days I'll have to break them of that LOL but I started it when they were little and now as soon as the music comes on they say it's night night time (although it hasn't seemed to override the twins new found freedom. LOL). I turned the music up a little bit in Ryder's room in hopes of drowning them out a bit. I let them bang on the door a bit last night and they stopped after a few seconds when I didn't come running. I think I'm just going to have to stick to my guns and not give them the attention of going in there and telling them to be quiet. They think it's a game to bang on the door and see how long it takes me to come running in. Little turds. As for the light - they have a ceiling fan and the light can be turned off with the pull string I believe so maybe I'll have to start doing that at night. Thanks so much!! It's got to get better. Everything usually does. Just takes time. It's when you're in the thick of it that it seems so impossible. LOL

 

Lisa, I ended up having to separate my two for naps. I would leave one in their room, and then one would have to go to my room and sleep. i would rotate who got to stay in their room and who got to come to my room. The one in my room I laid down with until they fell asleep (usually 20 minutes or so), the one in their room I gave a sippie and turned on music. This really worked for us and they no longer had each other to feed off of and initiate playtime. I don't know if this would be an option for you since you have another little one to look after, but I didn't have to do it forever. Eventually they got to where they could sleep together in the rooms again for naps without playing and I didn't have to separate them any longer.

 

What did you do about bedtime or was naps more of an issue? They are both SO tired today I'm hoping they'll konk out pretty fast today. Probably really high hopes LOL We're getting ready to leave for vacation so I kind of need my bedroom this week for packing space. They're like little octopuses if I try to do anything in the open. LOL It's like they've grown 8 arms and there are 3 of them grabbing everything. They definitely keep me on my toes!! LOL

 

Naptime was the only issue for us. They stayed in their beds at night time, but I had a sticker chart for that. I would give them a sticker for staying in their beds all night then they got a special treat at the end of the week if they got most of their stickers. I'm the sticker chart queen

 

LOL I REALLY need stickers!!! LOL

 

whenever I tried toddler beds (at 24 mo. and then at 34 mo.) it was disastrous. now at 3 yr 3 mo. the only real reason it's working is b/c they are so tired they go to sleep easy... that's b/c I'm skipping naps on purpose now.

i hope that you have better luck than me with keeping naps!

definitely keep the room as simple as possible, I had to take out their changing table and book cases and make sure their closet is locked. they still like to move the cribs all over the room and climb the high sides of the cribs!!

anyway, for us when they are super tired it works great. but now I'm realizing that it did take them a while to go to sleep when they were in their cribs - like 30+ min of babbling etc. now that they are "free" in the room, they just roam about and get into lots of trouble ... thus bye-bye naps! but the better side is that they are now going to sleep closer to 8p instead of well after 9pm.

good luck!

 

I have been having issues too so you're not alone! It is getting better though.

I transitioned one at 20 months because she was escaping. The other stayed in her crib until this week. Since then they went to bed at midnight the first night, 1030pm the next two, 9pm the third and last night they were out at 730! Granted, they refused a nap yesterday for the first time EVER! Now they are napping and hopefully tonight will go better. There is nothing in their room, but their beds, their dressers (they are mounted), pillows, blankets, and a book a piece. If there are toys in there, they will play with them or beat each other with them It does get better! I think 2-2.5 is a great time. They are able to follow simple instructions, but still require extensive sleep so they can't play ALL NIGHT!