Is it time to change bedtime?

My twins are 3 1/2 and my youngest turned 2 in April. My husband got the brilliant idea to put all 3 of them together (we have a 3 bedroom house) and use Ryder's old room as a playroom - so no more toys in the room they sleep in and this way the youngest won't tear down the blinds since he climbs out of his crib now (his room faced the front of the house and I don't like NOT having the blinds down at night). ANYWAY did the room change and the first week was hell. The 2nd week was better. This week - off and on. When they're tired they will all go to sleep and they do great. However it seems like they are just not tired at 7:30 anymore and it's driving me batty. The twins don't really take a nap anymore. I put them on little sleeping mats in the playroom and they have quiet time, watch a movie, play quietly, read books, etc... from 1pm - 3pm. During that time Ryder takes a nap in the "sleeping room" and still does pretty good at going right to sleep for naps. He'll sleep till 3:30 or 4 if I let him. I've been thinking maybe I need to make a point of waking him by 3pm. We start getting ready for bed BY 7pm but by 7:30 they are usually still just Energizer Bunnies. Sometimes one or two of them will fall asleep by 7:45 or 8 but more often than not they are still up by 8:30 or even 9. Not sure if we should move their bedtimes closer to 8 or 8:30??? I so need my quiet time in the evenings but this crazy party they have in there most nights is getting ridiculous (if they wouldn't try to involve us in it I would ignore it LOL). I thought about changing the rooms back because they did do somewhat ok before I put them together (although the twins still would stay up later and later) but hubby really wants to keep it this way because we'll be moving in 6 months or so and dealing with hotels and stuff before we get into our next house so we're trying to prepare them for that. Oh the joys.... Any advice?

 

My three are roughly the same ages as yours, and we've had the same issues. I wanted my youngest to sleep with my twins so she'd be in the room next to mine instead of upstairs (I have three twin mattresses on the floor together in that room, her crib is upstairs, with a tent so she can't get out). At first, she'd lay still in her twin bed, but after a while, they all three were jumping around. So, I moved her back upstairs, and most nights and most naps she is back upstairs. If I can sit in their room until they fall asleep, she is okay in with the twins. I didn't want to do that every night, so I didn't keep sitting in there, but I've read on here people who have had good luck sitting in the room and gradually moving out over time.

My twins also stay up much later than they used to, as they all used to love to go to sleep very early, like 7:00pm. Now they're awake at 9:00pm, which has been a big adjustment for me as I was used to having my evenings to myself. The upside has been they are sleeping till 7:00am, instead of 6:00am.

What I do is on the days my twins nap (I'd say 5-6 days a week, usually for 2 hours), they get to stay up until 8:15 - 8:30 and then we do the bed time routine and they're asleep around 9 - 9:30 (one is up at 10pm a few nights a week!). If they don't nap, we do their bedtime routine at 7:30, and they're usually asleep at 8:15ish. They are motivated to take the nap so they can stay up later. My youngest will nap every day (2.5- 3 hours) as long as she's alone, and I let her stay up until the later bed time as I like her sleeping until 7:30 instead of 5:45 am The twins have to stay in their own beds and have to whisper. If they don't, I start putting their favorite toys in time out, which they hate. Some nights they're fired up, some nights they're quiet. I tell them I'm going to do chores in the kitchen and they can't call for me, and they do pretty well with that (they have access to a bathroom and water, so they really don't need me for anything, but they come up with plenty of excuses anyways). They can read books or play quietly with toys in their own beds, but they can't jump around after it's bed time. I really wouldn't mind them getting in each other's beds, but one twin doesn't need nearly as much sleep as the other, so she'll keep the other awake. Since I started making them stay in their own beds, the "sleepy" twin falls asleep much earlier than the other.

Could you try letting him sleep in the play room at night like he does for naps? In the hotel, you'll just have to see what works and try to separate them as much as possible. For my three, it seems like the twins don't excite each other at bedtime like adding the youngest into the mix does as the youngest is so excited to be in with her sisters. I would really like them to all be together, so I'm hoping that when the youngest is a little older it will work, but for now, I'm separating them and going with the later bedtime.

 

It's hard to tell without knowing at what time they wake up in the morning, but yeah, if your 2yo wakes up at 4, it's unlikely he will want to sleep at 7... can you put his nap earlier or wake him up at 3? (my kids hate being woken up so I know it's not always easy).

 

Their normal schedule is wake up at 7am. Nap at 1pm - 3pm (sometimes extends to 3:30-4 but trying to make a point of waking him BY 3:15). Then bedtime at 7:30pm. We'll see if waking him by 3 will help a bit. 1pm is about as early as I can get him down so I can't move it up too much. I don't think the summer sun helps either. LOL If I can get the 2 year old tired enough to konk out at 7:30 maybe I'll have a chance at this battle. LOL Otherwise maybe I'll move bedtime to 8pm and see what happens??

 

It is SO nice to hear that I'm not the only one!!! LOL The 2 year old sleeps in the sleeping room for naps and the twins lay down in the playroom for naptime. Taking the 2 yr old out of the playroom room was the major issue because of the blinds and stuff so I can't really put him back in there. We'll see if adjusting the times a little bit helps maybe. I'm praying the next house is a 4 bedroom with a basement for a playroom. LOL

 

My twins are a little younger than yours are, they go down at 10pm and are usually asleep by 10:30, and sleep until 9-9:30. If they've taken a power nap that day they won't settle down until after 11. So my guess would be moving bedtime a little later might work. Can you put the 2 yr old down earlier and get him to sleep, then maybe there won't be *quite* as much wildness at night?! If you cut his nap at 3 and put him down shortly after 7 he might fall asleep easier and the twins won't be quite as inclined to play with him. You run the risk of waking him up, but I'm sure he'll be able to sleep through their noise pretty quickly.

 

Here they've pretty much constantly been sleeping 11-12 hours at night. But I'm guessing that without your 2yo they would definitely fall asleep earlier. I know that my kids had to go to bed close to 9pm when they still napped (they pretty much needed 4-5 hours between nap and bedtime and always took long naps).

 

I was thinking about that. Maybe put the 2 yr old down at 7:30 and let the twins stay up until 8 or 8:15 doing a quiet activity ?? I think that will be on my list of "to try". LOL I'm not sure how well it will go over but I'll keep that idea in mind. Maybe if I can get him asleep and explain to the twins that we need to very quietly get into bed so we don't wake Ryder maybe they'll go right to sleep as well (especially staying up a little later with no nap). Hmmmm.

 

Yea my girl twin just never seems to nap anymore but my boy twin falls asleep maybe 2 out of 7 days. Once in awhile he'll fall asleep on the couch right before dinner if he didn't during naptime. That is NEVER good. LOL How is sleeping always such a problem?? LOL Then when they become teenagers they never want to wake up. Still an issue. LOL Kids.... ;-)