2 year olds, No nap, Going to bed at midnight! Going crazy

Dear Mom,
Helpppppp this mom is calling out for any advice she can get from other twin Moms. I have two and half year old girls. They are my only two. Ever since they have discovered that they can climb in and out of their cribs they have not been taking their naps and falling asleep at 1130 or midnight every night. It is exhausting. Have any of you experienced such behavior? We do our normal bed time routine every night and finish up at about 8-830. Once I turn on their lullaby music, turn the light off, walk out of their room, they are out of their beds, playing, fighting, crying, yelling, taking clothes out of their drawers, diapers are every where. I have attempted to lock everything up so that they can't get into their toys at night. Put a gate at the door, locked them in their room for a little bit, taken pacifiers away, yell at them, spank them, sit with them for awhile, lay with them, I feel like I have tried everything but its not getting any better they just think its a joke. Please any advice would help. An then the next day they get up around 8 and they are tired, whiny, grumpy take no naps and up again until 11 or 12.

Thank you for reading my post I know its even exhausting reading it!

Carla

 

Have you thought about trying crib tents? They should help keep your escapee's in their cribs a bit longer. Otherwise, I'd suggest putting them in toddler beds, or even putting the mattress's on the floor. Not only is it dangerous with them climbing out of the crib, but if you take away the "thrill" of escaping the bed, it might make them less inclined to continually get out of bed. I know it's a huge pain, but try to clean out their room of anything distracting. Remove all the toys, slide the dresser into the dining room, remove the diapers and diaper pail. How dark is their room? Try room darkening shades, or, for a cheaper alternative, tape cardboard up in the window, and cover it with aluminum foil. It makes it dark, more like nighttime then.

It kinda sounds like they are overtired, and it's so hard to break that cycle of being overtired. Usually, I just have to continue the normal bedtime/naptime routine even if they aren't sleeping good, until they get so tired that they literally crash. Then it kind of resets the whole pattern and I can work on getting them back into a normal sleeping routine. But, I was wondering, do they still nap sometimes?? They may be ready to give up the nap completely. Napping every once in awhile may be making them stay up late those nights, which sets them up for being overtired the next day. Both my older kids gave up their nap around age 2.5. My twins just turned 2 in feb and they are already showing some signs of getting ready to drop their nap, I'm certain they will this summer when we are more busy outside.

:hug: Sleep issues are so hard, because they are so much out of your control. You can't force your little ones to sleep. All you can do is keep a very consistent routine, and set up a good sleeping environment, and then hope they understanding that sleeping is good!! :hug:

 

Crib tents. :good:

Since your girls are used to being able to get all over the place, they may put up a bit of a fuss, but hopefully if you present it as a fun treat, they'll accept it. My girls LOVED their tents (granted we installed them before they had figure out how to climb out) and continued to use them happily, even after they figured out how to unzip them!

 

IMO until 3 you need to put them down for naps, whether they sleep or not... We went through countless phases when they didn't nap at that age but we stuck it out and they still need the nap most days. We didn't even risk it, as soon as they climbed out they were in twin mattresses on the floor (we were lucky it only happened 3 weeks before 3). We removed everything from the room (not the dresser, but it's empty, and I'm thinking it should go too). The first week was nuts, but they fell back into the pattern and we had naps again (most days). We don't go back in unless there is some crying.

 

Go right now and get some crib tents! JK - but really it does sound like they are over tired and as others have said for safety and everyones sanity they need to sleep. How long has this been going on?