At My Wits End

So the boys started jumping out of their cribs so we took them down and got them "big boy beds" Now they run all over their room, peek out of the windows, fight, and play. They are both grouchy because they aren't getting enough sleep and they are driving me crazy. How do I get them to stay in bed? Right now we put them down and when they get up we go tell them to get back in bed. Once we close the door they are up again. This goes on for anywhere from 2-4 hours every night. And nap time is just as bad. They need more sleep or all of our sanity.
Please tell me how to make this work.

 

Mine did that the first couple of weeks...it was all new found freedom. I let them do it...I figured it would get old, and it did. Idid go in every 10 minutes or so and lay them down and after a couple weeks they got the picture. Plus I let them go to bed with a few toys and they play for about 20 minutes and fall asleep.. Then they still stay up too long occasionally, but eventually they get the hang of it, and the freedom is no longer interesting.

Good Luck!!

 

Mine also did this too! However, it was only at nap time. I had to seperate them and then finally, I had my 2 - 3 hours of sanity again! I put Erin in a Pack-N-Play in another room and she only cried for the first day. Now at naptime, she says "Erin's time-out," and climbs in and lays down. I tried the going into the room to lay them down, and it just wore me out. So I started the 1,2,3 magic discipline, and well, Erin ended up in time out at 3 every time. That's how she got the name for the PNP. My only problem now is they know how to unlock and open their bedroom door. It's been going on for about 2 - 3 weeks now. They wake up at @5:45 and come out on their own. I've had to rig a gate in their doorway to keep them in and safe. I also had to make sure the room was very dark at naptime!

Hope this helps.

 

This is a common theme on this board. I say put them back in cribs with crib tents until they are older.
The switch to beds was probably the only time that I disliked my children. But even now, Jacob has the whole house up before 6 because he can just hop out of bed. I actually long for the infant days when they slep through the night until 7am. I'm getting less sleep now than then.

 

So there is a light at the end of this tunnel. I'm so glad this phase will pass.

 

Make it sink into there heads now. Keep them in the big kid beds. Going back to cribs now would be a waste.
Tell them beds are for sleeping not playing. When they get up take them back...do it but make no eye contact. And never let them see you mad...its what they want. Took us a bit but this worked. Could take weeks but beds are not places to play, and starting now they will understand.

Make sure your firm.

 

I agree with Cathy. They are barely 18 months old. I would put them back in cribs and invest in tents. They will be much safer, and the entire household much happier. In my mind, if they are too young to get "stay in the crib" which is why you put them in beds, then how are they going to get "stay in bed" which is much easier to get out of. I had one with a tent, and one without--never had any issues from either boy, and they both loved the tents.

 

My boys are 2 1/2 now. I will try the putting them back in bed without eye contact. I hope it doesn't take weeks. I will loose sanity by then. The only saving grace is I can still baby gate them in their room.

 

I put my oldest son into a big bed at 18 months & he ASKED to get out of his bed until he was 4 years old!! Then I had twins!! God has such a great sense of humor (don't even get me started on potty training!!) Anyway, I left the twins in their cribs until they were 2.

I know I have posted these details on here before, so for those who have read before, I'm sorry for the repetition. We split them into their own rooms & into twin beds when we moved into a new house last summer. They handled it MUCH better than we expected. Garrett did learn, after a few months, he could choose to get out of his bed & he did!!! We happened to be watching a "Supernanny" episode one night where she was addressing a similar problem. We decided to take her approach, and it worked. It took a few nights, and occasionally we have to revisit it, but it works. Basically, like the PP have mentioned it involves putting them in bed without talking to them & without eye contact. You can probably research it on line (the exact method) but from what I remember, with 2 in one bedroom, you sit in the floor of their room (head down, arms & legs crossed) when one gets up you simply put them back into bed (again no eye contact, no words). You just repeat until they fall asleep. From what we experienced & what she shows on the show, you will find that each night the time decreases & before long they stay in bed. Don't expect it to happen overnight & do committ one parent to do the first round of work. We find it is most effective when my husband is the enforcer. I can do it when he's working late or away, but I think Garrett is seeking mh DH's attention (I'm a SAHM, so they are DONE with me at the end of the day), so when he resolves the sleep issue, everyone's needs are met.

 

Oh I feel your pain. We are going on 1 1/2 weeks of the big kid beds. Last night was actually a great night for us. Kaylee only woke up 2x's and Kelby slept all night. The night prior however Kelby was up from 1:30-4:00 a.m. Naps.....What naps? I refuse to go back to cribs and I am going to struggle through this. PM me and we can vent to each other. Right now DH is in their room sitting on their floor. Last night it worked great, tonight is not looking so good. The way I am starting to look at this is that DH has to be the tough one because they think I am a joke. So when he raises his voice they listen. I do have a baby gate in their door so that they can't (well I hear if they try) get out of their room. How long ago did you move them.

 

I personally did the crib tents until about 4 months ago,but I know you can make it work in the big boy beds. Make their room as dark as possible (we put cardboard over their window and taped it)--if I even put a nightlight in, they act up.

This may take a week or two,but just go in and keep putting them back in bed. Do not make eye contact and do not say anything. The more upset you get, the worse it is...at least for us it was. I was at my wit's end and was sick of screaming, but this actually worked. The first day at nap time, I had to put them back in bed about 35 times-- the next day 2 times!

I went through a very frustrating period with this. We lost naps for a couple of weeks and had a few episodes of cleaning up messes from dirty diapers being taken off, but now they are sleeping well again. I actually moved their toddler beds right next to each other as a last ditch effort and it worked! They talk for a while,but they don't get up and they are sleeping well again.

Crystal

 

We moved them to big boy beds Friday night. So now they are up till 10 at night running around and up at like 6 in the morning. <_< I'm exhausted. I think I remember seeing that supernanny episode. They were in a small apartment weren't they?
I guess I'll need to put the baby down first for a few weeks so I can focus on the boys.

 

I didn't have a chance to read all the responses, but we just moved our two year old twins to beds about a month ago. Is there any light in the room? How can they stay up and play at 10pm if it's dark. It's usually still light out when I put my kids to bed (6:30pm), so they might play for 20-30 minutes, which is fine by me, but then they go to bed. Napping is a different story. They go up for 2 hrs every day... most days they sleep, some days they don't. Is there anything else in the room with them? We took out all furniture so that there was nothing to play with... just a few stuffed animals and some books. If it gets to loud in there, I take those things out as well and then they usually just go to sleep.

One other thing I thought about trying, but haven't had to do yet, was to set up a PNP (or two) in the room. If they could not settled down, I would put one or both in the PNP's. I know it'll make them mad since they like the new freedom, but I'm pretty sure that would get the point across pretty quickly.

Mine sometimes wake at 6 when DH gets up, but they know we are not coming in there until 7. They don't know how much time it is... but since they were about 9 months, we stopped going in until it was at least 7am... weekdays and weekends. Now if they wake up, they play, read, chatter until we go get them.

Good luck... stay consistent!! It will get better, I'm sure!

-Catherine