Big Boy Beds = FRAT Party

Hello all,

DH had the genius idea to get rid of the cribs last weekend. We simply put their crib mattresses on the floor and when Asher and Soren (2.5) saw their room they were thrilled. Asher exclaimed, "It's my favorite bed!" Soren remarked, "No crib? No bubble?"

Well, having been contained and confined in a crib their entire lives and a bubble on top of the crib for most of their lives, they felt absolutely LIBERATED by their crib freedom. The result? PARTY! Let's see--they jumped on their beds, jumped on each other, threw blankets, threw toys, used diapers as pom poms, laughed hysterically, and emptied the contents of their dresser in a matter of 30 minutes. Whoa! We were NOT prepared for that kind of reaction. The trouble with twins, as you would know, is that even if one calms down there is another one to get them all excited again.

DH has been sitting in the room with them to keep them calm until they go to sleep but I would prefer not to create a sleep crutch by having one of us in the room in order for them to fall asleep.

What is your advice? What has worked for you? We are only two nights and two naps into this so we are very open to suggestions, especially because we foolishly went into this transition without a strategy.

MANY thanks!

(So, when I wasn't shaking my head wondering if they would ever sleep again I was laughing at their hilarious behavior and wild conversations.)

 

Sitting in the room with them is how I made the trasition. I didn't see it as creating a sleep crutch because I wasn't soothing them to sleep in any way (cuddling/rocking them or patting/stroking their backs), they were still putting themselves to sleep as they had done in cribs, I was only in the room for crowd control. I made sure to not engage with them at all-no eye contact, touching, or talking (other than saying lie down/be quiet if I had to).
After about a week I started gradually moving the place I sat nearer to the door until, at the end of the second week, I was sitting just outside the bedroom door. After a few days of that I could just leave them in bed and they would go to sleep.

You could try some sort of sticker reward chart, but it might not be enough to override the temptation of playing. If you have a PNP/travel cot you could set that up and explain to them that if they mess around (give them a couple of warnings) they will have to sleep in there. If they like the big boy beds so much that should be a good incentive to behave.

Good luck!

 

Yep, one of us still sits in their room at night. I have no issue with sitting there. It's dark and quiet and I can play on my iPod while they go to sleep. Honestly, it's very peaceful and one of my favorite times of day.

 

Do you guys do time out for anything else? We used time out for getting out of bed when we first made the transition. Ana thought it was party time, then got timed out, and went right to bed. Meara just watched and learned. We also switched ours to beds at 2 1/2, but had been using time out for awhile so they knew that as a consequence. Now they go to bed fine, but in the morning its party time. They jump on their beds, empty out drawers, and whoop it up.

 

We had sorority parties at our house!

I started with taking one of the 16 stuffed lovies away (which only works for one of my girls...there have been a couple of nights that neither one had *anything*.) Sometimes it helped and sometimes it didn't.

I put super yard pieces in front of the dresser to help slow them down from emptying it.

And the thing that has seemed to help the most is the sticker chart. I started with the thing that was the most important for me: keeping the @#$!@!@#$ mattresses on the bedframe and sheets on the bed. Yes, they actually flipped the mattresses off the bedframe and partied.... When they kept the sheets on the bed (and mattress) that morning they got a sticker. When they collected 5 (my girls were older when we transitioned, you may want to try 3 days) they were able to pick a surprise out of the surprise toy bin. I've been collecting little things (McD's toys etc) since I found out I was pregnant. Once that seemed to stick, I moved on to not emptying out the dresser. And now we're on to going to bed and staying in bed. It's been quite the process, but better than the yelling and frustration that was happening!

GL!

 

We're going through this right now. It's been total hell. We have found one strategy that seems to be working.

I should add that my boys were also fighting and attacking each other, and they thought it was party time when either one of us was in the room. I also reluctantly took them out of cribs because they were escaping and one of them broke 2 cribs.

So here's what we are doing, and it is gradually getting better. We take them into the bedroom for naps and bedtime, and lay them down. I told them if they get up and run around or fight or engage in any other destructive behavior they have to sit in their booster chairs. So if they act up, we take them out of the room and put them in the booster and strap them in facing out the window, so they can watch the cars go by. I either take them out of the booster if they tell me they are ready to go night night, if they start to get really tired, or if they fall asleep. It may sound rough, but these boys were fighting each other, climbing into the window sill (we live on the 5th floor :shok: ), and they were taking 1.5 hours to go to sleep. It was an absolute nightmare.

Now they realize they have a choice--they are going to be strapped into the booster or they are going to lay in bed. I've actually gotten them to fall asleep in the bed a few times. LOL! Which is vast improvement from the hell we've gone through for the past couple weeks.

 

Hi:

This is just a suggestion, but if you (or they) are not ready for the responsibility of big boy beds, then you could put the cribs/tents back up.

On the advice of other wise twin moms in this forum, we waited until after 3 years old (about 3 years 3 months) to move into big kid beds. We still had a week of chaos from the transition, but we'd done a lot of talking about the "rules" for big kid beds are our kids were better able to follow the rules -- there was pretty big developmental change from 2.5 to close to 3.5 years.

I've said before on this forum -- I have a triplet mom friend who did not move hers out of cribs until age 4! I wish I'd thought of that!

Meg -- mom to 4 year old boy/girl twins

 

we also stay w/them until they fall asleep. and they come right out when they wake up, so that's not a problem... as pp's have said, i don't see staying w/them as a crutch. it's a way to keep us all sane.

gl, jl