Early Waking after Bed Transition

Our twins are 3 years and 3 months. We made the transition to beds over the Memorial Day weekend. It has gone smoothly at bedtime and naptime (knock on wood), but we've now got early morning wake ups. Before the beds, the twins would sleep until about 7:15 (sometime 7:30 or 7:45). Now we are getting wake ups at 6 am and even 5:30 and NOT going back to sleep (even in our bed.) :blink: In our house, that's just too early. And, the kids are having mid-morning meltdowns, so I know they are overtired.

Nothing else has changed -- just the crib to bed transition. I can't believe that all of a sudden they need an hour less sleep (and I know for certain that I still need that sleep!!) What are some ways that you have handled this? Will the novelty wear off? Do we need to do some sort of morning training about wake up times? I want to nip this in the bud before it becomes habit.

(And, my DH tried to get my DD back in her bed this morning at 5:30, which resulted in a total screamfest, so that all of us were up and facing the day then. I told DH that we needed an "action plan" and that I'd ask the best sleep experts in the world -- other twin moms!

Thanks!

Meg -- mom to 3 year old b/g twins born in March 2006

 

See my post, linked below, about the clock I bought for the kids.

http://www.twinstuff.com/forum/index.php?s...=116468&hl=

 

We don't have the cool clock with the "go" light, but we have a light on a timer that serves pretty much the same purpose. (The only downside is that if they do happen to still be asleep when the light goes on, it usually wakes them up. ) We started using it when they were still in cribs, so they would know when it was OK for them to yell for us to get them up. It might be a little tougher now that yours are used to getting in bed with you, but they can still get the idea.

In any case, I think some morning sleep training is probably going to be necessary. But it doesn't HAVE to involve screaming, if you can get them invested in the idea of staying in bed until it's time to get up. It helped somewhat for us to explain to them various things they could do if they weren't sleepy (whether at night or in the morning) but we didn't want them to leave their room. Could you do a sticker chart? Would it help to give them some books they can read when they wake up?

 

Like Alden, we have a timer on our light. It was the same problem when we 1st switched---but they know that it is night-night time until the light goes on (6:45) and they are to be quiet until then. They also have a gate at the door so they CANT come to our room (or go down stairs)...a few days was all it took and we have not had any problems for months.

We talked about 'sleep rules' and why we have them and what they were. It seemed to help to just talk about why we all need rest.

Now going to bed...that is a nother story!LOL.Mine stay in bed - but chat forever!!!

KC

 

Do they still nap? Maybe try dropping the nap. This worked for my duo.