How do you keep them in bed?

I'm literally at my wits end. I really don't now what to do. I'm ready to put a lock on the outside of the door and let them have at it until the fall down exhausted! It is now currently TWO frickin' hours after we put them down for the night. I have been guarding the door loosely and tightly (took a bath) for TWO frickin' hours! This is an EVERY night occurance. It helps a TINY bit if they don't take a nap during the day, but not much.
Audrey will keep peeking to see if I am still at the door. If she doesn't see me, she will go and bug/wake Clayton. Clayton will do the same! (got relieved.. by dh) HELP!
Ok, 3am wake up call! Yes, when they were in their cribs, they did play a bit after they were put down. I don't expect that to go away, but one will go and want to play with the other... they will open and shut/slam the door as part of their play. I honestly can't see them stopping playing and falling down exhausted! Standing by the door is the only way we've kept them somewhat in their beds. They look to see if you are there and if they don't see you, they get up and play. It's been two weeks, and I knew not to expect it to be easy, my two have never been easy, but I would have hoped they would be catching on by now. We praise them in the morning for staying in their beds and tell them all the time that they are big kids and how cool it is to be in big kid beds.
Thanks so much. It doesn't help I'm sure that I'm pregnant and need my sleep. Other issues sleeping is not fun!

 

I know a lot of women do put a lock on the door. Also, I think you standing by the door will keep them awake. I remember having a really hard time with this with my dd. You have to do what is right for you and your family in the end. I did lock the door, she cried and cried and wound up sleeping on the floor the first night and after that she stayed in bed because I said I will lock the door if you get up. That was all it took. Good luck..

 

My boys do the same thing...they are awake for at least an hour and a half before they go to sleep. Jumping on the bed, you name it! We took all of their toys out of their room last week, so now they are just singing and jumping. It's actually pretty entertaining to listen to them. They are good, however, about staying in their room or they know dad will come in! I figure at least they're in their room and I can get some things done even if they're not asleep. They don't seem sleep deprived, so I guess there's not much else to do

 

Honestly? I'd put them back in the cribs until after the baby comes. You don't want to deal with night time battles and a newborn. You want to be able to put them to bed at night and take care of the baby or go to bed yourself. I had three in cribs at one point. We moved Aaron first since he's the oldest. Once he was very used to his bed and doing well we moved Erick. He had the same issues Aaron did at first but because Aaron was already used to it I didn't have two newbies going ballistic. Kayci is still in her crib with a tent. In your situation, I'd hunt for a hand me down crib for the baby and move the twins to beds after the baby is sleeping through the night. If you can separate them into different rooms for a while, you might be able to get them used to the beds now. Good luck!

 

A lovely man who has been a speaker to our club (Parent Educator/Family Couselor) talked about this very subject.

He tells of a Mom that was trying to keep her little one in their bed, she was pulling her hair out and didn't know what else to do. Finally she got a bowl and 20 M & M's. She put her child to bed, showed her the bowl & explained that everytime she got out of bed she (Mom) was going to eat an M &M saying that if there were any left in the morning her DD could eat them. That first night...Mom ate 20 M & M's.The 2nd night she ate 20 M & M's again. The 3rd she only ate 16 and the DD was so exited that she got 4. Soon after that the DD was getting M & M's in the morning and bedtime was no problem.

......except for the morning M & M problem of course :laughing:

 

Jackie I FEEL YOUR PAIN SISTA!!! :hug99:

I went through H3LL with this for MONTHS! I finally quit letting then have formal naps and have had about 2-3 weeks of not even having to be outside the door!!

I might experiment with locking the door (you can always open the lock after they have calmed down). (They are separate right? Or has that happened yet?) If they are and can't get to the other one, they might calm down faster.

I got the room painted etc., but still haven't moved Martin because they are finally GOING to sleep easily, but about 3 nights a week (minimum) I have him waking up and freaking out about something. Having tantrums in the middle of the night! It doesn't wake Ali up, so I haven't moved him yet. (You should see his eyes this a.m. after 2 nights up in the middle of the night - he has sad circles under his baby eyes!)

I started by sitting/lying IN the room. They wouldn't talk or play with me IN the room. Then HE kept trying to talk to me etc. So, I moved outside the room (got a lot of reading done). He would check to see if I was there and then go back in. Eventually he just stayed in.

THEN we went to a informal quiet time on the couch (during which they do still sometimes fall asleep) while watching a movie or something. That has CURED my insanity!!

God I hope you get this worked out!! That new baby is comin' and fairly soon, so you need your rest while you can!! :hug99: For a night or two, lock the door and sit vigil outside the door so you know what they are doing. Also, take away their lights if they have them.

Forgot to add: If I have to go in to tell them to stay in bed or put them back, I take something away. (Lightning McQueen light) and then their "snowmen" lights (they glow so that they can have them in bed with them etc.). Ali doesn't give me ANY trouble usually. So Martin ends up losing a lot of privileges.
:love0028: :love0028:

 

Yeah, I was all for leaving them in cribs, but Audrey decided that climbing out was the thing to do which is why we changed. At this stage of the game, putting them back in cribs is not an option. I do sit in there and when *I* feel they have settled, I'll go out of the door and that is when the fun starts (checking to see if I am still there etc.). A month ago I gave Audrey one less plug (used to have 3 and now she has 2). She still asks for more. Honestly, taking things away from them I don't think would have much effect. I don't think that concept is grasped yet, but don't know because their vocabulary isn't the best. If I try to take something away from Audrey, she doesn't seem to grasp the concept as of now. I thank you for your responses! Of course dh feels they should instantly fall asleep as soon as their heads hit the pillows at this stage.
eta: They share a room. NO CHOICE!

 

I have to share this picture of my girls 4 nights after we moved them to toddler beds.

I used to go through a summary of our day with my girls, then talk about what we are doing the next day. Then I leave them. I put a gate in front of their door. I discovered with our door handles that if i put the gate in the right spot the girls can't open the door since they don't know how to turn the handle up only down.
One night my MIL watched the girls since DH and I had something to do. I forgot to tell her to put the gate up, they got out of the room and started to throw all of the books down the stairs, which meant that MIL could not get up the stairs to stop them.
When I go to bed, I take down the gate and check on them.

I found with my 2, I don't stress. I let them get out of their bed. They will go back into bed when they are ready to go to sleep.

 

Lisa, that picture is priceless!! Love your page!

Jackie, I forgot they were still together! Darn!

One more question, what time is bed?

 

My friend who has a very active/alert boy... She put 2 gates up. One on top of the each other so it's too high for him to climb out.

I think i'm going to try to keep them in cribs (with crib tents if needed) for as long as possible. I'm not looking forward to your situation. good luck

 

We moved ours to twin beds at about the same age as yours are now. It was great with Zoe, she goes right bed and doesn't fight me. Drew on the other hand.....Then over Christmas break we moved them to seperate rooms. That has helped a little bit, but Drew is still at nights sometimes two hours after I put them down! I am considering duct tape..... :icon_biggrin: I have no help to offer, but I can feel your pain!

 

Bedtime has been around 8. Last night was a bit later.. about 8:45. It's seldom before 11 that they are both asleep. Thanks! Yes, Lisa, that picture is priceless! I wish my two were as cuddly with each other. I'm afraid that one is going to bonk the other one over the head when s/he is asleep!
This morning they slept in, so we headed out and Audrey fell asleep on the way home. So, she got a little nap, but not much of one. We'll see how it goes tonight with no nap for Clayton and not much of one for Audrey. Thanks. I know I'm not the only one who has these issues. I appreciate the smarts of those who have gone through it and lived! You give me hope!

 

We are RIGHT THERE WITH YOU (but not all of us are pregnant and exhausted!)!!! :hug99:

 

Just wanted to send a :hug99: your way. Sounds rough.

My kids have had a few rough patches here and there (mostly crying and wanting mommy, not necessarily partying it up). The only thing that worked early on was the good 'ol Supernanny trick of sitting in their room, not engaging them at all. Then slowly, inching your way to the door every few minutes until you are out the door. It is exhausting, but after a few nights it usually worked. (Disclaimer, no longer works here! )

 

I posted back in December about DD1 having this same problem. Here is the thread. I posted an update in #15 reply. Maybe you can get some ideas from this thread. She just turned 3 before she learned how to climb out of her bed, but there was no turning back.

Sending hugs your way... :hug99:

 

I hope things went better tonight! I am so dreading moving the girls out of their cribs, but I'm taking notes for when we're dealing with this issue. They party so much already in cribs across the room from each other I cannot imagine what it'll be like when they're out.

 

QUOTE(burgybabies @ Jan 27 2008, 11:05 PM) [snapback]592637[/snapback]
I posted back in December about DD1 having this same problem. Here is the thread. I posted an update in #15 reply. Maybe you can get some ideas from this thread. She just turned 3 before she learned how to climb out of her bed, but there was no turning back.

Sending hugs your way... :hug99:

Thank you! That was very helpful!

Update
We still haven't found much success in that they play 2+ hours after they get put down but without a nap during the day, (they were very cranky by evening) it was only an hour. Still a work in progress! Now ds has decided to poop his diaper during that time and DD has decided that crying loudly as soon as she gets put in bed is the thing to do. Where are those ear plugs I askedk for for Christmas?! :umm: Thanks for the responses!