Issues with bedtime...

Hi there. My twins don't officially turn 2 for a couple weeks, but I figured it made more sense to post here.

My twins have always been good sleepers. Did the routine of brush teeth, story, and into bed and they would play a little and fall asleep. We never had to rock, soothe, or otherwise intervene. Lately, their play is just getting rowdier and rowdier. They are throwing toys back and forth, taking their pajamas off, jumping in their cribs. This goes on until DS throws all his stuff out of the crib and starts screaming. He will cry until you come up there, give him his stuff back, and redress him. This happens several times a night. Sometimes they eventually fall asleep but sometimes it gets so late that we end up sitting in there until they fall asleep. As I write this, DS is finally asleep but DD is still flopping around in her bed fighting sleep and it is 11 PM!

I feel at a loss for how to deal with this. Do I just let them play until they tire themselves out no matter how late? Do I let DS scream? Do I take toys away? Do I let them sleep naked? We cannot separate them bc we have another on the way who needs the other bedroom. We've thought about toddler beds since both of them have climbed out, but with the current shenanigans that scares me! The only plus would be if DS no longer screams because he can get to his things after he throws them!

Aaaaaahhhhh! Can I just go back to when they were tiny. It was so much easier then. Momma wants her night back. By the time I get them down it's almost time for me to go to bed.

 

:hug: Are they still napping? I'm finding my girls have a pretty sensitive window when it comes to napping - not long enough (under 2 hours) and they end up over-tired & fighting bedtime, too long (more than 2.5 hours) and they end up not tired enough & fighting bedtime. :crazy:

It could also be that they're testing the rules. Could you implement some sort of consequence for each time you have to go in? A lovey or blanket taken away sort of thing?

 

I think I would try adjusting their nap times or bed times. I have always found that as kids grow sleep schedules have to be played around with to get what works exactly right. Maybe they are not tired or overtired? So hard to know which. It might take a bit of experimenting, but I would maybe start with a bit of a shorter nap or a later bed time.

 

I agree with the others, when bedtime suddenly becomes a battle, it generally means they are either getting not enough sleep (overtired), or they aren't tired enough to go to sleep (nap time is too long). It's a constant juggle to figure out and it'll continue to change for awhile, until they give up naps completely

 

Thanks ladies! Yes they are still napping so I will definitely try adjusting that. Do you think it is better to move it up or wake them up from nap? Usually they get up between 8-9 in the AM and currently are going down for nap about 1 and sleeping anywhere from 2-3 hours.

 

oh UGH!

one thing I've found is that the more things they have to "distract" them the worse it is. I would say to try some type of sleep sack to help them NOT be able to undress. Or I think you can do zipper PJs and put them on backwards. anyway, we did sleep sacks until probably 2.5 yrs old at least. one mom on here even put the sleepsack on inside out so that the zipper was harder for them to get off.

anyway, just a thought as to how to get them to settle in to sleep sooner.

I agree with other others on having to tweak naptimes and routines etc.

I will also say that those *stupid* teeth really wreaked havok on bedtimes ... maybe they are just hurting and that's keeping them awake.

I don't remember our nap times last year, but what you're doing sounds reasonable, they just must need it moved a bit I know for a while I did shorten naps or move it closer to noon so that they'd have at least 4 hrs or something after the last nap until bedtime... for us that was a key to getting them tired again for bedtime. good luck!

I do remember for a while if they threw things out of the crib I'd just take it away.. not sure if they got the consequenses... but eventually they did get into a good routine.

 

I would take away naps all together and have them sleep 12 hrs at night. I did that at 2. We just had a quiet time after lunch fo watch a show or read books quietly. I would also use zip up pj's and just pic the top so they can't be taken away.

I also just let them have one blanket and their snuggly. Nothing else, it just gets played with.

Good luck.

 

I would try shortening the nap to 2 hours first before shifting the start of nap.

 

I don't have any advice. So far our boys have been going to sleep without a fight shortly after lights out. But I did think of this book when I read your post :lol: My friend sent me a link to that book recently and it cracked me up. I told her I don't need that book I need one titled "Eat Your Friggin Dinner and Stop Your Whining", LOL. Anyway, I hope your LOs get their sleep issues figured out soon so you can get much needed rest for the one in the oven