Naptime a disaster since switching to beds!

OK, I honestly don't care if they sleep. I just want them to be quiet and stop injuring themselves! Seriously, every naptime someone gets hurt, they do stuff I didn't even think of. Ainsley shut Bea's fingers in the window, Ainsley shut her fingers in a drawer, Ainsley pushed Bea off the bed (!! WTH!!!). They were only napping about half the time in their cribs anyway, but at least they were safe and I didn't have to worry about anyone getting hurt. I really don't know what to do. Naptime is my recharging time, I really need the break. How can I at least get them to have some quiet time? Will the novelty ever wear off? The upside is, since they aren't napping, they are at least falling asleep fairly quickly, so there hasn't been too much bedtime drama.

 

Is there any way to separate them? Maybe put one in a PNP in another room? We had the same problem when we moved from cribs to beds. We decided to separate them and it has done wonders. Now at least if they are not sleeping, they are not throwing books at one another! It made a huge difference in their ability to settle down and go to sleep. I wish I had done it right away.

 

I could still put one in a crib in the nursery. We moved them to another room, and left one crib up in the nursery for when the baby arrives. I haven't wanted to go backwards with cribs, but if this keeps up, I might have to.

 

We have nothing but their beds in their room. I mean NOTHING. I also have door knob covers on the closet and bedroom door to keep them "locked" in. We need our windows open at times so I have a fan that fits in it and will be putting a dowel on the top part of the window to keep it open the right amount. They wont be able to push it up any farther to remove the fan. I'm doing the same thing with the sliding windows in the activity room. I know it seems extreme to have the room totally empty and child proof but it's an unfortunate necessity around here. I need to get some sleep too. Oh, one more thing.... This will really sound nuts... Their room, the hall light and the activity room's tv outlet are on the same circuit breaker. Once they decided to play, light on light off a few hundred times, I just started cutting the power off. It doesn't affect anyone but them. My next step is to install a ceiling fan and cover the outlet. I'll control the light and fan with the pull chains.

 

hmmm... we would lay down with them to show them nap nap time. It worked and eventually the novelty wore off.

 

Are they in twin beds? I've seen bed tents that I've considered getting for the boys. I know they have a double zipper so can be unzipped from inside but I'll cut that zipper off or something and pin it from the outside. It has gotten better for us with time but they will still find something, anything on the floor/under the bed to get up for.

I'm not sure I knew you were expecting again! Congrats! In your shoes, I'd put them back in the cribs for a while. You need your sleep. The baby could stay in with you at first, ours always stayed with us until they were sleeping through at night. The twins were with us til they were one and we moved! By then the girls will be older and may be better able to handle the big beds.

Not sure either of those help, but it's all I could come up with this early!

 

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I'm not sure I knew you were expecting again! Congrats! In your shoes, I'd put them back in the cribs for a while. You need your sleep. The baby could stay in with you at first, ours always stayed with us until they were sleeping through at night. The twins were with us til they were one and we moved! By then the girls will be older and may be better able to handle the big beds.


Thanks We're actually adopting, so we really don't know when the baby will arrive. Could be soon after our aperwork is done, or it could take a while. I wanted to get them settled into the new room and beds so it wouldn't seem like "the baby stole my room and crib", KWIM? We had a spare twin bed that we set up in the nursery for me to sleep on when the baby arrives (same thing I did when they were newborns), so one could also sleep on that during naptime. I think if I actually separate them, it might send a message, they love being together. I'll look at those bed tents too!