Transitioning beds & rooms?

Hi all,

My boy/girl twins turned 2 in January. They are still in their cribs and share a room. My DS started climbing out of his crib at 15 months, so I put up a crib tent which has worked beautifully. I just thought he was too young to transition to a bed. so now my question is, when do I transition them into beds and when do I split them up to have their own room? Initially, we didn't have an extra room since I had an office for work. But now that I'm a stay at home mom, we can use the office and make it into a bedroom for one of the twins. But I'm totally dreading this transition. I have a feeling it will be tough. Should I do one big transition - move to new room and new bed - or do two transitions? Anyone been through a similar situation?

 

We switched to twin beds (not really, mattresses on the floor) just before they turned 3. They're still in the same room though! They enjoy it too much and I figure that we can split them when they're old enough to want their privacy. Sure, bedtime was chaotic at first, and now again as they're big enough to turn on the light (I've decided to just let it go for now), but they're happy... lol.

 

My boys transitioned to toddler beds on their 3rd birthday. They have shared a room since birth. I made the decision to wait because they were pretty much done with naps. We were having issues for a good 4 months with naps and late bedtimes and I knew putting them in beds would make matters much worse.

It was pretty uneventful. Sure, we had messing around some nights, but overall it was no big deal. They were so exhusted by the end of the day they would fall right asleep.

FF to a year later. We were having issues with one getting up earlier than the other and waking his brother. My one DS was pretty good at being quiet, but many times his brother would still get up and be crabby the rest of the day. The last draw was about a month ago when one got up at 6:00 a.m. (instead of the usual 7:30-8:00) and woke the other one up (and me as well).

The extra room was their playroom and I moved my one DS's bed in there that night. I was afraid that they would not sleep since they were in there all alone but again, it was pretty uneventful. They now fall alseep within 5-10 minutes of going to bed and sleeping a good 11-12 hours.

This past week we got rid of the toddler beds and got them junior loft beds. They are having so much fun climbing up and just hanging out in their beds.

For me, I'm glad I waited. At two they were happily contained in cribs and there was no way I would have attemped toddler beds at that age.

 

Naomi and Luke are still sharing a room and they're about to turn 8. In the past month or so they have started talking about having their own rooms, but only because the office needs redecorating and their parents have said that Naomi can pick the paint colour as the room will eventually be hers. Other than that they are not bothered and seem quite happy to go on sharing for now.
As for when to make the switch to beds if they are happy in their cribs there's no need to rush it. I think it goes better if they are old enough to be excited about 'big kid' beds and understand the rules. Having said that both my sets transitioned before 2 1/2 and it wasn't that bad, although I've heard from lots of people that moving them to bed meant loosing naps so that may be something to keep in mind.

 

My two transitioned to toddler beds before 24 months (we were moving and I didn't want to take the cribs) and just recently, at 3 1/2, Royce was keeping Alice awake at night when he was crying or scared. So we split them up, I figured that it would be easier to have just one freaked out kid instead of one freaked out and one crazy p!ssed-off-lack-of-sleep kid. After a few days of being in their own rooms, everything worked out and Royce was no longer scared, and Alice was no longer cranky. So I was planning on them sharing a room until they asked to have their own rooms, and I suppose they asked in their own way.

 

I transitioned all my kids to toddler beds around the age of 2. The twins were the latest at just over 2 yrs old. It was okay, we had some crazy nights, but I set up a pack n play in their room, and told them if they got up they'd go into the pnp. It only took my daughter a couple of nights to figure out she didn't like that, my son is stubborn so it took him about a week. Ever since then it was fine, and naps remained fine too. Although, I keep their room pitch dark so they really couldn't see to play in there anyways during the day.

As for splitting them up, they'll have to share a room for quite awhile. I have 4 kids, in a 3 bedroom house. Right now my two older kids (nearly 10 and 5) get up early for school, so they share a room. In 2 years when the twins have to get up for school as well, we'll split them up boys/girls. But for now, my big kids share a room and the twins share a room.

 

I was hoping to make it with the twins sharing a room until Kindergarten or so... but this past fall I with them having issues going to bed and such I thought maybe we should split sooner than later... and then found out i'm pregnant! haha... well that's the bedroom that the baby will have for a while, at somepoint unless we move or remodel someone will have to share, for now I think it's better for us to have the twins share and the baby get her own room...

decisions! yes, if they are fine in cribs don't rock the boat. we did crib tents until almost 3 yr old when they started hanging from the tops... and broke the netting. ugh! I had tried toddler beds at 2yr and it was disastrous for us. also, ours had a hard time going to bed and naps when they were in toddler beds... guess they were too "awake" and then got into trouble. we try to physically tire them out now, and they do go to bed nicely now.

good luck deciding!

 

We switched to toddler beds a month or two after they turned two. They still share a room and will for a while. We only have 3 bedrooms upstairs and the baby has the other, so unless we move someone is always going to have to share!

 

We switched to toddler beds at 28 months, directly from co-sleeping. The transition was pretty smooth. With some reorganizing we could have a second bedroom for the kids but I am not keen on this for several reasons: 1 - bedtime routines are long and much treasured in our house, doing it twice in separate rooms would either mean new shorter routines or bedtime 45 minutes later for one child than for the other, 2- one of the rooms is pretty far from our bedroom and I am not sure I would want that while they are so small. 3 - an extra bedroom means less space to play, and I think for now it is more important to have that space for play.

You do not have to separate B/G yet, especially if they sleep well together and enjoy each other's company. I shared a bedroom with my younger brother until I was 10 or so, although we did have separate studies/playrooms earlier.

 

My B/G twins switched into their own rooms when they were 6 months old. The crib was no longer big enough for them to share and the two bedrooms we have, were not big enough to hold two cribs.
My DD was switched to a toddler bed at 19 months because she was a climber and my son was in a crib until he was 3 and we just took him out of it as a Christmas present for his new toddler bed. But if he had his way, he would be still happily in his crib probably.
My DD just got a twin bed in the Fall and DS will most likely be getting one this year sometime.
You might find with both kids in a toddler bed in the same room that they might play more and have more difficulty falling asleep at first with all the extra freedom. But one of the things I did with DD was sit in her room and quietly just kept putting her back in bed and eventually she did stay in bed and did not fool around at nap time. So you may have to do something like that if you decide to keep both in the same room with a toddler bed. You could always see how they handle it and then decide about doing separate rooms at a later date. It's really up to you and how comfortable you feel about it. Good luck with your decision!