Transitioning out of sleep sacks?

I don't really know what to do! They keep taking them off, DS can even take them off if I put them backwards, but they will not sleep if I don't put them on (they've fallen asleep sucking on them since 5 months...). So I end up with wailing kids who can't sleep at nap time (bedtime is better as they don't see well enough to take them off). Of course they take off their clothes without their sleep sacks too, although I've been lucky so far that they almost never take the diaper off.

What can I do? Just CIO?

 

Ya know, it might be time to change the sleep sacks into blankets.

 

At age 2 they are old enough to understand that it's up to them to keep the sleep sacks on. Start talking about it during the day, and go over it several times. Tell them, "If you take your sleep sack off, I will not put it back on." Remind them again at naptime. Then let them CIO. (Or, if you're feeling generous, you could give them one freebie, but when you put the sleep sack back on, tell them you're not coming back to do it again.) You will have an unpleasant few days, but then (hopefully) they'll believe you and leave the sleep sacks alone.

This is just the beginning of similar bedtime/naptime issues, and it's better to start teaching them early that you will not come running to fix every single thing when they're supposed to be sleeping. (Says the woman who still finds herself running back at least 5x per night...)

As a side note, you could also try safety-pinning the top of the zipper to the sleep sack (if you're sure DS couldn't get it undone and hurt himself). That might postpone the confrontation, at least.

 

I would just go cold turkey without the sleep sacks. Sounds like its already pretty frustrating. I would just figure on a few more of those and let them go. Sorry I dont have better advice.

 

I agree with Rachel. We had to go to cold turkey on the sleep sacks last fall when they were getting too tall for them and the kids began to prefer blankets.
Just a thought, can you give them blankets and have them use the sleep sacks as loveys to hold on to while they sleep?

 

Oh they have a blanket too... they just prefer to suck on the sleep sacks.

I guess I'm more worried too that no more sleep sacks will mean stripped kids that might climb out of the crib too...

 

Crib tents!

ITA with Alden. If you decide to keep them in sleep sacks, they are definitely old enough to figure out consequences like she said. Same deal as not throwing stuffed animals out of the crib - if you want them in, you keep them in.

(Oh, and if they're getting too tall and still want to wear sleep sacks, Halo makes "big kid" sleep sacks. My kids love them.)

 

I can't find a picture to show you, but to keep our sleep sacks on I've had decent luck with a loop I sewed to the bottom of the sack where the zipper ends. then I loop a piece of elastic, ribbon or a zip tie through the zipper pull and the loop and tie it. the zip tie works great, but you have to cut it off each time...

I've been wondering about doing the consequences part of telling them they need to keep them on...

if your twins suck on them, would they be ok just hugging them as blankets to suck on them?

we're going on vacation in July and I need to transition ours to toddler beds before that... otherwise I might think of keeping them in cribs. many ladies here have had good luck with beds instead of cribs... but it is very intimidating to me, as well it sounds like it is to you too! good luck!

 

How about putting the sleep sacks on backwards, with the zipper up the back? They won't get out of them that way!

 

They can get out of them backwards too, it's just a big harder for them.

 

Hi:

FWIW, we kept sleepsacks for a long, long time -- until after age 3.
We kept them until we moved the kids to big beds at age 3 years and 3 months.
For me, it was just easier than blankets (and they slept so well with them!)
Once we did away with sleepsacks, we got some early wakings (when they got cold at 6 am or so)

I used a safety pin and pinned the sleepsacks shut for a while. Sometimes they would still take them off, but for the most part, they kept them on.

If they want to suck on them (but won't wear them), why not turn them into a pillor or makr them into a little blanket or something (like in the book "Owen" about his blankey!)

Good luck with this!

Meg

 

My twins are 3 years 4 months and they use their former sleepsacks as blankies now. Sarah's looks like it's been through several wars, since only the ONE will do, Cate still alternates among them. Sarah has always used hers as a security blanket and carried it around all day while sucking her thumb, interestingly, Cate eventually copied her and does it too now. At some point we went to "one to wear, and one to hold" and then we just dropped the one to wear - not a big deal since they still had the one to hold to suck on.
They have been in big girl beds for about 6 months and I have no intention of taking their sleepsack-comfort-blankies away...although Sarah's is now an ever-shrinking rag and I don't know how much longer it is going to last.

 

We used sleep sacks for a very long time too. We put them on inside out and backwards, worked most of the time. I really wanted to get the big kid sleep sack, but by that time, they were ready to stop.