We moved to Twin beds......Not such good luck..HELP

Well we decided to get K & K twin size beds. I got Kelby Spongebob bedding and Kaylee Tinkerbell. Well they helped us put them togehter and even helped put the sheets on. Last night when we put them to bed you would have thought someone was seriously hurt. They screamed and screamed. I decided well they are scared so we will lay down with them. I layed with them for a while and when I got up to leave oh the crying started again. I put Kelby in Kaylee's bed thinking that might help. I decided to let them CIO for a while. Well guess what they puked all over Kaylee's bed because they were crying so hard. We moved them to our bed and I laid in there with them. Kelby went to sleep, But Kaylee was kissing my nose, patting Kelby, covering up, uncovering, rolling....you name it she did it. I had to put her in the truck to put her to bed because by this time it was 10:30 and we started this all at 8:30. She finally went to sleep and I put her in her bed because by this time the laundry was done and her sheets were clean again. I then moved Kelby back to his bed. They woke up there this a.m. and all was fine. Now.....we are doing naps they keep getting up. We are just standing outside their door and waiting and then putting them back in. Any suggestions and did anyone else have the crying trouble? Please help me if you have. Any advice would be greatly appreciated.

 

I hope someone can offer advice. I still have mine in cribs and plan to keep them there until they are 3 b/c of what you are going through!


Can you go back to cribs and wait a bit for the big kid beds?

 

Yeah we still have the cribs but the problem is Kaylee climbs out of her crib and into Kelby's . This is much safer, I think it is just the adjustment period that is going to be rough. Ok so did I screw up.... they were in their bedroom for over 2 hours trying to get them to take a nap. I sat in there for some of it because everytime they would get up I would just put them back in bed. Well we gave up on naps, but I think they are understanding that they have to stay in bed. When we told Kaylee she could get up she stood at the end of her bed crying because she didn't think she could get out of her bed. She understand, but Kelby on the other hand got a few spankings and put back in bed about 100 times.

 

I don't have any advice except to be patient and give them some time to get used to it. My twins are still in their cribs (they are just 14 months old), but we moved my DD into a twin bed at about the same age as your twins. She had a tough time her first night as well. Her second night though was much better and we didn't have any tears. I laid in bed with her longer than I usually spent with her at bedtime, but after a few nights we were back to our routine. Naps were a little different though. She didn't want to sleep in her bed at nap time and would climb out. The first day we found her asleep across her rocking chair, and the second and third day she slept on the floor. After that though, she napped in her bed. All in all, we had a fairly easy transition to the bed, but that was with just one child. I have no idea how it will go with our boys when the time comes. My guess is that the first few days may be tough, and you'll have to stay on top of them more than usual, but then I'd think things will settle down. I hope so anyway. Again, I know it's going to be different with two of them! With DD, it wasn't a problem if she climbed out of bed at nap time. She would play quietly for a while and climb into bed when she was ready to sleep. I imagine with two of them though, that they might keep each other wound up more than usual and hinder one or boths sleep schedule.

Good luck!

 

I think it is very hard for them to understand what exactly they are supposed to do and follow through with that since for as long as they have known cribs have been where they slept. I personally think spanking is not the correct method (but please know that I don't spank for anything) to teach sleeping habits. I tend to not want to start habits I know I will want to stop so I have never stayed in their room, slept in their beds or anything waiting for them to fall asleep. I waited until K&K were 3 because that was when I thought we were all ready to make the transition (I do believe both parents and children have to be ready to give the transition the patience and attention it deserves). I personally got crib tents at 18 months when K made the first climb and waited until I knew they were old enough to understand the whole bed thing. I know some children are ready at a younger age but 3 was the right time for us. At that age K&K were still napping a good 2-3 hours in the afternoons sometimes they would even still snooze in the morning as well, we never would have survived losing the naps at that age. It is hard to untrain them from something they have known all their lives, it is not necessarily going to happen over night.

 

Keep at it. Mine were right at 2 when we made the change & we put them in separate rooms at the same time. They did well at first, I think it was the "new" of it all.... new house, new rooms, new beds etc. After a few months Garrett started getting out & going into Gillian's room. He would also throw huge fits when we put him back in bed. We finally tried the "Supernanny" (I'm sure you can look it up on line). My husband stood guard at the door & marched him back to bed everytime he got up. It took a while, much longer than we expected, and every now & then he'll pull it again, but we just go back at it the same wasy & it solves the problem.
I think the way Supernanny does it, when they are in the same room, is she sits in the floor (arms crossed, head down) in their room. When one gets out of bed she puts them back in with no words & no eye contact. It may take a couple hours at first, but probably worth a try.

Good luck!!

 

I put mine in toddler beds about 4 months ago and it was an adjustment period for about 2 weeks on and off. I talked to my pedi about it and asked if this was normal. She said it was okay to coddle to them a little at times of major changes...even if it does not seem significant to you, its a HUGE deal to them...so letting them be a little more clingy etc..is okay. We even alternated letting them sleep with us for 20 min and taking them back to bed...we had also just moved into the house and they werent used to the bedroom either.

They will get used to it...maybe make it a game?? Get a sticker board for each night they sleep in thier big boy beds. After 7 days get them a treat (I take them to the dollar store!) and after about 2-3 weeks of consistency with it, phase out the rewards...

Good luck with it, I know its a hard adjustment period! :hug99:

 

QUOTE(*Dana* @ Apr 22 2007, 07:12 PM) [snapback]230071[/snapback]
I hope someone can offer advice. I still have mine in cribs and plan to keep them there until they are 3 b/c of what you are going through!
Can you go back to cribs and wait a bit for the big kid beds?



I second that. Mine are still in cribs and I want to keep them there aas long as possible. Although mine don't try to climb out yet....crossing fingers, knocking on wood.

I wish I could offer some advice but I have none. I think they just might be a little too young and it's scary for them. C & M both scream bloody murder if you put them anywhere near the potty chair. I think it's because they are just not ready for it. But like other posts said, be patient, and I think eventually they will "get it".

 

Well last night was better. They didn't cry and that was better to me. DH and I took turns standing by the door and everytime they got up we would go in and put them in bed. It took Kelby 2 hours to go to sleep. I got upset with DH because he went and laid with him. I don't want to get that started. So DH told me to go and lay with him, well I refused. I went in and rubbed his back and then sat in the chair in their room and eventually he went to sleep. I think it is harder for Kelby because he never crawled out of his crib and this is all new to him (FREEDOM). Kaylee already was in trouble for climbing out of her crib and was placed back in her crib a lot, so she has an idea what is expected of her. KWIM. I understand this will take some time. I also appreciate all the advice. I think we will just continue to sit or man the door and put them back in when they get up. No spanking or no talking.

 

Hi

It sounds like the second night was much better! We just moved our twins to toddler beds about 3 weeks ago and it was a very smooth transition (despite my uneasiness about the whole thing). The best thing we did was to remove EVERYTHING from their room (we actually switched them to a smaller room and moved all the furniture into our other ds's room). The only things in their room are: their beds (with pillow, sheet and blanket), their favorite stuffed animals, a few books and a throw rug on the floor. DH says it looks like baby jail, but it has made it super easy to just lock the door (we turned the lock around so we could lock it from the outside) and know they are safe. They do play - they get up and run around, play on each other's beds, etc, but when they are tired, they climb into their beds and go to sleep. For the first few days, it took them about an hour to settle down at bedtime (almost 2 at naptime), but now it only takes them about 10-15 minutes (30-45 at naptime). The novelty of it has worn off at this point and they know it's time to sleep. Because they had a little freedom to move around the room, there has been very little crying (just a little bit when Gabe steals Natalie's pillow or something like that). I did have to use the Supernanny technique one day for naptime because Gabe wouldn't get out of Natalie's bed and she was really ready to sleep.

It sounds like that technique is working for you. Just keep with it and know that it can be done. I really wanted to keep them in cribs until 3, but our singleton needed a crib and DH felt like our kids were ready for the beds. I'm glad he gave me a little push to do this because it has worked out really well. Good luck tonight!

 

We are still in cribs with crib tents. The crib tents work great for us so far! I know some people don't like the tents, but my boys usually just fall asleep as soon as I put them down and be quiet until next morning. The cribs are still roomy enough for them and with the tents, I don't need to worry about them climbing out and hurt themselves. I am also afraid of running into the problem you mentioned at an early age. I think if the cribs are long enough for the baby's height, I would prefer to keep them in there until age 3.

 

I also wouldn't spank because you're creating a negative assocation with the beds when you want them to be comfortable sleeping in them.

I think the best solution at this point would be to try the crib tents. My boys are 21 months and I can't imagine putting them in beds yet! They'd be up, running around and getting into a ton of trouble when they should be sleeping. Not worth the frustration, IMO!

Michelle