3 year old twins won't go to sleep!!!

Hello-

I used to come to twinstuff all the time while I was pregnant and in the beginning months- I haven't had much time in the past several years!! I was curious what people do to encourage their toddlers to go to sleep and not to talk and jump on their beds for over an hour!! My girls are very good most of the time- and I do discipline- but for some reason nothing is working. I am so tired of going up and down the stairs to get them to go to bed- I know they are tired but then they get each other keyed up!! I am a very scheduled person about bedtime and this is driving me crazy!!!!


Beth

Elizabeth 8
Caroline 6
Megan and Lucy- ID twins age 3

 

Hello-

I used to come to twinstuff all the time while I was pregnant and in the beginning months- I haven't had much time in the past several years!! I was curious what people do to encourage their toddlers to go to sleep and not to talk and jump on their beds for over an hour!! My girls are very good most of the time- and I do discipline- but for some reason nothing is working. I am so tired of going up and down the stairs to get them to go to bed- I know they are tired but then they get each other keyed up!! I am a very scheduled person about bedtime and this is driving me crazy!!!!


Beth

Elizabeth 8
Caroline 6
Megan and Lucy- ID twins age 3

 

Ha, I'm laughing here as I sat down to post a very similar message on twinstuff! My b/g twins turn three in ten days and their bedtime routine is largely going down the tubes. Some nights they are in bed by 8 PM and asleep soon after. Tonight they went to bed a little after 8 PM and I just went into their room for a third time with the threat that there would be no school tomorrow if they did not rest.

Rather than dissect my approach here, I am interested in learning what are the night time routines and schedules for those with twins in the 2 1/2 - 3 1/2 range. Additional comment/question: for nearly a year, my kids could take a 3 hour PM nap and turn around and go to bed at the same time with no consequence. May this be changing?

Many thanks. I look forward to reading about others' experiences.

Susan, mom to b/g twins, Benjamin and Eve, 12/29/03

 

Oh Boy! When the boys turned 3 our bedtime routine got turned upside down. We were shocked and very stressed out.

The one thing that worked for us was to pull one of them out of the room and separate them (sort of as a timeout). We have a guest bedroom and usually when we separated them at least one of them would fall asleep and they both calmed down. It took us a few weeks to figure out how to do this successfully.

Afternoon naps could seriously be affecting your routine.

GOod Luck

 

We went through just a few bouts with them not wanting to go to sleep. They wouldn't play/talk, but Brady would call out every 2 minutes for a drink, to go potty, etc.

Taking away toys/privileges has always worked for me. At that age, taking away TV time was a biggie. I would tell Brady, "You have to lay quietly now and go to sleep. Otherwise, tomorrow when Hayden is watching a video, you'll have to come play up in your room by yourself." After I followed through a couple times, it only took the warning for him to settle down.

 

I did the same thing as Amy. What worked the best for me was to threaten and follow through on taking away a lovey. Now all I have to do is to remind them that I will turn all the lights off, makes them settle right down.

 

It's the lovey thing here too. I warn and then take away their blankies if they don't go to sleep. I will usually only take them away for about 3 minutes (like a toy timeout) and when I give it back to them they lay down and usually don't make a peep.

 

We have the same problem here. Most nights end with a threat to turn off the lights and leave them in complete darkness. It usually works. Without the lights on they can't read or see eathother and they hate that.

Good luck! Keep us posted.

Lisa

 

We don't have this problem here (yet?) but John Rosemond wrote about it in his column this weekend. He said to let them be, assuming they're staying in their room and not yelling or crying for you. He said they would eventually go to sleep, so don't stress about it. If they aren't getting enough sleep because they're staying up playing, put them in their room sooner. I don't know if it will work since I haven't had to try it, but that was his advice.
j

 

My girls are 3 and we struggle with bed times. They play together, talk, jump...you name it. I was getting very frustrated with them until DH pointed out that it's like having a slumber party every night. They get to have their "best friend" to go to bed with. One thing that we do is they have a portable DVD player that they watch movies on in bed. It keeps them quiet, still and usually calm until they fall asleep. Just thought I'd share.

 

Hmmm, I don't think that we have a magic formula, but bedtime runs pretty smoothly at our house. Our woes really came when we put them into big girl beds at just over 2 years of age. Once 3 was approaching, our routine had really sunk in and they just knew that lights out mean lights out. I can't imagine that our routine differs too much from anybody's but here it is:

6:30-bath
Around 7pm-PJ's on
7:15 snacks and sippy of milk while they watch Treehouse (usually a Christmas show these days)
7:30 - Brush teeth (one brushes, the other picks out a book, then they switch off)
7:40: DH reads the books they pick out while I cuddle with them
7:50: Dh says goodnight-hugs and kisses, I turn out the lights, sing them each "The Sunshine song", we say our "God Bless You's", then I lay with each of them in turn (alternate who goes first each night) and sing them "Hush little baby".
Some friends have said that this is a bit much for bedtime, but it really only takes 10 minutes and it's nice for all of us.
8pm-I say goodnight, leave the room and rarely get called back in. If you envy this, just know that before they were 2 and 1/2 I never slept through the night once without getting summoned--my record was 7 gruelling times.

Oh, an important point. They also stopped napping around 3 (we moved to a "quiet time" and they rarely fall asleep during that time now), so they are tired at bedtime. Good luck. The older they get, the easier it will become.

 

Hello-

Thanks everyone for responding- I just found my old log in name from 3 years ago- I had assumed it had expired!

Last night I followed John Rosemond's advice- I turned the moniter off- I have no idea what time they went to bed- but it was wonderful!!
They never came out- and as far as I was concerned they had gone to bed at 7:30!!! Thanks whoever responded with that info- and everyone else!!!

 

Nice.
Always nice not having to go back in. I know I do once in a while now. Some days they try and get each other in deep.Laurens yells Kris is out of bed(9/10 shes peeking out the door), or vice versa(lauren sits on floor. I ignore them but listen for foot steps in the hall.

Age 2 is all practice for age 3! lol 2 is learning the fun tricks and age 3 is adding more fun to it.

 

OMG Beth - do you live in MY house?? My girls are three too and we are having the same problem - just started about 2 weeks ago!! I am hoping it's a phase!!

Janet