For those whose twins share a room and are in beds

My boys will be 2 in June. I did not want to put them in beds yet, but one sleeps in the co-sleeper and he is now just about the length of the bed. They play and laugh for around 30 minutes before they fall asleep- and while it is very cute to listen to, I can only imagine what would be going on if they are in beds instead of cribs.

For those who have already made the transition, have you had problems with them playing, tearing the room apart, etc? Has anyone used a bed tent (they say for ages 3+ but just curious) to help create some divided space in the room?

We don't have the option of putting them in separate rooms- so I would love to hear how things went for some of you.

Thanks!

 

Honestly, it only worked for us if someone was in there (99% of the time me) until they were asleep. We started going out and going back in to tell them to go to sleep, but it got tiring after the 30th time. Good luck.

 

Ours share a room... at 2 yrs I attempted toddler beds in the same room. oh my horrible! ours were the same chattering for probably 30 min. before falling asleep before open beds. then it was just disastrous. I went ahead and went back to cribs & crib tents. that has worked great for us until just recently. the past couple of months my ds broke his tent and could get out of it. So we finally just took it down. for the most part he does well, but there are many times when he's pretty hyper too... and not ready for sleeping. then that just winds up my dd. she's still in a crib & tent, but constantly asks for the tent to stay open... of course I tell her if she gets out even one time I have to zip it back up.

the moral of my story is if there is anyway to contain them, do it! Maybe even containing 1 in a crib? Do you have 2 cribs in the room? you talked about a co-sleeper...

if you have cribs, are they crawling out? I recommend sleep sacks and/or crib tents highly... those really helped to keep ours in.

I'm sure though that if you are able to "train" them to stay in bed on command... that would be the best solution... it just doesn't seem to work for us... UGH! Maybe I need to be more persistant...

good luck!

 

we transitioned our girls to toddler beds at 18 months. we took everything out of their room (including the lightbulbs in their overhead light because they could reach the light switch & liked to turn it on & leave it on). we bought closet locks for their closet. we took all the clothes out of their drawers. anything that needed to stay in there we put on a high shelf we installed (white noise machine, humidifier, night light, etc) & ran the wires behind their change table into one of these.

then we just put them to bed as usual & left them to it. for the first week, they often would run around in there, giggling & chasing each other for up to an hour, sometimes even two. unless screaming or tears ensued, we didn't go back in. eventually they would fall asleep, although more often than not it was on the floor. ardon: we would just move them back into their beds before we went to bed. after a while (a couple of weeks at least), the novelty wore off & the running around time decreased. now they're easily asleep within 30 minutes tops. as they've gotten older, we've added things back into their room - they have their books & stuffies in there now & we rarely lock the closet unless we hear them playing in there. HTH!

 

We did the transition shortly before they turned 2. For a couple of weeks they did fantastic, I have their room so dark they probably didn't even realize they weren't contained in cribs anymore :lol: Then my ds realized he had freedom, and the one night we spent 2 hrs putting them back to bed. I finally dug out a pack n play, and everytime they got up, we took their paci's and their stuffies away, and put them in their beds, and put the twins in the pnp. We explained that if they wanted their paci's and stuffies, they needed to go to bed and stay in bed. Within 3 days my dd was staying in bed again, it took my ds a little longer, about a week ( he's stubborn), but once we did that, they went back to going to bed like champs.

Now, the only time we have issues, is if they nap too long, or too late, or are overtired. Most of the time they stay in bed, and are asleep within 30 mins.

 

I changed shortly after they turned two, and aside from a little clothes mess (until I put their clothes in totes) they had no issues. They still share a room and sleep in beds right next to each other (their choice.)

 

We had to move our boys to toddler beds around 18 months because they were both climbing out of their cribs. We have locked up their closet and child proofed the heck out of their room and also we installed a very tall heavy duty gate at their door. They will play for a little while in there but I know that there is nothing that can hurt them and they ususally just fall asleep within 20min. The thing that has been a life saver for us is the gate. It basically has turned their room into a giant crib, and I know that they cant get out and are safe in there until the morning. The gate has a little swinging door that locks, its about 4ft tall and has vertical bars so they cant climb over it.
I will say for the first month they would play and fall asleep in each others beds together almost every night, I would just let them do their thing and then move them once they fell asleep. We also found out that by putting them to bed a little later cuts down on their playing or destruction of the room.

 

Our are 20 months and still in cribs (one big crib to be precise given the crib hopping we experienced). They usually talk and play for a bit before falling asleep each night -although i also found as with a previous poster, that they more tired they are, the less they play. usually my daughter will fall asleep first and her brother will be shaking her a bit to see if he can wake her until he realizes she's out for the night and will just curl up near her and fall asleep....

but when it comes to naptime, they will literally play for an hour before passing out....no matter how tired they are....and its my son who falls asleep first for naps....then its his sister who literally will climb on top of him and stand on him to try to keep him awake..... and this is why we have VIDEO MONITORS!

 

You all have totally made me laugh. The one who sleeps in the co-sleeper- which is essentially like a pack n play- has just discovered tonight how to climb in with the help of a basket upside down, but doesn't yet have the leverage to get out. We are moving in about a month- so we are going to try to hold off at least until then. I am also hoping I can find a crib on freecycle. Otherwise, I can see a scenario like Miss Bossy. Good thinking on the lightbulb- they have discovered light switches this week too. The gate is another great idea.

It's so much fun to read about how everyone's twins interact. They are so funny together. Thanks for all of the great ideas.

 

We transitioned the twins at a year into their day beds (convertible cribs) and we had no issues at all. There were a few times that Gavin will get out of his bed and then fall asleep on the floor, but we only have a few stuffed animals and books in there for them to play with...so I'm sure that the play time is short lived by the time they pass out.

However, Olivia hates her bed now. We are waiting to transition my oldest with Gavin in bunk beds shortly. So in the meantime, Olivia falls asleep in our bed and then I put her in her bed when I go to bed. She loves our king size bed! When she gets her own room, she will get a Queen bed and be a true princess. For us, its just been a matter of trial and error. I think that you just have to bite the bullet and pray for the best!

A friend of mine put up a dividing wall with her twins and she said that worked like a dream.

 

Oh my!!! you guys are scaring me!! My singleton transitioned to a toddler bed at 24 months and it was not an issue at all - he went to bed and stayed there. Twins are so much more misceivious!! My twins have already done so many "naughty" things my first never dreamed of doing...