Crib to Toddler Bed with Twins...

My daughter went to a toddler bed when she was 18 months. She seemd to want a bed. She is very independent. We havn't had a hard time with her getting out. However i couldn't of down this with out are video monitor. It's cost a little bit of money. but it is so worth it. I sleep so much better at night when i can look over and see her in her bed. It's also good when she does get out of her bed(very few times this happens) I can tell her outside of her roomwithout her seeing me to get back into bed. And she will jump back in and she knows im watching her so she doesn't try anything.

I think no matter when you switch to the big boy bed, it will be tough for a few nights but it is really exciting for the kids so they may love it. I would definately get a gate, especially if you have stairs, make sure the gate can not be climbed over though. Maybe let the boys pick the sheets they want (spiderman or Thomas, whoever they want.) You can also get doorknob locks, so its not even possible for them to open the door.
I always think something is going to be difficult for my kids and it never fails every time they shock me, and I worried more about it than was needed. So they may love it and do really well, especially if they think they are big boys now. They see big sister in a big bed so that helps too.

P.S. my son is down the hall from me with no monitor and I can hear him before he leaves his room. I think its a MOM thing.

Best of luck

wow. they don't even try to get out? My boys were scaling the cribs and escaping by the time they were ten months old. I wouldn't worry until they try to get out about switching because once they're in beds they have a lot more freedom and you just have to be more alert to what they do. My two youngest are in regular beds now but they're 7 and 5. They still get up sometimes in the middle of the night and wander around the house. Fortunately they have no interest in going outside when it's dark so no escapes or anything.

C.,

I caught my son trying to climb out of his crib and was afraid he would break his neck, so I switched him to a regular twin size bed at 20 mos. I put one of the long sides and the top in a corner against the wall and a side rail on the open side that extended a little beyond half way down the length of the bed (so he wouldn't accidentlly roll out in his sleep).

The transition was easy, I just got rid of the crib and put the bed in the room. Occasionally, in the beginning, he would get out of bed and come out of the room, but it just took me being firm and consistent to convince him to stay in bed--if he got out of bed, I'd pick him up, tell him it was bedtime, and tuck him back in. He soon learned that I wsn't going to let him stay up, so he just stopped trying.

I did let him have some small, soft toys in the bed and sometimes would hear him moving around on the bed or playing a little bit, but he usually fell asleep after a while. Sometimes he would get up to play in his room. I didn't discourage this because I figured if he wasn't tired, he wasn't tired. But then when he'd fall asleep on the floor, I'd just lift him back into bed before I went to bed. Sometimes, actually often, he would wake up before I did in the morning and just play in his room or come in to wake me up. The tiny apartment was "baby-proofed" so it wouldn't have mattered much if he wandered around. One morning, I caught him in the pantry eating a cinnamon roll.

If the wandering around is not something you are comfortable with, you might consider the baby gate option, though if they wanted to, I guess they could climb it, so I'd make sure the house was secure and baby-proofed just in case.

As for child escape artists (my son was a mini Houdini), try putting a chain lock high up on the doors that lead to the outside. But even that will only work for a while. My son learned to grab the broom from beside the 'fridge and use the handle to slide the chain off (don't ask me how he figured that out because I have no idea). So you might want to lock up the broom too. ;)

Good luck. I'm sure it will go fine.

I still have one baby in a crib and a son who's in his own bed. What I did with my son is I created a nighttime routine to help him unwind. You can customize your routine to your lifestyle. I would give my son a bath, read him a story, and then put him in his bed. I did have a gate in the doorway because almost all kids try to escape. When my son would climb out of bed I would go in his room, lay him back down, tell him "mommy loves you goodnight". It takes a lot of patience and sometimes it can take a very long time. Children do have less behavioral problems when they live a structured lifestyle. (I'm taking early childhood education and I've not only studied this but experienced it with my son as well). Once the routine is developed they tend to fall into it without very many hitches. If there is a fear problem of any sort, a nightlight usually does the trick. Don't get any fancy cute nightlights because they tend to cast wierd shadows that plain clear nightlights dont. Good luck with this, I know it's very tough.

I just transitioned my 29 month old twins to twin beds this week. They sleep in the same room, so I was expecting the worst. Their closet doors slide open and shut, so we bought two small shower tension rods and pinned them up at the top of the closet doors, so the doors are "locked" closed whenever they are sleeping. I nearly emptied their dresser so it just has diapers and PJs in it, so if they decided to empty the contents, it wouldn't take long for me to throw it all back into the dresser. (I have a second dresser in the closet with most of their clothing and that is locked shut during nighttime. Strap all your furniture to the wall, just incase they decide to climb on it. We also installed a door handle with a butotn lock on it. You know, the kind that locks when you push a button on one side, and unlocks when you turn the handle? We installed it backwards, so we can lock the twins in their room. Of course we'll have to stop using this once we're potty trained, but for now, it's working great.

With all that said, the twins have had 4 nights in their "big beds" and nothing! Not a peep, hardly a shuffle. (I still have the baby monitor in there) The problem I'm having is with naptime. They are not settling down for naps and they are just jumping on the beds and playing (making for very tired toddlers by bedtime!) But they are sleeping 12-13 hours at night with no problems (which is normal for them)

Hope some of this helps! Good luck.