I have twin 28month old girls.They never minded their cribs and would always take afternoon naps. They just started to try to climb out of their cribs. The cirbs that I have do not convert into toddler beds so we bought two twin beds. It has been a nightmare! We have the beds on the floor which may hae been a mistake. It is a challenge to keep the girls in thier bed to fall asleep- they do not come out of the room but they will tear apart the room and play before going to sleep. Any ideas? I am thinking about putting the beds on the frames with bed rails. Once the girls are asleep they stay in their beds till we get them in the morning.
I can't help you, because I'm struggling with the same thing (only one though!). I am anxious to see what others have to say so I can get some pointers.
we went to the bed on the bedframe with all 3 kids - i think the height was intimidating - and they didn't get out. the covers helped, too.
after watching my sister-in-law fly bedrails on vacation to hawaii - (insane) i skipped them all together - and my kids have never fallen out. at some point you have to take away the rails, right?
I have twin boys who are now eleven. When I transferrred from the crib to beds I also had problems. What I did was put the boys in their own beds and then sat at the bottom of one of them until the boys fell asleep. I had no interaction with the boys other than to put them back in bed when they got out, I did not even face them. Believe me when I say that the first couple of nights are very difficult!!!! The boys caught on fairly quickly and it was smooth sailing from there. It is really really important not to talk or interact with them or they will think this is a game. I did explain to them what was going to happen before we started the process. I also found this routine very useful when we went on vacation and they had to adjust to a new room. This worked very, very well for me.
Good Luck !!!!!
K. I.
I can only imagine the challenges when it's times two! Any chance you can strip the room so there is nothing to play with while they are transitioning. I am having nap time challenges with my daughter, bedtime is a breeze. I shoved some stuff in the closet and turned her bookshelves backwards. It's a little inconvenient, but better than the alternative in my book right now. Black out curtains have helped too! GL!!
I just lat week moved my 27 month old from a crib toa toddler bed(yeah I know why a toddler bed when you can just go to a twin but it was FREE!) he also started climbingoutof his crib. He does pretty good staying in his bed sometimes he gets out but gets right back in when I go up. He shares a room right now with his 7 year old sister and is learning from her. When I put him to bed I tell him he has to stay in bed.
I have the GREATEST technique for keeping kids in their beds. Your girls are young but I think they would get this. This is a Ferber method. Tell the girls that they must stay in their beds or the door will have to be closed for a few minutes. There should be no night light, but maybe a little light in the hall. The first time they get out, they get a warning. The second time, the door closes for 20 seconds (you hold it closed). It is dark and they will cry. Then you open the door. "Girls, do you want your door open?" Yes, yes! "Then you must stay in your beds." If they continue to get out, you hold it closed for longer periods of time up to 2 minutes I think. I doubt you will have to do it many times though! I only had to do it twice EVER with my boys. They wanted that door OPEN! I hoipe this works for you. I think Dr. Ferber gets a lot of flack for what people call his "cry it out" technique, but he has so many other ideas in his books that are great! Good luck to you.
