We just transitioned our GBB 35 month olds to toddler beds. Prior to the beds we had crib tents and the kids seemed to enjoy 'naptime' the would either sleep or play quietly. The boys share a room and our dtr is in her own room (she has been since before age 2 as she was keeping the boys awake.
Since the transition to beds the kids do not nap. I call it quiet time, but it is now just a time to destroy their rooms. I am going out of my mind!!!!

I loved the 1.5-2 hr stretch when I knew they were safe and I could run around and get things done, now I either have to break up fights, tell them to be quiet or clean up a HUGE mess!
To make matters worse one of my boys just needs to nap -- he is cranky and horrible to deal w/ when he doesn't sleep. He will not go up to his room w/o his brother though. Since not napping my dtr wakes up for long stretches in the middle of the night 2AM-4AM demanding stuff.
I have also tried putting all 3 together, but that was a disaster!

What to do? Take out all toys from room? Just have them watch tv quietly in their playroom and skip 'naptime all together???
Suggestions?? Thank you -- I need a little peace but don't know how to get it AND my house is falling apart cause I can't get anything done!!!

This is similar to what happened with my singleton - once out of the crib, she was over nap time. That said however, she really hadn't been napping in her crib either for a long time, but it was still quiet time.
I'm wondering about a couple of things that might be helpful...

1. Create some bed-time rules for nap and night. They should be simple and short - for example: stay in bed. Stay quiet. close your eyes. go to sleep. Go over the rules every nap/night time with the kids. Write them on a poster board and put them up in both the bedrooms. Start a sticker chart so that there is an incentive to follow the rules with a "prize" after 5 nights/days of great napping. Make the rules positive and what you want them to do, not what they should not do.

2. While they are getting used to the new routine/rules, have a sit-in during nap time. Sit in the room (I guess the boys room if they are the most challenging right now). Don't say anything. When they get out of bed, calmly without any talking put them back in. It might be crazy at first, but stick with it once you start.

So for what's it's worth, those are my ideas. Hope something helps. Good luck!

Janet
G - 12/07 35 weeks
GGG-04/10 30 weeks

Why did you take them out of their cribs? My trio are 3.5 and only my daughter is out of her crib (she has her own room like your daughter). We moved her to her "big girl" bed shortly after her third birthday. My 2 boys were just not ready yet. In fact, only one is kind of ready to transition to a big bed now so we are going to definitely move him after the holidays and just play it by ear with my other son. I frequently tell the boys we are going to be moving to a "big boy" bed and they tell me they like thier beds. When I point out they will get a bed like thier sisters, some days they are excited but most days they could care less. LOL I know some people look at me like I am nuts when they hear I have 3.5 year olds still in cribs, but oh well. My kids still nap 2.5 to 3 hours each day and I know that this would definitely not happen for my boys if they were not in the cribs. I have one like you who really needs his nap and just as importanly I need and love my time in the afternoon. I hope all works out for you.......good luck!

Stacey

I agree with the PP. Maybe you moved them too soon. I know everyone is always in a hurry up and move on to the next stage mode but why? I have a sister who moved her babies into twins when they were barely 2! I never moved my kids before 3, usually more like three and a half. When I finally put my trio in toddler beds, they kept telling me they wanted their old beds back! My youngest will be three at the end of this month and no way is she ready for a toddler bed. She naps and sleeps beautifully in her beautiful crib, which will convert to a toddler and or twin bed. My attitude has always been 'if it's not broken, why fix it!"

Guess I don't have any advice either other than the "sit with them until they learn" strategy. Doesn't sound like much fun to me, especially around the holidays. Hope it works for you though! I'm sure they'll eventually get it.

Ellyn and the lucky 13!





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>Why did you take them out of their cribs? My trio are 3.5
>and only my daughter is out of her crib (she has her own room
>like your daughter). We moved her to her "big girl" bed
>shortly after her third birthday. My 2 boys were just not
>ready yet. In fact, only one is kind of ready to transition
>to a big bed now so we are going to definitely move him after
>the holidays and just play it by ear with my other son. I
>frequently tell the boys we are going to be moving to a "big
>boy" bed and they tell me they like thier beds. When I point
>out they will get a bed like thier sisters, some days they are
>excited but most days they could care less. LOL I know some
>people look at me like I am nuts when they hear I have 3.5
>year olds still in cribs, but oh well. My kids still nap
>2.5 to 3 hours each day and I know that this would definitely
>not happen for my boys if they were not in the cribs. I have
>one like you who really needs his nap and just as importanly I
>need and love my time in the afternoon. I hope all works out
>for you.......good luck!

Thank you for your response --- we had crib tents for all 3 kids and the zippers on all of them broke plus there were multiple tears and rips that I sewed several times over that were not holding!!! BELIEVE me I was not looking forward to moving them to beds and planned to wait till they were older, but it did not seem feasible to buy 3 more crib tents when we could get 3 toddler beds for the same price. My kids are also really tall and safety was also a factor in thinking about buying another set of tents.
Anyway, I'll figure something out.
Thanks

Mine nap better now that they are in beds...the last couple months of crib tents they had party after party in there unzipping them, throwing things out, taking off clothes etc..when we put them in beds we split the girl out into her own room and that helped a lot, but we made the rules firm from the first time and it was it you get out or kick or are loud you get a spanking and for about 2-3 nights/naps someone got a spanking and now very rarely does anyone not go right to sleep

Joy

GBB Triplets born 9-24-08(31 weeks)

Kellynn Grace 3lbs 3oz
Holden Coy 3lbs 2oz
Cayden Thomas 3lbs 8oz

http://hilltriplets.shutterfly.com/

We transitioned ours to toddler beds on their 3rd birthday. Things went pretty smoothly for us, however they each have their own room and I think that makes a big difference. If you can't separate them into their own room I would definitely take all of their toys out of their room until they get the new beds down. I would say that your room is for sleep and the playroom is for toys and play. Then when they calm down a bit let them take one things to bed. ???? Do you think that would help any?? I know when we go visit my mom all of mine have to sleep in the same room and they definitely play more since they can interact with each other. Maybe like someone else said...do a sit in and each time they get up put them back in, etc. without saying a word. Do you have a sound machine that they use? Sorry you are going through this. I know I value my naptime as well and will be very depressed when they drop it. Good luck!

Kim ~ Proud Mom to GBB Triplets
Born @ 35 weeks on July 24, 2008

we moved our girls to toddler beds a few months ago. They are 2 1/2 (today!) and really took the opportunity to cause trouble like it sounds like yours are doing. They've pulled on window blinds, torn off wallpaper, and fought and fought and fought. We have quiet time for 2 hours each afternoon. They have a few books and stuffed animals in their room but that's it. They didn't nap for the first month and a half or so, or one would nap and the other two would play. Then finally they started falling asleep right before it was time to get up. The last 3 days they have napped. Here's what we tried: we have an alarm clock that lights up when it's okay to wake up (called 'Okay to Wake' or something like that). It doesn't make noise but turns on a green light when they can get up. For the first two days they napped I gave them tylenol before naps because they are getting molars and it worked! Today I didn't give them tylenol but we bought these little stuffed animals that are filled with buckwheat and lavender that go in the microwave and get warm and they could snuggle with them. Hopefully they'll get back in the habit to nap. I know I need that time. I tried sitting in there and putting on a movie downstairs and neither of those strategies worked for us. It's exhausting. Good luck.

Brenda
mom to GGGs born 6/29/09 at 32w4d

I definitely feel your pain. The transition to big beds almost a year ago has been a process of figuring out how to help them sleep well together and continue to nap.

Some things that have helped us is that the only items in their room are lovies and their beds. Also a loud air purifier and fan for white noise. The other thing that helps is that on preschool days they don't nap and we put them to bed at 6 pm. Preschool is Tuesdays and Thursdays. So then they nap Mond, Wed, Fri and on the wknds we decide if they will nap or go to bed at 6pm. Sometimes that feels nice to have them down for the night at 6pm. If they take a nap we still put them down by 7 or 7:30 depending on the length of their nap. The one recent thing that really really helps them take a nap even every day on this past Christmas vacation is that Santa brought them a bounce castle! We have it and only it in our upstairs bonus room. Sounds crazy I know, but great for their development and great for getting energy out on these cold days indoors.

http://tripletmomplusone.blogspot.com/

Mom to BBG 4 year old Triplets and 2 year old Singleton boy.