Parents of twins…

[lo]

Help. My twins are newly 2 and will NOT nap anymore. It’s mostly twin A, I think B would sleep but they share a room. Starting at like 20ish months A started climbing out of her crib, which was the beginning of the end. B quickly followed so they’ve been in toddler beds and haven’t napped since. It’s only their beds, a dresser (anchored) and a rocking chair. No matter what I do, they can get their sleep sacks off and diaper off. They have been potty trained for like 6 months and also have a potty seat in their room and will poop on it and then try to “clean up” which makes a huge mess. I’m scared to take the potty out because then who knows where they would poop.

So basically I have to listen to the monitor and run in if I hear the word “poop.” This is only working because we’ve been in quarantine hell and Christmas break, so I’ll be going back to work next week and grandparents will be doing this. Today I checked on them and they had ripped open the blackout curtains and were ripping the blinds. I have a video monitor but it sucks and they seem to go wherever I can’t see them, somehow.

[tarajane]

I have triplets but I split them up for naps. One in their room, one in our room, (and one in guest/craft room). They get into less trouble when alone.


ETA Even if they are done with naps, my kids still do quiet time separated. 

[kittie3131]

My twins are 5 now. Two was very tough, one twin would climb out of her bed and climb into her sisters bed and the party started. Naps were tough!!

After a few weeks, I started sitting on the floor in their room to get them to sleep at nap time. Bed time was a lot easier, for months it never occurred to the climber to climb out of her bed at bed time.

I ended up doing away with naps at the start of the pandemic. I couldn't spend the time putting the twins down for them to sleep for an hour,to wake up crying all while working from home.

It does get easier, eventually, I promise.

[af1212]

I don’t have twins but I could never get my two kids to nap in the same room even though they slept in the same room at night.

I put one in my room and one in theirs.

[krystee]

I don’t have twins, but after he was out of the crib, I couldn’t get my son to nap in his room ever. I’d set him up on the couch with a musical tv show, and he’d be out in 15 minutes or less, but would never sleep when I tried having him nap in his bed.

[joy]

Newly two and potty trained for six months? Wow.

[grover]

Mine turn 3 in March. They go to bed fine at the same time, but naps.... Either we just have A nap nowadays (and B ends up catnapping around 6 on the couch) OR we put A down for the nap at normal time, and try to wait twenty mins to put B in the room.

We hope to move next year and if we do, we'll be looking for a bigger house so we can split the boys up.

[konapoppy]

Mine are 4

We had to drive them or push them in a stroller to get them to fall asleep, then transfer to their beds. Falling asleep at nap time in toddler beds never worked for us.

Hang in there! You are at a challenging stage.

[mofongo]

Jan 14, 2022 20:26:52 GMT -5 joy said:

Newly two and potty trained for six months? Wow.

Haven’t read past that.

[lo]

The daycare all my kids have attended is Montessori and they believe in early potty training. It wasn’t even on my radar when my oldest was 17/18 months, but they suggested it and we went with it and it worked. My oldest 2 were super easy and really never had accidents after a week or two. The twins have been more challenging (clearly), but they’ve been wearing underwear for 6ish months and have the odd accident. I don’t think I would have been able to potty train them now at 2 since they are so freakin stubborn now and love testing limits.

[lo]

Thank you, everyone! I’ve tried some of the suggestions but some good ideas for me try or revisit. I’m thinking about how I could separate them, since I need to have another baby proofed room and I don’t think I can make that happen. I guess this is just an exhausting phase we need to ride out, lol.

I do need to figure a way for them not to help each other get their sleep sacks off so they can’t get to their diapers. I already put them on backwards, but im thinking safety pinning the zipper. We’ll see if that helps…

[tarajane]

Jan 15, 2022 8:48:58 GMT -5 lo said:

Thank you, everyone! I’ve tried some of the suggestions but some good ideas for me try or revisit. I’m thinking about how I could separate them, since I need to have another baby proofed room and I don’t think I can make that happen. I guess this is just an exhausting phase we need to ride out, lol.

I do need to figure a way for them not to help each other get their sleep sacks off so they can’t get to their diapers. I already put them on backwards, but im thinking safety pinning the zipper. We’ll see if that helps…

I never baby proofed my room. I put the one that is the biggest rule follower in there. They get a book read to them and then I left each of them with some more books. They also got a "tablet" which was like a toy phone, alphabet toy thing, etc. They only get it at quiet time.

I fought separating but I caved and tried it and it helped so much. They are 5 and still do quiet times separated.

[treschic]

I’d put them in pack and plays or at least the one in a different room in one. My daughter is almost 2 and sleeps in one for naps, and will be in her crib until at least 3 for nights. Sleep is a non issue for us and she naps about 2 hours + most days.

[vtdiamond]

Mine are 7 now but the phase when they were out of cribs was a nightmare. We pulled everything out that we could and heavily childproofed everything left in there - drawer locks, closet looked, dresser attached to wall, etc. us coming in and out would only amp them up more so we either would just go in and silently put them back in bed or would separate them until they fell asleep. Good luck, this phase def passed eventually!

[VillainV]

Jan 14, 2022 20:26:52 GMT -5 joy said:

Newly two and potty trained for six months? Wow.

My thoughts exactly. My kid wasn’t even walking 6 months before he turned 2….

[thebreakfastclub]

Potty training well before 2 was the norm 50 years ago in this country, and continues to be the norm in many countries today. I'm sure I'd be more wiling to give it a try at 18 monhts if my kid was in old fashioned diapers and plastic pants that I had to wash every day.

Nobody bats an eye at waiting an extended period of time on the board to start potty training, but plenty of side eyes at starting early.

[icedcoffee]

Not a twin mom, but can you separate them just for nap? My kids can share a room for bedtime but if we try to do it for nap no one will nap. When we travel we will put one kid into another room for nap.

One kid naps and the other has quiet time.

[af1212]

Jan 16, 2022 8:00:08 GMT -5 thebreakfastclub said:

Potty training well before 2 was the norm 50 years ago in this country, and continues to be the norm in many countries today. I'm sure I'd be more wiling to give it a try at 18 monhts if my kid was in old fashioned diapers and plastic pants that I had to wash every day.

Nobody bats an eye at waiting an extended period of time on the board to start potty training, but plenty of side eyes at starting early.

I think a lot of it has to do with lifestyle changes too. I cloth diapered and had one kid trained at 18 mos. The second one was just over 2. The third one was almost 3.

With the first although she was “trained” at 18 mos there was still a lot for the parent to do - help reach things in public places, remind to use the bathroom, help with clothes, looking for signs, etc. By waiting until the last kid was almost 3 there was none of that. She learned to use the bathroom then was off - never had to help her with anything.

I think as parents we are so much more “on the go” now that it’s less practical to train so young. When my grandmother raised her kids they were home all day every day until they started school. No storytimes, tor lot playgrounds, indoor kid play places, etc to go to.

[thebreakfastclub]

Jan 16, 2022 10:11:24 GMT -5 af1212 said:

Jan 16, 2022 8:00:08 GMT -5 thebreakfastclub said:

Potty training well before 2 was the norm 50 years ago in this country, and continues to be the norm in many countries today. I'm sure I'd be more wiling to give it a try at 18 monhts if my kid was in old fashioned diapers and plastic pants that I had to wash every day.

Nobody bats an eye at waiting an extended period of time on the board to start potty training, but plenty of side eyes at starting early.

I think a lot of it has to do with lifestyle changes too. I cloth diapered and had one kid trained at 18 mos. The second one was just over 2. The third one was almost 3.

With the first although she was “trained” at 18 mos there was still a lot for the parent to do - help reach things in public places, remind to use the bathroom, help with clothes, looking for signs, etc. By waiting until the last kid was almost 3 there was none of that. She learned to use the bathroom then was off - never had to help her with anything.

I think as parents we are so much more “on the go” now that it’s less practical to train so young. When my grandmother raised her kids they were home all day every day until they started school. No storytimes, tor lot playgrounds, indoor kid play places, etc to go to.

I found it interesting that the poster was openly questioned/side eyed/not believed for the early potty training, vs the endless support for the opposite timeline and waiting it out.   I was trying to even think of a time that someone had been treated that way recently, but it fails me.

[af1212]

Jan 16, 2022 10:20:28 GMT -5 thebreakfastclub said:

Jan 16, 2022 10:11:24 GMT -5 af1212 said:

I think a lot of it has to do with lifestyle changes too. I cloth diapered and had one kid trained at 18 mos. The second one was just over 2. The third one was almost 3.

With the first although she was “trained” at 18 mos there was still a lot for the parent to do - help reach things in public places, remind to use the bathroom, help with clothes, looking for signs, etc. By waiting until the last kid was almost 3 there was none of that. She learned to use the bathroom then was off - never had to help her with anything.

I think as parents we are so much more “on the go” now that it’s less practical to train so young. When my grandmother raised her kids they were home all day every day until they started school. No storytimes, tor lot playgrounds, indoor kid play places, etc to go to.

I found it interesting that the poster was openly questioned/side eyed/not believed for the early potty training, vs the endless support for the opposite timeline and waiting it out.   I was trying to even think of a time that someone had been treated that way recently, but it fails me.

I didn’t take the posters comments as side eyed/not believed. I took it as surprise/interest 🤷🏼‍♀️

[cari]

Jan 15, 2022 9:05:45 GMT -5 tarajane said:

Jan 15, 2022 8:48:58 GMT -5 lo said:

Thank you, everyone! I’ve tried some of the suggestions but some good ideas for me try or revisit. I’m thinking about how I could separate them, since I need to have another baby proofed room and I don’t think I can make that happen. I guess this is just an exhausting phase we need to ride out, lol.

I do need to figure a way for them not to help each other get their sleep sacks off so they can’t get to their diapers. I already put them on backwards, but im thinking safety pinning the zipper. We’ll see if that helps…

I never baby proofed my room. I put the one that is the biggest rule follower in there. They get a book read to them and then I left each of them with some more books. They also got a "tablet" which was like a toy phone, alphabet toy thing, etc. They only get it at quiet time.

I fought separating but I caved and tried it and it helped so much. They are 5 and still do quiet times separated.

Mine are 4, almost 5, and all this exactly.

[kershnic]

Safety pin the sleep sacks. And separate so at least B naps. My kids desperately needed their naps though so maybe I’m biased. We didn’t drop a nap until almost K. Mine have always shared a room (almost 8 now) but napped separately for a long time.

[aliciabella]

Mine are 7 but at that age I separated them and if they didn't have to nap at the same time they went down when they were individually tired.

Kids regress often with potty training so I personally wouldn't stress and fully diaper to save your sanity.

Gl.

[pickel]

Mom of 2.5 yo twins. We separated them around 6 months because one was a great sleeper and the other was not. They still have separate rooms and nap from 12:30-3. We haven’t tried to potty train yet but I anticipate that effecting naps. God speed, twins are HARD.

[konapoppy]

Jan 26, 2022 15:34:15 GMT -5 pickel said:

God speed, twins are HARD.

SO HARD

[lo]

Ok so I’ll update more tomorrow when I have time, but they have started napping again!! I was thinking about how to separate them and the logistics and started pinning their backwards sleepsacks (why didn’t I do this sooner) until I figured it out, and that seemed to be the key. At least for this moment.

But before they nap, they have to empty all their dresser drawers and push every book in the room under the door. When those 2 things are checked off, they usually fall asleep. I ordered childproof things for the drawers and I’m hoping they’ll lose interest with the books soon. I’m trying to wait them out on that one.