Help! How can I make DC1&DC2 go to bed early?

[moonsky]

We moved DC2(2 yrs old) to sleep in the same room as DC1(4yrs old) more than a month ago. Each of them has their own bed. It took almost 2 hrs each day from the time I put them in bed till they fell asleep. They just kept playing. There were no toys in the room. Any advice/tips please? I am due with my third in a few weeks and hope not to deal with this issue any longer. TIA!

[SnuggleBuggles]

Are they getting enough sleep each night? If they are happy playing in there and getting enough sleep (they don't have to be up somewhere in the morning that this is really a problem) then I'd let it be, personally. My kids both take a while to fall asleep many nights. I'm just happy that they are in their room and I don't need to attend to them any more. Once they are in bed I am off duty. :)

Beth

[fivi2]

My twins go through phases of this. I usually end up separating them (one in our bed, one in theirs - we have a 2 bedroom house). Once they fall asleep, we move them back into the same room.

Probably not what you wanted to hear, but that is our only solution!

[moonsky]

My twins go through phases of this. I usually end up separating them (one in our bed, one in theirs - we have a 2 bedroom house). Once they fall asleep, we move them back into the same room.

Probably not what you wanted to hear, but that is our only solution!

Unfortunately, this option will not work for us as the newborn will be sleeping in our room. We only have two bedrooms. There were no problems before when they slept in seperate rooms.

[elephantmeg]

are they tired enough at bedtime? Our only issues is if DD isn't tired enough. Then DD is up and down, calling for us, crying at the door etc. DS doesn't nap and is DONE by bedtime. I have to make sure DD is up from nap by 3:45 at the latest. Bedtime is 8-8:15ish and they get up between 6:30 and 7 generally. And we pretty much ignore them once they are down.

Good luck!

[gatorsmom]

Maybe they are too young for this but for awhile I could get my boys to go to bed by offering to read the Little House on the Prairie books. Then they'd fall asleep while I was reading. :D

at 2yo and 4yo, though, you really need to make sure they are tired. Both Cha Cha and Gator stopped taking naps at 2yo because it meant they didn't fall asleep until 10pm at night. Even when I took away Cha Cha's naps, if he fell asleep in the car in the afternoon after running errands, it meant he wouldn't fall asleep until much later that night.

I dont' have a problem with the boys (or the twins) playing in their beds if they dont' have to be up early in the morning. Both the boys and the twins have spent many an evening in bed singing songs, reading books or playing their LMAX or Ipod. Like Snugglebuggles said, as long as you dont' have to attend to them and they don't have to get up early, it really doesn't hurt anything, you know?

[o_mom]

We would stagger bedtimes if they couldn't be separated. I would put the younger one down first and once he was asleep, bring the older one in. The older one was usually able to follow enough directions that he would lay down and stay in bed as long as there was no one egging him on.