Transitioning twins from cribs to beds

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03-19-2012
mikeys_mom

Transitioning twins from cribs to beds

My twins are just over 3yo. My plan is to keep them in their cribs as long as we can. Lately one of them has been asking about moving to a bed and getting rid of her crib. Her sister on the other hand reminds me that she likes her crib and doesn't want a bed yet. We are considering taking down 1 crib and giving her the Ikea Mammut toddler bed that we have from the older kids. I figure it might be easier to move them one at a time to avoid party central in their room once they realize they can climb out of bed.

Has anyone done this? Did it work or not make a difference?
03-19-2012
twowhat?

We JUST did this, but both at once! Ours are 3.5 and one of them finally figure out how to climb out of the crib. We took the side off of the cribs to convert to toddler beds, so that they would still have the security of sleeping in a familiar space. It's worked out great. Naps are a goner, for sure - they play and talk and DO NOT NAP. But - they're at the age where they're giving up naps anyway so I don't mind. At bedtime they are too tired to really protest and have stayed put all night, in part I think because they're afraid to get out and wander in the dark:)

We repeat repeat repeat and repeat the rules: stay in your bed.

Anyway all that is just to say - is it an option to remove the side of the crib for the twin who doesn't want to give up her crib? And do you think it would be enough for the twin who wants a bed? For our girls, removing the side by itself was more than enough of a novelty and they were SUPER SUPER excited about it and we simply started to call the cribs "beds" instead. Maybe sweeten the deal with some new bedding?

I doubt that having one in a crib and one in a bed will cut down on party central if they are sharing a room. When DD2 figured out how to climb out, she just got DD1 (still stuck in crib) all riled up at naptime, if not more so because it was new for her to be out of the crib!
03-20-2012
mikeys_mom

Removing the side of the crib would be ideal, unfortunately neither crib has that option. I thought that one did (the one we originally bought for DS) but after looking into it, it seems we only bought the conversion kit for it to become a double bed, not for a toddler bed. It's a Morigeau-Lepine crib and the company is now out of business so no chance of ordering the toddler option now. The second crib is from BIL & SIL who bought it for their DS who is now 12yo. They didn't make ones with the convertible feature back then. Oh well...

Last night the two of them were being so crazy in their cribs it took forever for them to settle down. Makes me want to keep them in the cribs as long as possible. The twin who wants to be in a bed is actually the one who is more likely to follow the rules and go to sleep. It's her wild sister who tends to rile them up. They don't nap anymore so I've got no worries there. It's bedtime craziness that scares me, especially since my older 2 are still up after the twins go to sleep, so it's not exactly super quiet in the house. Ack! Still not sure what to do. I suppose I will try to put off the transition for now and see if she continues to ask about it.
03-20-2012
twowhat?

Good luck!! There is something about twin girls and all that talking. A few nights ago I discovered them in their room, in the dark, an HOUR after bedtime, taking turns putting their mouths over the Crane elephant humidifier trunk and sucking in the mist, and shaking their straw cups of water upside down over each other's heads. And they used up an entire box of Kleenex wiping up the water.
05-19-2012
AJP

Quote:

Originally Posted by twowhat?

Good luck!! There is something about twin girls and all that talking. A few nights ago I discovered them in their room, in the dark, an HOUR after bedtime, taking turns putting their mouths over the Crane elephant humidifier trunk and sucking in the mist, and shaking their straw cups of water upside down over each other's heads. And they used up an entire box of Kleenex wiping up the water.

Oh, I know this post is a few months old but I just had to LOL!!! This is so funny and adorable at the same time! When I have bad days I try to see the love and humor in watching my twins do the twin stuff. Including when one gave her sister a dusting powder bath while the other gave her sister the aquaphor bath. Nightmare at the time, but so sweet looking back!
When we transitioned to beds we kept gates on their doors (across the hall from eachother). They would giggle at eachother from their gates and tell eachother "go to bed silly billy" and "I love you silly billy"!
To the OP, we have morigeau cribs and while we never converted them I believe you can just take off on side rail and use a bed bug bumper to keep them from falling out. I don't think the side rail (drop side is what we had) is really needed to keep the other 3 sides together. We're going to try this when DS is done with his crib b/c his room is too small for a full bed.
05-20-2012
twowhat?

Quote:

Originally Posted by AJP

Oh, I know this post is a few months old but I just had to LOL!!! This is so funny and adorable at the same time! When I have bad days I try to see the love and humor in watching my twins do the twin stuff. Including when one gave her sister a dusting powder bath while the other gave her sister the aquaphor bath. Nightmare at the time, but so sweet looking back!
When we transitioned to beds we kept gates on their doors (across the hall from eachother). They would giggle at eachother from their gates and tell eachother "go to bed silly billy" and "I love you silly billy"!
To the OP, we have morigeau cribs and while we never converted them I believe you can just take off on side rail and use a bed bug bumper to keep them from falling out. I don't think the side rail (drop side is what we had) is really needed to keep the other 3 sides together. We're going to try this when DS is done with his crib b/c his room is too small for a full bed.

Definitely! Thanks for the reminder! I need lots of those:)