Older twins: transition to toddler bed?

CateElizabeth

If you have twin toddlers sleeping in the same room, how was your transition to a toddler bed?  How old were they when you transitioned?  My older boys are 2.4 and one is starting to climb out of his crib when put in for short periods of time while I do something like feed the baby brothers a bottle, switch laundry, give a baby a quick bath, etc.  He doesn't do this at sleep times (he's in a sleep sack, and can't get a leg up in the sack).  But we need to start thinking about the transition.  I am afraid that with 2 of them roaming free, I will need to worry about the diaper pail, the dresser (won't they pull all their clothes out?) and a variety of other things they could get into while no one is there to watch them.  If I have to put their whole wardrobe back in the drawers every day, I will go insane.  How is this done with two little wildmen to egg each other on?  If one starts to misbehave, his brother is a great audience.  Ideas?

floridakat

We're at 21 months, and both girls can climb in and out of their cribs (while wearing their sleep sacks, although it slows them down a little). As soon as we realized they could get out, we completely babyproofed their room. Put up a shelf for diaper creams and wipes. Took everything out of the dresser except clothes. Moved everything up out of reach in their closet except toys/clothes. 

We put a doorknob guard on the inside of their door so they can't open it from the inside. We haven't converted their beds yet, because they pretty much stay in their cribs at naptime/bed time if we ask them not to climb out.

We haven't used the cribs to contain them since before they could walk, so I can't speak to that, but I would just do as much babyproofing as you need to do so that they will be safe. If they repeatedly empty their dresser, you could put latches on the drawers temporarily.  

keg

When my DDs were a little over 2 (almost 2 and 2 months), one demonstrated she could consistently climb out at naptime.  Then her sister decided to try and almost fell on her head.  Luckily it was a long weekend and we decided to just convert their beds.  First of all, we took out everything but their dresser, a low bookcase, and their beds.  We made sure the dresser and bookcase were anchored to the wall and at the beginning, we didn't have any books on the bookcase.  We also but a childproof knob on the inside of their door so they couldn't get out.  Nights were nearly as bad as I expected.  The climber went in her bed the first night and that was pretty much it.  Her sister fussed and wound up falling asleep in front of the closed door, but after that night, she was fine.  For the most part, they didn't pull things out of their drawers or get into nearly as much as I expected.  I had "locks" for their bifold closet doors, but quit using them when it was clear they weren't bothering with them.  We also wound up moving a rocker/recliner back in their room.  Does this mean their room is never a mess?  Far from it.  On the weekends they will wake up and happily play together for quite a while and often it means "reading" quite a few books which are all over the floor.  However, it's a small price to pay in my world.

Naps were definitely more complicated than night, but we were having issues before we converted their cribs.  We wound up seperating them into different rooms and they still, for the most part, nap in pack n plays on the weekends in different rooms.  Occassionally someone won't nap, but they still get some quiet time. 

ppants

I kept my b/g twins who shared a room in cribs until they were 3.  We moved to toddler beds then.  I told them they can talk for a little bit, but have to stay in bed.  They were PT'd at that time and we used a monitor so to call for help if they needed to use the bathroom.  They would get out of bed and wrestle around on the floor and things would get too loud.  They'd get a warning and then if it contined, I'd started removing stuffed animals from bed.  I'm so happy that time is over! 

jbl126

My girls were around 2 1/2 when we converted to toddler beds.  And yes, it was a nightmare for a few weeks.  They did take everything out of the drawers that they could reach.  The took the nightlight out of the wall and took it apart.  Emptied out a container of wipes.  They did things I wouldnt even think of.

And then we put them in a full size bed together since they like sleeping together.  And eventually we learned to take everything out of their reach and stressed how they were not allowed in their drawers.  And yes, we would have to go in and repeat this many times.

And then it died down.  Now they stay in their bed and while they may not fall asleep right away, they dont get out and destroy their room anymore.