Info Needed on Sleep

My son stopped taking naps by age 2, so less napping is Ok. Less napping means more sleeping at night. At lest that was the case at our house. As far as keeping the boys in the bedrooms put up a gate. Don't get hem use to coming into your room every night or you may be battling soon to get them to even go to sleep in their room. My son slept 10- 12 hours many nights but he was go go go from the time he got up till the time he went to bed. Always found something to do or play with. Was a wonderful only child, never need anyone else to help him find a fun activity. He is still that way at age 18.

S.

my daughter is 4.5 and still naps. I use room darkening shades. When i moved her into a toddler bed i put a night light on but shhut the door and gated it. This would cue her to go back to bed. If she needed me i could hear her call my name from the gate and would come and tuck her back in. Just be patient

J.

The same thing happened with my son when we moved him to his toddler bed. We handled it by bringing him back to his room when he would come into ours. After about 3 nights of this he got the point. We didn't gate him in his room at night because the only path from the hallway from his room was to our room (we gated to hall though so he wouldn't wander the house). At any rate, the sleep disturbance is to be expected when you make a change like that so I wouldn't worry. As far as napping less, are they still acting like they need a nap (do they get tired, cranky, etc.) If they still need the nap, the problem should correct itself in a few days just stick to your normal nap schedule. If they are napping WAY less try putting them to bed a little bit earlier so they are not getting overtired. Also, when we moved my son, we had to start darkening his room at naptime because he needed different cues to tell him it was sleep time (before he knew he was stuck in the crib so he went to sleep, but with his new freedom he wanted to climb out of bed to play.) As for how much sleep they need at that age, I think it's about 12 hrs or so but every child is different so if they are unusually cranky then they probably need more sleep. Good luck!

Hi I.,

I found this information in the "Toddler 411" book (by Denise Fields and Ari Brown, MD). I've seen the same info through another source, but can't remember what it was. Anyway, here's the quote from their book:

"How much sleep do kids need? You may be surprised -- that's because many children do not get as much sleep as they should. Here's a ballpark guideline for the amount of sleep a child should get (INCLUDING time spent napping):

1-3 years old: 13 hours
3 years old: 12 hours
4-5 years old: 11 hours"

Based upon the amount of sleep your twins get at night, they may or may not be ready to give-up the daytime nap. Only you can tell. I imagine you'll have to give your kids some time to work through the transition to the new beds before you decide on any major changes to their sleep schedule. Good luck!