Laughing when put to bed at night

[popsey]

I have twins that are nearly 2 1/2 years old, they both sleep in the same room together (as we don;t have the room to move them to another room).  They have always been put to bed at 7 and once left the room they would just go to sleep, but the past few nights they have started playing up.  My son will make some funny noises and then is sets he sister off into laughther then they both keep laughing and laughing and my daughter keeps talking and it just keeps getting louder and louder takes up to anything between 1/2hour to a hour to them to go to sleep.

Their normal routine is this.

Normally wake anything from 7.30 onwards in some cases sometimes not wake up until 8.30, 9.00 in the morning. 
My daughther wouldn;t have a nap in the morning but my son normally has 1/2 hour at 10.00am, however if he has not got up until 9.00 then I would not give it to him.    When i put him down at 10.00 I have to wake him up after 1/2hour as I want him to have a afternoon nap.

They would normally have lunch about 12ish

I was given them a nap about 1.30 - 2.00 until 3.00 then wake them up.

But I have changed it to 1.00 until about 2.00 so they only have about a 1hr

then they have their tea about 4.30 -5.00
bath at 6.00
milk about 6.30
then in bed for 7

(both go to bed with a teddy and a couple of dummies


Once they are a sleep I don;t hear a peep out of them all night but it is just bugging me why now they are playing up


Perhaps I have been lucky that they have not played me up before but I don;t know what I need to do, I tried changing the afternoon sleep to see it made a difference a couple of times it did but then I had a couple of night when it didn;t

I don;t know what i need to do or what I should do when they play up when going to bed.  any tips or advice would be great

[Layla]

Hi there

I am thinking maybe they are not tired enough at bedtime. Is it the twin that is taking 2 naps that tends to play up a bit. MOst 2.5yo are on 1 nap (actually alot start dropping naps altogether).. so I would maybe try waking they both up at the same time (say around 7.30pm) and offer 1 nap around 1pm. Wake them up by 2.30pm so that they can go to sleep around 7.30-8pm. They might talk/play for 30mins or so and will drift off. But certainly if the nap only ends around 3pm they might not be ready for bed 4hrs later.


hth
layla

[popsey]

I do like them in bed by 7.00 as I just have loads to do in the house in the evening and also don;t normally eat until they have gone to bed.

yesterday I cut out my sons sleep in the morning and he did get upset for a while and just put him outside in the garden and he forgot about it,  They both woke yesterday at 7.15 so played in their cots then got up about 20 mins later.  By 1.00 they are both very tired, put them to bed and they just went straight off got them up at 2.00 then put them to bed at 7.00 and it just happened again just loads of laughing right up until 8.20.  I am not sure what I should do, should i just ignore it as they are happy or should I be telling them off and tell them to go to sleep.  I normally go in there and tell them to go to sleep and lay them down, then after a while I feel I am getting more and more annoyed and not sure if that is making them worse.  some people say just leave them they are happy and yes that is true but am I making them think by leaving them that this is what they should be doing at night time laughing etc.

I am concerned that if I allow them to keep doing this then when they move to beds it will be even harder to control.

Yesterday afternooon when I woke them at 2.00 they weren;t happy and they still wanted to sleep,  so in the afternoon we just went out and about when I got back home about 5.00 zach was just rubbing his eyes and wanting to go to bed I managed a few times to claim him and he wanted his dummy and teddy, gave that to him, then went i put him in the bath he was happy but when I got him to bed he just wanted to keep laughing. 

Is it that I have made him too tired then he has got a second wind?  do you think it could just be a faze?  or do you think this is what should be happening him laughing at bedtime.

really not sure what is for the best, one person said perhaps he needs to go to bed slightly earlier on his own with out his sister then about half an hour later she goes to bed.  What do you think

It is just so strange that this is all come from no where.  Only a week ago he was having nearly a hour in the morning and then soemtimes two hours then going to bed at 7.00 and out like a light , not sure what has happened for it to change so quickly

[Layla]

To be honest I would leave them to it. I think its nice that they can laugh and chat before they nod off. I remember doing the same with my sister.... its very sweet and I would let them bond away . Personally I wouldn't be going in to tell them off... they are not doing any harm to anyone.

[popsey]

Am I not making them think that bed time means bed time though.  At what point should i tell them to go to sleep?  a hour an 20 mins seems a bit excessive doesn;t it ?

[Layla]

My theory has always been that I can't MAKE them go to sleep but I can set the environment for it and they fall asleep when they are tired. In this case, you've done all you can to provide the scene for sleep and let them do the rest.

How are they during the day? Are they cranky, do they seem tired? There was a sudden change of sleep requirements with us around age 2 where total sleep went down to 12hrs.

Most 2.5yo's can handle more then 5hrs A time...its more like 5.5-6hrs A time. My dd would be up from her nap around 1.30-2pm and I would put her down at 7pm and she'd fall asleep at 7:40pm or so.

[Grace's Mom]

My dd can take up to an hour to fall asleep sometimes.
She will talk, sing, roll around, etc.  I just leave her be unless she is really, really crying. This is her way of putting herself to sleep.

I agree about A times
When she started doing this we had to up her last A time and it helped and she was falling asleep with in 20 minutes.

The amount they need will continue to decrease as time goes on

[woopster]

Hiya,  My 2 also share a room and have recently gone into beds.

I stopped the naps during the day some time after they turned two. They weren't going to sleep until gone 9pm! I find even now if they sleep during the day it screws up nightime sleep.

I would suggest waking them earlier. Make sure they are up by 7am.  If they are not sleeping til 8/9pm at night they are more likely to sleep in and by letting them sleep in they won't be as tired that night. Does that make sense?  A few 'early' mornings should help.

Is your bedtime routine calm? We went through a stage of rough play and racing after bathtime thanks to daddy being home!  I've stopped that now 

If you're really desparate you could stagger their bedtimes by 30 mins. I tried this but it didn't work for us as my son won't sleep unless DD is in the room with him.

I tend to leave mine now unless they are out of bed or making such a racket that it affects me putting the baby to sleep. Then I just go in and tell them to be quiet.
 

[popsey]

Thank you all for your comments. 

I have managed to sort out the laughing before bed, although it does go on for about 5 mins that seems to be all and I have just left them too it.  Both going to sleep nicely, but now I have the problem the other end.  I have stopped the morning nap for my son and then put him down about 12.30 - 1.00 until two but the problem i am now finding is that if he wakes about 7.30 - 8.00 he does not seem to beable to make it and I getting crying and wanting to go to bed about 10.30.  it is okay if we go to toddler group or if he plays outside, but if we are inside because of rain then he just get all upset and just wants to sleep then he does not want any thing much for lunch as he is just crying.  Ihave to give him his dummy but he still wants to go up to bed.  What do I ?

[woopster]

If you put him to bed at 10.30 how long would he sleep for?  How would he be in the afternoon?

It could just be a transitional phase - he's not used to it.  I know my 3yo would haappily go bed if I let him.

[popsey]

well he would sleep for ages if I let him but I would wake him, I think 20 mins is all he needs really.  I think it is boredam at times as when he is at toddler group he is not bothered. 

[woopster]

I wouldn't think it was boredom so much as being distracted and not having time to feel tired.

[popsey]

so do you think i should allow him to have 20 mins?

[woopster]

It can't hurt to try. 

[popsey]

I managed to sort out the laughing before bed but then the last couple of nights it has come back, I think that is because I gave him a 10 - 20 min nap in the morning (well I am hoping that is the problem).  But the last couple of mornings I have had a waking at 6.00 am and just laughing and messing around then screaming and shouting and then this morning it was 5.20am and I though there is no way I am getting in to this getting up that early in the morning so I have just been going in clamly and laying them both down and giving them their dummies, but that can keep going on for half an hour, but then they do go back to sleep.  But I just don't understand how this can change as well, going from waking at 7.30 onwards normally to waking and laughing.

What have I done wrong?? and what should I be doing?  Sometimes my daughter is getting out of her sleeping bag then it worries me as she sometimes will take her nappy off.  When I go in their to get them to sleep I am not saying anything to them nor look at them just lay them down. 

I really don;t want them getting in to this early waking as it is probably not helping them being in the same room but I don;t think there is anyway I could seperate them.