by It’s nap time and you start hearing sounds that you shouldn’t be hearing from your twins’ room. Yikes!
What do you do with your twins climbing out of crib during nap time?
It might look something like this:
This is hard because nap time is your sanctuary of peace and serenity in the house. It’s your chance to take a break. It’s your chance to catch up on the work that you have to do around the house.
So when nap time is interrupted by the twins escaping, that does complicate matters.
When do they escape?
Ask yourself if your twins are climbing out of cribs at nap times, is it at the beginning of nap time or is it at the end of nap time?
(RELATED: Still expecting twins? Will you be having two boys, two girls, or boy/girl twins? Answer these quick questions to see what several old wives’ tales claim you’ll be having….)
If it’s the end of nap time, if they have a rest and they are done, I don’t think that’s as big a problem as if it’s at the beginning of nap time. Because in the beginning, escaping is actually interrupting them and preventing them from getting the sleep that they need.
One thing to consider is: are your twins starting to get older and getting past the need for a nap? If they continue to climb out of their crib, it may be a sign that they’re done napping, or maybe they need to go from two naps down to one nap a day.
Stay with Them
If you’re pretty sure that they still need the sleep, one thing you may consider is stay in the room with them until they actually fall asleep. Then day by day, you slowly move out of the room until they are able to fall back to sleep all by themselves. You may have done something similar when they’re infants trying to get them to sleep by themselves.
Separate Twins
Another option is that you can separate the twins to remove any peer pressure of naughtiness. I know when our girls are together, one of them will get a crazy idea and the other will do want to do the same exact thing. And they seem to propel each other to do crazy things which will include not going to sleep.
Sleeping Arrangements
You may want to change sleeping arrangements for your twins. Perhaps move them into separate rooms or maybe consider putting them into a Pack ‘N Play if they are sleeping in their crib, or in their crib if they’re sleeping in a Pack ‘N Play. Definitely make sure that you’ve lowered your crib mattress as low as it will go to prevent them from escaping.
Escape Artists
Take a look at your kids’ room and see are there any tools or furniture that they use to escape. This could be a bookcase, a dresser, something that they hold onto, or fling their leg onto. Check out those different escape routes and see how you can reorganize the nursery to prevent that from happening.
(RELATED: Your twins will need a lot of gear. Here's the complete twins baby registry checklist to get ready for your twins' arrival.
Signs and Signals
Now ultimately, if you’ve got twins climbing out of cribs at nap time or even at night time, it’s probably a good sign that they’re ready to move to big beds.
Check out chapter 5 of my book, the Dad’s Guide to Raising Twins: How to Thrive as a Father of Twins where I talked in more depth about how to overcome the challenges of sleeping twins.
This topic was originally addressed on the Dad’s Guide to Twins Podcast Episode 88: Different Not Easier, Crib Escapes, Celebrities and Twins. Original photo by surlygirl
