Teaching Girls to Sleep in Other Places

I am a mother of twin girls - 20 months and you are an inspiration. I am sorry to say I have no advice for you but my girls are still in seperate rooms and would love to know what you suggest. one is an excellant sleeper and the other other has a hard time going to sleep and wakes up once a night and isn't quiet about it. that's how we got into this postition in the first place as she woke the other one up and then we had two tired screaming babies instead of one. now we are trying to put them back together.

ugh!

A. G

Dear L.,
Wow! Triplets! You have your hands full!
What a blessing though.
It sounds like they are pretty secure in their routines which is awesome. Each one knows their own bed and where they belong. That's not such a bad thing. But, as they get older, they will need to sleep in different places with different friends for sleepovers or if you want to go out of town to stay with family or go camping.
My first thought was to get them each their own little sleeping bags. My kids loved their sleeping bags. They wanted to lay on the floor and watch TV in them and if we travelled, they had their own bags and were used to them so it didn't matter where we went as long as they had them. They make really darling little sleeping bags. Blues Clues, Dora, Barbie...whatever your kids are into. But, having three the same age.....
Your kids might be a little young yet, but my kids loved sleeping bags so much that when they got a little older, I just bought inexpensive plain ones. I let them choose their color. Then, we used magic markers to write their names on them and I let them decorate their own. Smiley faces, moon and stars, flowers, the outline of their own hands. You can try fabric paints also, but they don't seem to hold up through washings as well. My daughter was so into her sleeping bag that we bought her a new one for 6th grade camp.....away from mom for a whole week. We decorated her sleeping bag. It was the cutest thing you've ever seen. And there was no issue with getting it mixed up with anyone elses. My daughter is 22 and still has it.

Just get creative. When it's naptime or nice outside, just let them chill in their sleeping bags on the living room floor or out in the yard after a picnic. Supervised, of course.
Give it a whirl and best of wishes!

Bring them to auntie's house! That sounds good to try different cribs. I think you should try to separate the cribs in different rooms. Keep them in their same crib but change the location of the crib. Are they use to their cribs, or the items in their cribs, or do they know which sister is supposed to be on each side? These are things you can test to try to get them comfortable in different locations.

S.

Hi L.,
The fact that you got 3 kids to go to sleep in the same room at 6:30 says that you should probably be giving the advice! What I can say is that my kids are great sleepers but they haven't always been so when we're not at home. They usually didn't nap as well and usually went to bed later at night. But who's to say whether that had to do with being somewhere fun or whether it had to do with not being in their own beds? Anyway, I found that bringing items that they liked to sleep with at home was key (my son had a favorite blanket for awhile, and my daughter liked to hug her crib bumper like a body pillow, so we'd bring the bumper with us). Now that they are almost 4 and 2 1/2, they often share a bed when we're not at home. That usually gets them rowdy, so we just tell them we'll have to take away their bears (their loveys) if they don't settle down. My daughter also seems to prefer having a bed, or at least the same thing we're sleeping on/in (in other words, she won't usually like the floor if we have an air mattress or bed). When my kids were younger I found thebabywhisperer.com to be helpful, but I couldn't say for sure if there are any posts on the message boards there about 16 month old and/or triplet sleep issues (the book was geared more toward younger babies).
Good luck whatever you decide to try,
C.

dont seperate them, even if you want them to sleep in other places. they shared your womb, and are energetically connected.
think of them as puppies or kittens from the same litter, because organically that is the truth. let them be together no matter what. put them in all kinds of strange and interesting places to sleep, as long as they sleep together....about 5-12 yrs old they will start naturally desiring personal space. but sometimes this does not happen too. it depends on the individual kids as people. some people are more clingy than others. please research twins and triplets online.....if you think about it Mama, you already know what your kids need. all of them lived in your womb together and learned a lot of intel about each other because of that fact. they are not plants, they are mammals. i keep experiencing people relating to their kids as if they are plants.
if they insist upon being together, you might want to step back and respect what they are needing. as they get older, start school etc, your focus will also have to shift.....i believe that parents need to go with the flow and usually, parents have much to learn about how to do this.....there is also the need to pay close attention: if the kids dont let go of each other at all by age 9 and reject other people, well, then it is time to start inserting stimulus that will draw each individual kid strongly.....
i think you are amazing! i am blown away by your love for your babies....wish more parents were like you.....

I have two sets of identical twin girls, the youngest ones are 2. We always put them in their own cribs at night. They now sleep in toddler beds. They usually start out in their own beds but end up together in one bed. Our family takes a lot of trips. We go away somewhere at least once a month (their first trip at 8 weeks old). We've never really had problems with them sleeping other places. I wouldn't worry too much. Just like you they probably are more comfortable in their own beds when they are home. Don't stress too much.

How awesome are ID triplets? Wow how blessed you are. I thought I was lucky with all of my twins, 3 would just be so much fun.

I have no advice to offer but the whole thing sounds SO CUTE!!! Got any pictures to post? I'm sure they are adorable! Congratulations on your triple blessing!

Good grief!!! Triplets! I feel for you.. I struggle with only one munchkin. I'd love to hear how you got them to sleep soundly at 6:30 pm. Please share!

We are big advocates of "loveys" at our house. Our daughter has a toy cat that she is quite attached to and it really seems to help her settle down no matter where she is (home, hotel, grandma's house). She has been sleeping with this cat since she was 1.5 and she is now 2.5 and has no sleep issues, whatsoever.

Perhaps giving each of your daughters a small stuffed toy to sleep with would help them. Let them sleep with it in their cribs for awhile, then try to get them to sleep in each other's cribs, but with their own lovey. If that works, move on to trying to get them to sleep in other places with their lovey.

If you do go this route, I would advise you to get at least three of the same loveys for each of your daughters. That way if it ever gets lost or damaged you have backups in place. I have read that washing and rotating the loveys is a good idea, so that they all smell the same and wear out at the same rate.

Good luck.

A.

I agree with the idea of getting them used to portable comfort items like pillows, blankets, stuffed animals, etc. When I had my first baby, I would always play the same quiet lullaby CD when putting her to sleep. I wanted it to be kind of like a cue that it was time to sleep. It worked and has proved to be a great help when we travel, as it provided that famililar quality of home to wherever we were. I also bring her normal bedding and pillow with us, and try to stick to our normal bedtime routine as much as possible when away from home. But, keep in mind that you girls will most likely not sleep as well away from home no matter what you do. Just do your best and try to relax. If you can go with the flow and not get too stressed, then your girls will follow suit.

My daughter used to be the same way until I got into a night routine that included a stuffed bear that has internal lights that rotate colors for about 15 minutes and a crib toy that plays music for 20 minutes and then shuts off. When we visit grandmas or any other new place we put her down in the travel playpen with all her same bedding from home, turn on the music and the bear that sit on a chair outside her crib where she can see them and leave the room.

If you get them attached to portable items like blankets, music and stuffed animals, you can move those into the new environment and it will feel more like home so there won't be such a problem with the transition.

Here's a link to the bear if you're interested.

http://tinyurl.com/6xz329