Toddler Beds or Twin Beds?

Hi H.,
I have 16mos old B/G twins and am contemplating the same thing except for I am considering due to space issues a trundle bed. I think the responses have been very good and thought out. They will be in the toddler beds for a short time so maybe a twin is the way to go. I don't know about you but I buy stuff used off Craigslist, etc so I don't feel like even if I do use my stuff for a short time, I can just resell it or donate it when I am done. Good luck and I would like to hear what you choose and how it works out for you.

Hi - I would recommend going with two twin beds vs. sleeping together in a double. Like some of the mom's below said, you would want to develop sleeping independence and a sense of their own space. If initially you wish to keep them "low to the ground" (like a toddler bed), don't buy frames and just place the box spring on the ground. If you want to save some $, just buy the mattresses and you can later you can decide on what type of bed. That is, if you want to have two twin beds in the room or a bunk bed. With either choice you can either decide to have box springs or buy frames that do not require box springs. :) Hope that helps.

My daughter was clibing out of the crib when she was 10 months old. We had to take her out of the crib at that time. We moved her to a toddler bed, but she quickly outgrew that. Her laegs and arms would often hit the sides of the bed, waking her up. She is three now, and in a twin sized bed with a fairly low profile. If I had to do it over again, the toddler bed doesn't see nearly the use you pay for. Best wishes for the best!

I have twin two year olds and they are most definitely in toddler beds. I wouldn't even consider putting them in one bed because I want them to develop a sense of self and independence as much as possible.

Twins run in my family like crazy, and when I found out I was pregnant with my twins my grandmother gave me ALL kinds of advice. She was the non-dominant twin, so most of her advice was geared toward supporting and nurturing MY non-dominant twin. I got alot of advice about not dressing them alike, giving them their own rooms, their own clothes, encouraging them to pursue different activities, and treating them the way I would treat a singleton as much as humanly possible to give the non-dominant twin the ability to move out from behind the dominant twin's shadow and become his own person.

Let me ask you this: If you had two boys, age two and age three, would you be wondering whether or not to put them into the same bed? If your answer is that you would almost certainly have them in separate beds, I would submit to you that that should be your answer!

(And from the mama of twin two year olds to another: Aren't the little monkeys just SO much fun to watch?!?! The way they interact with each other and everyone else is just a hoot! But OMG do I understand what "chaos" means these days!)

Twins, so fun! When my middle daughter was around 20 months we skipped the toddler bed and she went right to sharing a twin bed with her then 3 year old sister. They are 2 1/2 and 4 now and LOVE sleeping together! We sleep them feet to feet in their twin size but when we travel and stay somewhere with a bigger bed they like to have their heads on the same side. There is nothing quite like watching your kids snuggle each other after they have fallen asleep, precious! We are going to do the same with our twin girls (13 months now) when we move them into their first big bed. Occasionally falling asleep can take longer if they are playing, talking, or kicking each other but I see it as a chance for them to bond, share, learn sleeping tolerance and make great memories with each other! Have fun and good luck!

two twin beds with a setup so that you can put them together to make one big bed, and they could each have their own blankets (or not), so that they can be together but have enough room to sleep separately if they prefer, and you would have the option too of later on moving the beds apart and even into separate rooms if that is what they want when they are older. this way you have lots of options depending on their age and preference, and the beds will last them forever. it's wonderful for twins to be able to be together. i grew up with older brothers who are twins, they shared a double bed as did my parents, and i always felt so alone and left out, that i was the only one in the family who had to sleep alone. i coslept with my kids (who now cosleep with theirs) and think it is the natural way to sleep - so if you aren't sleeping with them, i think it would be very important for them to be able to sleep together.

Based on observing my children and 8 nephews....
If the child has been taught to sleep through the night and soothe himself back to sleep, then a double bed would probably work. If they come in your room everytime the wake up, use twin beds to limit the possibility of them kicking each other awake.

I have twin 4 year old (just turned) boys. I would give them their own beds or they will keep each other awake. Now that mine are the age they are trying to give up napping, I actually have to put them in separate rooms at naptime or they keep each other awake. I just kept the old crib mattress and put it on the guest room floor and they take turns going into the special bed for naps. At night they are in the same room, but in their own twin beds. Also, "big boy" beds are more dangerous, so a mattress on the floor might work for awhile longer at your age. I switched mine both to twin size beds around 2 years or so, but both have gotten cuts from playing around them, but I do have very active boys. One bumped his head on the headboard flinging his head back into it and one did a "superman" jump recently toward the bed and missed. He hit his face on the footboard. It happens so fasts, too. Good luck to you with your boys. It is so fun to watch them grown and become best friends and playmates, although sometimes I feel like a wrestling coach these days. ;)

From my experience 2-year olds never stop moving, not even in their sleep. One time when my son was 2, I put him in my bed because he had been crying a lot, and felt as though I was the football in a game the entire night. If they sleep together, they'll be waking each other up. I'd put them in two toddler beds.

Hi H.,
I personally think toddler beds are a waste of money. We had one for my daughter but she just kept sleeping on the floor so we put her in our spare full sized bed up against the wall and she slept in it ever sense. We only had the toddler bed for about three weeks... Best luck to you.

Separate toddler beds.

Why not have it both ways?

2 Twin Beds
2 sets of sheets that they can each choose & pick out
2 sets of blankets

Shove the two together to form "one" bed, each however has their own "side" with their own stuff. Let them workout however they want to sleep between them.

Later on you can pull the beds apart without spending dime one...but for now they get to be together. My sister and I had this arrangement until we were 8 or 9. We could cuddle & have sister time, or we could have our own space...it all depended on what we felt like. We just came to the decision and asked our mom if we could scoot the beds apart. I'm glad that our mom left it up to us.

Two comforters are key, however. <laughing> To this day my HUSBAND and I actually have our own comforters (I like it hot, and he wants the air conditioner on in the winter with snow blowing in the window). Having your own comforter is similar to having your own pillow...it's yours yours yours. If you don't have to share your blanket, no one can "steal" the covers either.

Well, I don't have twins, but for what it's worth - my daughters are 4 and 6 now, and we didn't bother with the toddler beds, just went right to twin size for the $$$ savings. They've been in bunk beds for about two years now, and half the time they're sleeping in the same bed together anyway! In fact, we asked them if they would want to use our double bed from the guest room instead and they said yes!

We need the double bed for company, but I grew up sharing a bed with my sister and would not have any concerns about putting ours in a bed together.

We currently have a toddler bed and a twin bed in our boys room, and the two-year-old most always crawls in bed with the five-year-old. It is very sweet. However, I've seen beds at Ikea that can adjust from toddler size to twin size, and other such interesting beds. They weren't very expensive, either.

I think toddler beds are a waste of money. If you are concerned with rolling out of bed you can store the frame for a year and just put the box spring and mattress on the floor, that is what we did. At about 18 months we moved my youngest out of his crib, and the boys have been sleeping together ever since. Now that we are in a new house we got them bunk beds, and the top bunk goes unused because they love to sleep together. I do occasionally have to separate them if they will not go to sleep, but they hate it so much when they have to sleep alone that usually just the threat of speration is enough to calm them down,:)

Unless you have lots of money sitting around and want to buy another set of beds in a year or so, I would just buy two twin beds. My 2 1/2 year old is in a double that sits on the floor with the box spring below it, maybe 12 inches total off the floor, so not much of a hazard for rolling. We kept the double in his room in case we have company. But from the people I have talked to, toddler beds are a waste of money and they out grow them quick, so I would say just buy the twins and put the frames away for a few years, much less money! :)

My vote is for the double bed-- I LOVE snuggling in between both of my kids for story time!!

If you invest in a bed make sure to get a really good mattress cover.

I would recommend putting them in their own toddler beds. We put our boys in around two. It was great for them because they could start showing some independence. They each got to pick their own sheets for the bed. The hard part at first was getting them to stay in their own bed and not go to their brothers. Eventually they stayed.

I would spend good money on these beds. My father in law actually built beds for us that were very sturdy and just used their old crib matteresses. What a blessing!! If your boys are as rowdy as mine were (and still are LOL) you'll need something that will last.

Have fun with this stage. It's amazing how quickly they grow up.

H.,
Go the extra cost and put them in separate beds. This will allow them to be independent and have something that is "their own". Plus they will have different tastes and if they are like our boys, they want their own style of sheets on the bed.

Good Luck.

Our boys are 2 and 4 and sleep together in a full bed. We pulled the full bed from guest bedroom until we had the funds to get another twin bed for our 2 yr old (couldn't fit both a twin and a full in their room). They love sleeping together. They often talk as they're falling asleep, we'll find them cuddling when we check on them just before we go to bed, and they rarely come and bother us at night. Before we moved them together our 2 yr old came into our room a lot (he was sleeping on the crib mattress on the floor). Our 4 yr old would come in too after having a "bad dream." Now, they must take comfort and having each other because they sleep great together. We're going to hold off on buying another twin bed--we're going to see how things go as is.

E.

H.,

We are contemplating the same issue with our twin boys who are 2 yrs.!! I have noticed that since they climb out of the cribs now, marcus wants to climb in with David...however, this is to wake him up or play.

We are going to be getting twin beds soon. That way, they are able to sleep apart, play together, or figure out what they want to do...

Good luck,
T.

I don't know if they would distract each other too much or not in the same bed, but if they are used to sleeping in the same room it might be fine. I have put my 2 year old on my old queen mattress on the floor so on the occasion that I need (or want) to go cuddle with him it is much more comfortable for me - and if he falls off it is a very short fall. You could turn a double sideways and put one at each end. But ... I would think in a couple of years they will want their own beds anyhow. My 4 year old nephew sleeps on a top bunk above his 2 year old brother. So unless you have a double bed now you might want to stick to 2 twins, you could always push them together if you want.

H.,

I have twin boys, but they are only 8 months right now, however, I do have a 3 year old boy also. I put him in a toddler bed at age 18 months and he did just great. I would say I think that your twins would likely sleep better and not mess around with each other as much if they had separate beds. Have they been sleeping in the same crib up to now? My little guys have been separated into 2 cribs since about 5 months or so. I have one who is very active and rolls onto the other if I don't have them separated.

From the other twin moms in my group, I will give the advice that I have never heard of older twins sleeping together, but most moms have separated them by age 1 or sometimes a little later than that.

Oh and depending on how old your twins are would depend on the toddler beds or twin beds. I think kids that are good on their feet and are OK with climbing should be fine in a twin bed, but if they are prone to rolling off the bed or whatever, you may want a toddler bed or get some rails for the twin.

Best of luck!

H. C.

We invested in bunk beds when our twins were 2. They were the kind that could serve as 2 twin beds and then can be stacked when the kids get old enough to not hurt themselves on bunk beds. We took the railing off one side of the top bunk and installed it on the side of the other bed with the other sides against the wall. That way both beds had enough railing so the kids wouldn't roll out of bed (like toddler beds), but we won't have to upgrade when they grow bigger. Not that it matters to them much, half the time they prefer to sleep on the floor anyway.