Getting them to stay in bed

Personally I shut the door and left Daniel to it, he soon figured out it was nicer to just stay in bed and go to sleep than fall asleep on the floor and it soon got boring without mummy coming in to put us back in bed.

I found it was too tiring so put the side of the cot back on and tried it periodically (every month) til he stayed in bed by himself and went to sleep. Once he did that I knew he was fine and its been easy ever since.

I think my problem is that the more I go in the more frustrated I get with them and then it turns to custard.

I think my new reasoning is that I can either spend an hour trying to battle them to sleep or just let them at it and hopefully it'll take the same length of time for them to 'self settle'

So for the next 4 nights while I'm on my own I'm going to try Staceys approach. There is nothing but their cots left in the room now anyway. lol!

Babe, I caught Aoife with both legs over the top of the cot. I'm scared she'd fall and hurt herself.

Plus I'm not big on reverting. once I've made the decision to do something.

ETA: Closing the door is exactly what the girls love most. 'Prison Break' as my friend called it
If I leave the door open then I get sooooo frustrated and they tend to play up more as they're getting a reaction from me

Edited by tishy

Well it feels like a victory. lol!

We ignored them until Aoife was lying in bed ready for sleep and Eimear tried sitting on her.
From then on I left the door open a crack and anytime Eimear would come to the door I would put her back to bed, say nothing and then praise Aoife for staying in bed.

I ended up having to sit with them for a while but that was more to keep Eimear away from Aoife

Still I came out feeling rather than

Feed the good and starve the bad is my new bedtime motto. lol!

I just closed the door and left her to it until sleep overcame her (or until it got too dark to play anymore).  The only trouble with this was that she used to destroy her bedroom so for a few months everything (bookshelf, nappy supplies, drawers etc) was shut away in her wardrobe where she couldn't reach them.

LOL Tishy -glad things are working out and even a day sleep - woo hoo!

(PS this is Deb from Isola)

reading this makes me so glad i only have one baby terrorizing my house!!!!!!! Although it has given me an idea for keeping josh in bed and possibly the next step for you to try..........................tape the kids to the bed

lol TA, I have been tempted a few times alright.

It's been going really well this week I have to say. They still party for about an hour but will not just drift off to sleep on their own rather than us having to sit with them.
At least at night time anyway, day time we still have to go in to 'separate' them cos they get too whingy.


So after 2 weeks of 'exploration' we are now down to the 'normal' things of:
- sitting on your sister as she's trying to sleep
- robbing the duvet/teddy off your sister as she's trying to sleep
- and eventually falling asleep on the floor.

Emz, I'm like you too about day naps. If they stay in their rooms happy for 2 hours then we all come out best as it means I get 2 hours 'peace' AND they go to bed earlier and with less hassle in the evenings