Moving a 2yo and 4yo to bunk beds. Advice pls...

[BusyCee]

Hi all. Due to impending arrival of dc3, DCs 1&2 have been moved into one room. At the moment 4yo is in his toddler bed and 2yo still in his cot. We're getting the bunk beds on Monday... The problem is they're keeping etching other awake. Both are KNACKERED the next day and this eve ds2 was so overwhelmed with tiredness it dissolved into hysteria.

I'm considering staggering their bedtime, so that ds2 is asleep before ds1 goes up. But I feel like I need a bit more evening than that will allow me (I've tried it a couple of times already it was nearly 8 before I was downstairs and on the sofa, let alone eating etc)

So. Any hints and tips? Good bribes? Or do I just have to suck it up?

I used to tell mine I didn't mind if they whispered but I didn't want to be able to hear them so it was almost a bit of a compromise. They would still get noisy sometimes so I'd ignore it to a point, then go up and warn them the next time one of them was moving to sleep on the bathroom floor which generally seemed to be enough to stop them. I think once I started to move ds2 and he was hysterically apologetic so I never actually got him out of the room.
The novelty wore off after a few weeks, 3 or 4 maybe can't even remember, and they've been fine since. I think you've probably just got to go through it for a few weeks but maybe better now than before you have a baby to sort out too? But I'm with you on 8pm being too late to be down! And it could be harder having two bedtimes when you've got a baby thrown into the mix too?
Good luck!

Do they have to share a room?

Won't Dc3 be in with you?

Thanks all. Have this evening used the whispering tactic and the 'I'll-be-in-to-settle-you-down-in-15-mins' tactic this eve and it seems to be working....

I have a friend with 4 and 2 yos in bunk beds, main problems are: 2yo keeps 4yo awake, and 2yo climbs into the top bunk but is not supposed to.