We just transitioned DD to a toddler bed and its already a challenge to have her STAY in bed. After I tuck her in she would get up and go by the door and call for us. If we don't come fast enough she would open her room door! DH and I take turns tucking her back in. Eventually she falls asleep but this is exhausting! Does your toddler stay in bed? What do you do when they don't listen and repeatedly get up? Help!
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oh gosh, we went through this too. Our son would not let us leave his room so we were stuck there until he fell asleep. Once we was asleep, we could leave. Sometimes he would wake up in the night and come out of his room crying for us. Eventually we had to "lock him in". Sad but true. I researched all of Hellobee for suggestions on how to keep him contained (gate - passed because of the noise it would create. My son would scream down the hallway and then our newborn baby would be woken up, flimsy lock so that its easy to kick the door down in an emergency (considered this), etc).
Our solution was to explain to our son that we would be having a new rule where he was not allowed to come out of his room anymore at nighttime - that he had to stay in his room and sleep. We told him this over the course of about a week before we instituted it. We showed him the lock and make sure he understood. The "lock" is really one of those door knob covers that we put on the inside of his room. So instead of being locked in from the outside, its more that he can't turn the knob from the inside. We can certainly and easily get to him from the outside and I'm pretty sure if there was an emergency, he could pull the cover right off (its sort of flimsy). He's been pretty good about that.
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We have a gate on LO's door so she can't escape the room. For a long time she would stand at the door and call out for us, but unless she needed the bathroom we would just tell her she needed to get back in bed. It took a long time before she settled into the routine, but it's been a few months since the transition and she only calls for us now if she really needs us, and generally sleeps through the night.
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Oh I want to cry.
My son is 3 years 2 months and he still gets out of his bed. Sometimes it is if he couldn't fall asleep right away, sometimes he had nightmares, wanting to use the restroom, wanting to put on socks, wanting to drink some water...etc. Grrr. The worst kinds (although very rarely) was he'd come to our room at 4am in the morning wanting to sleep in our bed. We didn't want to get that habit started so we have been refusing that.
I don't really have a solution but we just talk his ear off. And nowadays every night I have to reinforce that he is now a big boy and can not get up in the middle of the night. It was easier before daylight savings time because I could tell him not to get up until the sun comes out, but now in morning time it is still pitch dark out there so I don't know what to tell him.
We have this clock we bought from Amazon that turns green in the morning (you can set the time when it turns green). So I would tell him if the clock is not green, you need to stay in bed. Like every single night. If I get lazy and not tell that to him for a few days he'd forget and start getting up like crazy, I swear.
And nowadays, if he gets out of bed the 2nd/3rd time, I do put him on time out for 3 minutes. It is because that was what we discussed, that big boys need to stay in bed, and if he doesn't stay in bed, he'd either need to go for a time out, or I'll have to turn his opened crib around facing the wall so he can not get out of bed again. He hated it when I close the crib up so he would nicely settle for the time out. After that he'd usually stay put and fall asleep in his bed. And that is part of the reason why I am very reluctant to give up our crib yet because I can no longer "threaten" him with closing up the crib.
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@Cchoi4: Ah yes, we have a new baby coming in a few months too so that's why I wanted covert her to a toddler bed now to get her use to it. She just turned 27 months. Last night it took over an hour to get her down and she got up from her bed at least 7x. It's tiring running up the stairs when I'm pregnant. Eventually DH just had to sit there with her until she fell asleep. So not use to this because when she was in her crib we could just leave and she would fall asleep on her own! We've been telling her she can't get out of her bed and she says "OK!" but of course she doesn't. So after you put on the "lock" does your LO stay in bed? Or does he still try to open it, sees that it's locked and go back to bed on his own? Does he call for you?
@meredithNYC: We have a baby gate outside of her room too. It's at the top of the stairs. So she would usually call for us at her door but if we don't come up immediately she would wiggle her door open and stand by the baby gate and scream. When she called for you did you go to her every time and tell her to back to bed? Or did you ignore her and eventually she got tired and goes to bed on her own? I feel like I have to go to her every time otherwise she just screams but it gets so tiring. So far it's only the beginning of the night that's a challenge. When she FINALLY falls asleep, she sleeps through the night. Thank goodness.
@irene: oh my that sounds rough! My kid always asks for water too! Good idea about turning the crib around if it does get out of hand. Hopefully she will adjust and start staying in bed soon because I need her crib for baby 2!
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@dolphin: we have to ignore her a lot since she really liked the reaction of getting us to come pay attention to her. And we do have a potty in her room in case she really needs the bathroom.
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@meredithNYC: So when you ignore her she does eventually go back to her bed by herself? Oh man I haven't even potty trained her for night time yet. That's going to be another challenge!
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Following....I have to lay down next to my LO every night until she falls asleep, but won't be able to do that in October when LO2 comes, but nothing has worked thus far and I am a baby when it comes to her screaming
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@dolphin: I'm not gonna lie. It was rough for a good few weeks to a few months, off and on. Prior to the lock he would come bolting out of his room. After the lock, he definitely would try to open the door. A few times he gave up and went back to bed. Other times he'd call out to us and we'd hear him through the monitor. We would make it a point to respond to him every time and go to his room to see what he needed/wanted. Sometimes it was the bathroom, sometime it was water, sometimes it was his nightlight turned off, sometimes it was a bloody nose (he has frequent nosebleeds)...so yeah, it was rough but we wanted him to know that if he needed us, we'd be there (and also didn't want him to wake the baby). After some time, the requests died down. Now (he's almost 4), he still calls out to us when his nightlight goes off or when he forgot to go potty before bed, but most nights, its quiet. It took us a while to get to this point and I don't want you to think that it will take you this long, but it may take some bumps and bruises along the way for your daughter to "get it." Be gentle/kind but consistent. Good luck!!
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@dolphin: yeah, she usually gets bored when she realizes we are serious about not giving in.
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We had a super smooth transition and then after about a month, he totally regressed. We tried putting him back in bed repeatedly, but after an hour one night, I just put up a baby gate. He cried for about a minute and then fell asleep. No problems since then. I'm not even sure he still needs it, especially since he now asks to potty at night. But sometimes he asks for it. I think it's comforting to him in the same way his crib was. When he wakes, he calls out for me, but physically stays in bed until I get him. I think the gate was an important visual reminder for him for awhile.
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@NovBaby1112: Ya it so ain't cool. I'm use to putting her in her crib and she falls asleep on her own and I get my ME time. Now I have to either sit with her or keep running back to her room and I can't catch up on my tv shows!
@Cchoi4: Thanks for the feedback!! Ok, at least I know it might not be easy and to prepare myself for some long nights. I really didn't know what to expect when transitioned her to toddler bed. I just know baby 2 is coming and I need her crib!
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@dolphin: we ended up having to put one of the door knob protectors in the inside of her door to keep her in her room. It was temporary and worked well. Our only rule is for her to stay in her room and not come out. If she plays for 30 minutes quietly, that's ok. We hear her singing, talking to her babies, etc all the time.
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Oh geez, I'm a lot meaner than you guys. We put a safety knob cover on the inside of his doorknob and shut the door.
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We did the baby gate for a while - we started after one morning he went downstairs and opened the front door (thankfully didn't leave) and was hanging out on the couch, where we found him after we woke up! After we took down the gate we used it as a threat for a while (if you leave I'll put up the gate) and after that we had keeping th door open as a privilege, if he came out I'd come back and shut the door. He could open it himself of course but it was a psychological thing
3.5 now, 1.5y in a bed and he still wanders to our room occasionally, more often right as he wakes up.
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