Hellobee Boards

PS, I'm so sorry about your loss. If this is a bad time to make the the transition, I've heard about people dropping the crib mattress all the way to the floor to prevent climbing out. From talking to friends, there definitely seems to be a sleep regression that happens around 2.5-3, so it might not matter where he sleeps, but at least it's easier to manage in a crib.

I'm sorry the transition has been hard and sorry for your loss.

I think this bedtime battle is actually very common for this age. Ours was really bad; we would start around730 and some nights she wouldn't sleep till almost 10!

Some suggestions: how long is she napping? Maybe naps need to get cut short?
A reward chart. It literally has never worked for my daughter until the sleep battle. Every night I told her that if she stayed in her room she will get w sticker on the morning. When she has 5 she will get a present. It took a week to get 5 stickers but it solved the problem for us!

@noelani: yup, we tried it for other behavioral things and she just wasn't interested. I got a spoil of super cheap smiley faces stickers on Amazon. I drew up a sticker chart. Every night she didn't come back out she got to pick out a sticker in the morning. Honestly I think that was more exciting than the thought of the gift. Because that was much more tangible in her mind. It helped that she was going through a sticker kick at that point! Every morning she will come in and bring me her chart (I kept it in my room) and she will ask to put a sticker in the box. The one night she did not stay in her room and the next morning she was disappointed she couldn't pick a sticker. But thankfully no tantrums over that! LOL
Hang in there! Ours last for a month and it was so draining. I don't remember know but I was either pregnant or had a newborn.

@noelani: Sorry for not responding earlier. I am happy to report that J is now going to bed without too much of a struggle at 8:45-9:15. A big improvement over 10:30-11:30, though we still have a way to go. I think what is working for us is a very consistent bedtime routine (bath, potty, teeth, pjs, 2 books), really limiting tv/ipad in the evening, more quality time with us before bed, "Sleep Fairy" book and reward under the bed in the morning for going to bed nicely, the threat of door being closed and locked (we have the lock turned around. we unlock it as soon as she falls asleep), switching to a very dim night light, glow in the dark stars on the ceiling, only one stuffed animal allowed in bed (to limit playing), sometimes sitting next to her for a few minutes until she falls asleep, or saying I will come back and lay with her once I see her eyes closed (she almost always falls asleep once she closes her eyes).

ETA: Oh, I forgot, I also gave her gummy melatonin 1 hr before bedtime 3 nights in a row. I know it is controversial, but I felt ok about it for just a few days. I asked my friend who is a doctor (though not her ped) and he felt it was safe if used sparingly.

@noelani: sorry you are still going through this and so sorry about your loss. Just like your LO my 28m old has been going to bed at 6:30-7pm most of his life but lately had been a real pain to put down and was up by 5am (and sometimes earlier) for the day. What we did is moving bedtime later. He now falls asleep at around 8:30pm and is up for the day at 6:45am but still sleeps 1.5-2h in daycare. It did take a couple of days until we really saw an improvement though. I can't really say much about the crib situation since we're in Europe and cribs here have the possibility to remove 2-3 slats so the kids can get out of their cribs safely but still enjoy their coziness.