Has anyone had luck with a “get out of bed” pass for a two and a half year old? We converted our daughter’s crib to a toddler bed about two months ago, and the first month or so of it went seamlessly. She stayed in bed, fell asleep and woke up similarly to how she had in the crib, with a naptime from about 1:30 – 3 in the afternoon and nighttime sleep from about 7:30/8 until about 7AM. Sometimes she would take a little while to fall asleep for the nap or nighttime, but was content to play quietly with her stuffed animals in bed during that time, and again when she woke up. We thought we were set!

In the last two weeks though, she has been using every excuse under the sun to get out of bed, leave her room, and call to us from the top of the stairs (where there’s a gate). Some of her excuses are legitimate (dirty diaper, particularly if she pooped) but many seem like they’re just stalling techniques (wanted to look at the gate to make sure it’s still working, wanted to see if baby sister’s door was closed, wanted to show her stuffed sheep the nightlight in the hallway, etc…). For each time she’s out of bed, we’ve tried to be as boring and nonchalant as possible while ushering her quietly and quickly back to bed, telling her it’s still naptime or nighttime and she needs to stay in her bed. I really thought after a few days of that consistently, she’d get the hint that she was going back to bed regardless. I’m not so sure anymore.

I’ve seen suggestions of a “get out of bed” pass for older kids and have thought about giving her two or three passes to spend when she calls to us, but I’m not sure if she’s at an age where that concept will work. And I guess if I’m being honest, I’m not sure what I do when she spends them all, since she is leaving her room to call to us from the top of the stairs, and I’m not really comfortable locking her in her room. We’re on the edge of potty training, so I want her to feel confident about leaving her room to use the bathroom when we get to that stage, but I’d really like to nip the unnecessary trips out of bed in the bud. It’s getting out of hand for all of us, and is compromising the quality of her rest too.

Just curious of anyone has suggestions from similar experiences? I'm hoping this is just a phase, and that we'll be out of it soon, but I'm so grateful for ideas!!