Hellobee Boards

We used the rule that you can play until you get sleepy, but you have to stay in your bed. We still had a video monitor and would speak to her through the monitor if we saw her get out of bed. She picked up on the rules pretty quickly and after a couple nights just stayed in bed playing with some toys until she got tired. I’d usually sneak in afterwards to move toys off her bed and turn off her nightlight if it was still on. We also had one of those doorknob child safety protectors that make it harder for them to open the door. She was around the same age, around 2.5 or a little under.

We tried to Supernanny and got nowhere (I was also 30-some weeks pregnant, so only stuck it out a couple hours). So we put up a baby gate and he got the message really quick. But he never tried just playing in his room instead of going to bed. He'd either be screaming at the door (but that didn't last long) or be in his bed.

I think baby gate the door so she’s not roaming the house. It will take time but she will eventually stay in bed. Just be consistent.

We moved DS to a bed at about 2.5. At first he didn’t get out even when he woke in the morning! After a couple weeks he realized he could get out and we’d just walk him back to bed. He’s 6 now and still likes to get out and sneak downstairs. Our rule for a while has been he can look at books or play quietly in bed until he is sleepy.

We just went through this (kind of still are)! DS is 2.5.
DS's room is upstairs and we are downstairs, so we def have a gate at the top of the stairs. I also put doorknob covers on his doors, but he figured those out in a week. I bought the door monkey, which works but the door is then open a crack. If that doesn't work for you, the next step is to install a hook and eye to keep the door shut.
Then I did my own version of the super nanny technique. Rubbed his neck (his request) to get him a little calm, then said "i'll be back to check on you in 1 minute, stay in bed" and stood outside his door. I didn't go back until the minute was up, led him back to bed, talked as little as possible "it's time to sleep, etc" rubbed his neck a bit more, and repeated with 2 or 3 minutes, 5 minutes, 10, 20.

Those first 2 days were rough, I'm not going to lie! It took 2 hours the first 2 nights from when he first lay down to when he was fully asleep. It got much better after that. I switched to opening the door as soon as I heard him get out of bed and (silently) leading him back to bed and kept repeating the 2 minute count down because he wouldn't stay in bed. I eventually had to say, "I will rub you neck if you are still in bed when I come back in 3 minutes. Stay in bed"
We also have an OK to Wake clock, so I tell him to stay in bed until "froggy turns green." He often gets up when he has to pee (he's not yet fully night trained) and I hear him on the monitor and come up to open the bathroom door for him. I don't mind if he's out of bed then.

It will get better, if you can survive the first few days! Good luck! ETA: I also removed anything he could use to climb and put a doorknob cover on the closet door.

@yellowbeach: I’m so nervous to transition my second kid. Anyway, with my first, we put a door knob cover on the door and had a really fast transition with only one crapy naptime incident where she fell asleep crying on the floor.

For my brother I remember we had to hold the door closed while he fell asleep. My parents had an old house and the doors didn’t really close and they had weird doorknobs.

@jennlin821: this is intense! Haha

@bhbee: we are huge fans of the crib mattress on the floor!!! Bought us several inches!!