Bedtime Woes

If it were me, I'd try the 6 mo old in with the 31/2 yr old. I'd move the 2 yr old out - maybe to a sleeping bag at the foot of my bed.

We've just started having this problem with our 3 year old daughter. What has finally worked is this. When I put her to bed, we shut off all thi lights in the house and lock ourselved in our bedroom. She gets out of bed and comes to our door and tries to get in. I let her stay out there for about 3 minutes or so. Then, without saying a word or eye contact, I open the door, put her back in to bed. Give her a kiss and then go back to our room. Usually this repeats twice and then she'll stay in her room the rest of the night. It is a game and she's pushing the boundries. The less attention you give the bed. Just consistantly put her back into bed and give her tons of praise in the morning for staying in bed. GOOD LUCK!

We just transfered our dd into a queen size bed from the crib, now we have to have the tv on for her to have noise as well as read to her until she winds down. Its been 3 weeks and now when shes tired she will go lay on her bed and have a movie on and she will fall asleep on her own( with an exception of a story here and there). I hope this helps and gl

Hi-

It sounds like your 2-year-old may not have been ready to move to a big girl bed. One option is to put her back into a crib. Kids can stay in their crib until they are capable of climbing out.

My middle daughter loved the freedom of her big bed! She got out over and over. I would just walk in and put her back in over and over. When that didn't work, I started sitting in the room with her. I'd take a book of my own in and read silently. When she would sit up, I'd tell her to lay down. When she would crawl out (I've always used a twin bed with gaurd rails), I would immediately put her back down. I did this religiously anytime she had 'trouble'. Eventually (which really wasn't long), she learned (I'm assuming that's what happened) she wasn't going to get to stay out of bed, so why bother. She learned to stay in her bed, to stay down and then to go to sleep.

we have a treasure box reward system that often works. i wish i could say there is a fool proof method, but even with really good motivation and really miserable punishment, kids will still have their nights when it's worth it to them to mess around. anyway, with the treasure box, we have a chart that i choose 3 or 4 things the kids need to work on being more obedient in like cleaning up toys, staying in bed, using the toilet, etc. each day i hang a smiley or frowny face, depending on their behavior, under the clipart picture i made representing the tasks. if they get all smiley faces, they get something from the treasure box in the morning, which i fill with cheap toys from yard sales, stickers, treats, homemade coupons to do things like playing a game on the pbs kids website, quarters to use in the candy machines if i know we're going shopping that day, etc. then i take off all the faces and start over that day. it works pretty well. sometimes my 2 yr old doesn't care as much as my 4 yr old does, but after a few days of watching his brother choose from the treasure box and being told he can't have any, he eventually changes his behavior. good luck!

I am a grandmother of 3 little girls that live with me, 3years, 2years, and 11 months. The 2year old likes to play the same game, getting out of bed. What I have done is I put a tv in their room with a dvd player and I have bought them Disney movies and I allow them to pick one movie a night to watch. The 3 year old gets to pick one night and then the 2 year old gets to pick the next night and so forth. The movie distracts them from getting out of bed and playing and they are usually a sleep before the end of the movie. There are some nights we watch 2 movies but by movie 2 they are out. They actually look forward to going to bed and it has become less of a fight. There are still nights when they will not stay in their beds, so if I have to tell them more than a couple of times to get in bed then they do not get their movie that night.

I'm reading a book right now called the Kazdin Method for parenting the defiant child. there is a great example of what to do in there for bed time. you might like it. i'm going to try it with my 2.5 year old. he does that to me all the time. i think it will help me with my sanity ALSO. LOL

We are going through this now with our 2 year old as well! We shut the door this time and it is working currently. But since you can't do that, what we did with our first child was sort of the Supernanny method. My husband would sit outside her door with the door cracked. Every time she got up, he would quitely lift her back up and stick her in bed and go back out and sit. He wouldn't make eye contact with her or say anything. The first night it may take an hour or more! But after 2 or 3 nights, she was done getting up. I guess it would be something to try but you have to committ to it for a few nights atleast to see if it will work. Good luck!

Put the 2 year old (at least untill 3 - we had one in till 4)back in the crib and keep that little 6 months old in your room till he/she is a year. This is what we did with all 8 and sleeping issues were the least of our problems.

i would say take one step at a time. Don't put the baby in there until you have a better hold on the 2 year old. Try the supernanny techniques. Get the book or tape some of the shows. I bet if you tried the one where you sit in the room and slowly move towards the door over time would work. Your two year old is probably feeling very insecury. Also try a bed rail or body pillow on the ope side. That helped mine who we also did fairly early to get the baby in the crib. In the end, my now 4 year old still gets up and not much works, but it is better. she doesn't wake up her Brother any more to get attention. Just try to adopt an "it is what it is..it is bed time" emotion through it all even if it is hard. set up a 'wall" in yourself with no reaction and no talking. Make it boring and dark in your house and 'pretend" to go to bed yourself...even if it is two weeks of inconveince for you and your husband (have him leave to a bar to watch a sports game if he insists on watching TV or whatever.) It would be best, of course, if both of you pretended to be boring for a couple of weeks though.

We are going to through the same thing with our son. He is almost 20 months and we have been at it for almost a month now. It is getting better, having to put him back in bed less times. Everyone who kept saying no eye contact and not to talk to them are spot on. When my husband or I start getting frustrated, he totally picks up on it and it takes longer. I talked to our pediatrician and he said you just have to be more persistant then they are! And my son is VERY persistant. Hang in there. I am sure you already have this, but a consistent bedtime routine has helped us. I am hoping that my son gets the idea before his brother is born in July. I am tired! Good luck to you!

I'm not sure I have a solution but can help brainstorm ideas. Do all of your children HAVE to be in the same room? This situation would be easier if they didn't have to be in the same room. Watch the tv show Super Nanny for tips. Maybe try different bedtimes? Maybe try earplugs? Is there a night light in the room? Maybe tell the 2 year old that she doesn't have to go to sleep, but she can play something quietly if she is in her bed? Can you put sides on the bunkbed that could keep her from crawling out? Maybe she's not ready for a bed and she should be in a crib or playpen? Tell the 3 1/2 year old to ignore the 2 year old because that is just as noisy as the 2 year old getting out of bed? Tell the 3 1/2 year old and the 2 year old they have to be quiet as to not wake the baby? To the 2 year old she has to be quiet as to not wake anyone? But once the 6 month old gets added to the mix --- if she wakes up and makes noise --- hmmm... tough one. Good luck.