Hating That We Went to a Toddler Bed!!!!

Please please don't put a lock on the door!!

Instead, set up a rock solid bedtime routine, and when you lay him down, sit in the room near the door with him, looking down. The first two times he gets out of bed, say, "It's bedtime". Each time thereafter when he gets out of bed, put him back without saying a word, without making eye contact, until he goes to sleep. This may take 2-3 nights, but if you do it right, and are consistant, he'll get the idea.

My sister in law had this problem after they moved into a new house. She did a reward system. On a normal day,He was allowed to watch TV for only 30min-1 hour per day.
When he started getting up at night, they used that to their advantage...When he went to bed, mom told him that if he got up, he would not get to watch Dora. But if he stayed in bed all night then he could watch Dora AND get a sticker (she had a sticker chart on the fridge). After he got 7 stickers, he got a prize...which would be a matchbox car or a piece of candy. (his choice)
This is a good time to start teaching your child. Do not think of it as punishing him. You are teaching him a valuable lesson.

Good luck

PLEASE don't try putting a lock on the door! I did a double take on that one! You should not have to resort to doing that. I am surprised that was put in writing! **
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**(made after reading post in front of me)--> I am not "judging" and not about to get into an argument on a website. I say I am shocked about the lock thing because I would think that would be against the law. You are locking your child into his/her room and they cannot get themselves out. I would rather make sure everything is put up rather than not being able to get to my child in a fire because I locked them into their room. The person did not ask you what you thought of MY post they asked you a question.

Have a nice day!

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MELISSA- You DO know that once you put things in writing it can be used against you. You just put a LOT of crazy things on your post. We are adults and I have every right to respond to a post at which YOU started the negativity against ME.

I always reccommend the book, "Healthy Sleep Habits, Happy Child" by Dr. Weisbluth! Together make a list of bedtime rules to post in his bedroom so, he doesn't forget. Draw or cut out pictures from a magazine of his nightly routine. Be sure to add the rule that he stays in his bed ALL night long. We used this and gave dollar store rewards or stickers (whatever is motivating to your child). Good luck!!

Our son did this too. We tried just putting him back in bed without any interaction except maybe saying "back to bed". It was not working. My son sleeps with 3 small stuffed dogs and a blankie. We came up with a new rule, he would lose one if he got up more than 2 times. Every night, as we put him to bed we reminded him of the rule. What we then did when he got out of bed is: 1st time-just put back to bed, 2nd time-he received a warning that the next time he would lose one of his doggies, 3rd time (or more)-we took one of his animals. He could earn it back by staying in bed for about 15-20 minutes. He was often asleep by then, but we still gave it back to him.

The first several nights he cried and screamed over losing one of his doggies for a bit. A couple of nights he even got up 4 or 5 times. However within a week or so he started staying in bed.

Good Luck!

My twins are 12 now and I still sometimes long for those days when they were babies and I could just lay them down and they would go right to sleep. Honestly, my guess is that this is a new stage that may have happened regardless of where he was sleeping. In my reading and experience, routines are a great way to approach these types of issues. Perhaps if you explain that since he is becoming a big boy, he will get 1 or 2 stories before bed (and it's probably best if you read them in his bed), then he must relax and close his eyes and stay in bed. You can allow him one time up for something important (potty or a drink), then that's all, otherwise, you will have to take away the story for the next night. Also, if he does get up, be sure not to inadvertently reward it with another hug or more interaction..don't say a word (except maybe no,no), just lead him quickly back to bed.
What a lucky guy he is to have such great parents!:) Good luck!...And remember this too shall pass.

What worked really good for me is, everytime he gets up and says good night yadida... Just go in there and pick him up put him back in to bed.. keep repeating it and eventually he will understand that its bed time and he has to stay in bed and not play and not say good night a hundred times before actually going to sleep lol.
It still has only been a month hes still getting use to it. But it takes a little bit of patience for a bit and just keep repeating putting him in to bed and jsut keep doing it. It works in the end!! Good luck!

Looks like you've gotten some great ideas! We need to set up a new bedtime program too - I'm going to do it over winter break so hopefully we'll be into the new pattern before school starts back up. Hope this helps. GOOD LUCK!!!!!

Despite the previous post, my son who is now 5 did the same thing. We too turned the lock around on his door. It worked with 3 days. He also did not get upset and quit doing it. My son was getting up in the middle of the night and going downstairs and playing with his toys! I was afraid that he would get into something that I forgot to put away or something! Anyways, what ever you decide on is the best choice, we shouldn't judge.

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Wow, well I guess I should stop letting them play with knives and sticking their fingers the the electrical outlets. Bummer! I would also like to point out that the poster also did not ask you what you thought of other previous posts, but you decided to put in your opinion anyway. You have a nice day as well!!!!

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Put him in bed, tell him to stay there, then put up a gate, turn off all lights, and IGNORE him any time he gets out of bed. He'll realize there's no reason to get out of bed soon enough.

Oh, the freedom of a bed with no bars! That's the big difference now, J.. He has CHOICES and he is heady with the opportunity to exercise them. I know you don't want to punish him, and I wouldn't necessarily look at anything you do as punishment. This is a "teachable moment" because you have a chance to start teaching him about good and bad choices and the consequences that go with them. You get to start young, which is really what you want. The choices just get harder and the younger they start learning to weigh their options and make appropriate choices, the better.

You might start a bedtime routine if you don't have one. A bedtime snack, a bath before bed, bedtime pajamas, and a bedtime story. Notice bed is in all of the phrases. If you start the routine with the reinforcement that it's all about bed, he will have a chance to gear himself toward bedtime. I like the idea that he may have a stuffed animal as a sleeping buddy, but if he gets up more than twice he loses it. I would also do a reward for when he stays in his bed and falls asleep. That way he could see the difference between good choices and good consequences and poor choices and bad consequences. A sticker chart might be helpful, too.

Hope this helps.

L.

I know this might sound bad but we had the same problem with our son so we put a lock outside his door. The first night he tried opening the door and realized that he couldn't so I told him from the other side that it was time to sleep and to go back to bed. He tried one more time and then he went to sleep. The next days the thought that we were locking the door prevented any further "escapades" since it was the same as being enclosed in a crib but "bigger." We would unlock the door right after he would fall asleep and we really only used the lock 2 nights. He didn't cry or anything (otherwise we would've discontinued this idea). He was 18 months old and our second baby was coming so we had to move him to a big bed. With our girls, that really didn't work so we set up a timer with their night light and we told them that when the light went out they weren't allowed to get up anymore or they would get in trouble. Only one of them had a time out and after that they stopped trying to leave their beds. So you might want to try different things. At the beginning we used 2 lamps with timers. One went on at 7 so that was the official get in bed to read and do whatever you want in your room time. Then it went off at 7:45 and a different one went on for 15 minutes. That was their "warning" and that they had to put their books away and get in bed. I hope any of these help! We still use the timers since it seems to work well with the girls (now 4 and 3 years old).

I would make sure you put him down at least an hour before the 10 yr.old goes to bed, so he will be asleep before the 10 yr.old has to sleep. This will ease your fears about him keeping the 10 yr. old awake. Also, how about we'll close the door if you get up more than a couple of times. Then you have to do it. Yes, he will be upset, but he has to know there are consequences to what he does. I would try anything new on the weekend, when no one has to get up early.