Help Keeping My 21 Month Old in Bed

I went through the same thing with my daughter about this age. It's frustrating! But my mom said, "It's a stage, and it WILL pass." So, what I did was (and it was kind of a pain) but I took out all the toys and stuff out of her room so she didn't really have much stuff to "trash her room." (I got really tired of cleaning all that up every day.) She still got up, but I just didn't make to big of a deal about it but constantly reminded her to stay in bed. Eventually, I'd find her in her bed in the morning instead of on the floor. My mom was right, it was a stage and it passed...and now her room is chucked full of toys and barbies again. (She's now 4 1/2. The new toddler bed stage lasted about 6 months for her! Seemed like forever!)
Hope this helps....
M.

I had to take everything out of my sons room except for a few stuffed animals and board books. I treated his room like a big playpen and let him sleep on the floor if he wanted.

She is obviously thrilled with her new-found freedom. When she is over the novelty she will probably begin to sleep through the night. (you didn't mention if she did or didn't sleep throughout the night before the new bed.) Is she turning on her light to accommodate her play, or is her room well lit even though she is to be sleeping? You may want to do some research on light and its effects. Darkening your daughter's room may be part of the answer.

Sounds like it's time for a toddler bed!!!! My daughter is 15 months and fell out of her crib. And that was enough for us so we purchased the toddler bed. I was so scared b\c I thought maybe it was too soon and withing 5 days she loved it. Of course we had to play it up like it was the best "BIG GIRL" bed in the world and I think that made the transition very easy. So if she can do it, yours can too. Its alot harder on us parents than on thrm. I think they love change!!

may I suggest keep lots of apples, oranges, or maybe make up a LARGE batch or smoothies and if you are afraid of mess make them in to smoothie pops, also nutri grain bars I could go on plenty or things they can snack on that is quick easy and they don't make a huge mess.
hope this helps good luck

You and dad have both got to be consistent. With the patience of angels. It's going to be you two getting up, and physically putting her back in her bed. Set the rules, stick by them. She'll get the idea. Don't say anything, just put her back in her bed and then yourselves. Get lax on it and it'll continue and you'll be under her power.
Just saw this on Supernanny last night. Consistency, being on the same disciplinary page.

Oh...2 year olds are sooo interesting! If she is getting up to play and falls asleep on the floor, you could just make her room safe and only a few things available to get out while she is "trashing" her room and let her be. At least she's sleeping and not going in to wake you up. On the other hand, my daughter had the same issue with her daughter. She started a sticker reward system for every night she stayed in bed, with a bigger reward for 3 or 4 in a row. She had a chart so she could see her progress. Bribery works!! Her special treat was M & M's. Those things even work on adults (ha-ha) Good Luck!

I will probablly be the only one to say this, but... let her go. Our youngest, who will be 5 next week, hasn't slept in a bed/crib since he was about 18 months old and learned to climb out. He either plays with his trucks or rocks himself in his dad's chair. He's not hurting anything, or in danger of hurting himself. In the end, at least he's getting a good night's sleep when he finally goes down. Eventually he will start sleeping in a bed but right now where he sleeps isn't as important as actually sleeping.

My daughter is a little acrobat also... please, please make sure that you have the dresser secured to the wall. If she is a climber, it is only a matter of time.

hi, the same thing happened with us. we just made sure that every thing was safe and kept the door shut. when she's a little older you can enforce rules about not getting out of bed till the morning.

Hi there i am similar to the supernanny, i dont know about the super part. Here is a suggestion though. when she gets up, get up and put her in bed. Tell her that it is not time to get up yet. If she gets up after that, put her back in bed without talking to her. this will not happen more than a couple nights. then everyone will sleep better. Make sure that you get this under control before another one comes, or you will have a nightmare.

I remember when my 27 year old played at night! His father suggested putting paper on the floor. My baby would play with it, tearing it, throwing it and using it interactively with his toys. We'd play in the living room; and I'd lay on the sofa until he fell a sleep.

Since then, I learned techniques which may have served me better.

I've taught future early childhood teachers. If my memory is correct, your baby is addressing a developmental stage related to exploration and understanding the properties of objects. She is making sense out of objects by manipulating them and determining their strengths and vulnerabilities.

An adult example related to learning properties! When you buy a dress or pants, you try it on to determine if it fits. You also examine seams to assure it was sewed well and they will not separate as your body moves in the garment. You read instructions on washing/cleaning to determine the strength of the material and whether it will fade, shrink, etc. when washed or cleaned. The properties are 1) How well the item was sewn and 2) the strength of the material.

Your baby is learning traits of the objects in which she plays and the variabiities of their use. If she is playing with a doll, she is probably pretenting it is a human baby. She may hold it, nurse it, fuss at it by saying no, or even hitting it and attempt to disassemble it.

P.S. This is, also, an opportunity for you to determine "how" she is interpreting your parenting styles as well as her needs.

L., this is difficult for you. You are not resting. Try playing with her by making up games such as house where you manipulate objects, ie. clay, sand, paper!

When she falls asleep, sleep with her.

K.

L. - This is a hard one. Did you try putting one of those tents over her crib? It keeps them in and they usually can't get out on their own. 21 months is going to be hard to keep from playing and getting out. Freedom is something new for her. When the cat's away the mice will play.

My sister's daughter did this at about 26 months. She ended up taking all the toys out of her room and putting a child safe slide lock on the closet door and inside bedroom door. If there is nothing fun in the room there is no reason to get out of bed.

We got one of my daughters this cool tent shaped like a car that fit on top of her toddler bed. The deal was she had to stay inside the tent/car she could take one book and one toy with her. She would sometimes stay up playing or wake up in the middle of the night playing but the key for us was she didn't get to sleep in. What ever time is wake up time stays the same. With this plan they are usually too tired to repeat the late nights more then a couple of days.

Hope one of these three ideas helps. Any of them will require some patience and persistence from you. Hang it there!

First of all, my son has a gate in his doorway. Secondly, he is in a twin bed with the toddler rail, and he actually cant get down off the bed. I also dont have any toys in his bedroom to play with. I have a bucket that his toys are in and at night I take them out of his room. Whatever you decide to do, just make sure you are consistant and eventually it will work. Good luck!!