My son is a little over two and is in a toddler bed,but wil not stay in his bed. He has siblings right across his bedroom and I do not want to wake them. How can I get him to stay in his bed and stay asleep when he cries at 12am,3am then 6am?
So far we are soothing him and staying with him in bed. I am not getting any sleep. He won't go to bed unless we are in his room. So he falls asleep at 10. Gets up at 3 or 4 am and then again at 6am.
We put a baby gate across the door. I also have all 3 of my girls(4 1/2, 2 1/2 and 9 months) in the same room. They rarely awake up to the baby crying and the gate kept the 2 yr old in until she started to climb it. Now she's the first one to bed.
I wish I had some advice for you, but I wanted to tell you I totally understand! My 2 year old has just started sleeping through the night. We didn't do anything to get him to, because we didn't know what to do. The only thing we did was stop climbing into his bed with him. We started either sitting on the floor in front of his bed or laying down by his bed, because of course we have trouble staying awake at that time as well!
I wish you the best of luck, I know how frustrating that can be!!!
Look at the environment in the room. Is the room comfortable? Or is it too warm, too cold, too dry, etc?
If the environment is OK and he sleeps from bedtime until midnight, then I would just accept that he isn't ready to sleep through the night yet.
When he wakes up, go comfort him, but keep him in bed. My daughter wakes several times at night, but is easy to soothe back to sleep provided she doesn't get too awake.
Hi D.,
I know this may sound horrible to some Moms but it was the last straw for us. We turned the door knob around so we could lock him in his room. We did this for 2 weeks straight. I cried all night listening to him cry and scream. He did fall asleep eventually. Now he sleeps all night (for the most part) and we all are getting a good night sleep.(for the most part)
Hi D.,
I have a 25 month old toddler who shares a room with her 8 year old and 6 year old sisters. I understand where you are coming from. She doesn't get up as much as your son but we have had some rough nights. What I have done that works sometimes is to scoop her up when she gets out of bed and put her back into her bed without talking to her. I've also had to be very firm - the "mommy monster" is how I describe how I am after midnight. Not scary just REALLY needing my sleep. He may wake his siblings up but some crying is inevitable. Could you close their door and put a noise machine or fan in their room? I've also found that she wakes more when she doesn't eat a good dinner. A bedtime snack of graham crackers helps.
My oldest had a hard time staying in her bed when she was two. She was very verbal and understood sticker charts, etc. We had a reward system set up for x amount of nights in your bed without waking mommy equals a treat of some kind. I hung a calendar in her room and used star stickers. I don't think this would work for her sister right now but maybe for your son?
With my youngest I've also started talking to her at night about not waking mommy up, stay in your bed until daylight, etc.
Sorry if I've rambled....need more coffee....two year old woke me up at 5:20am but is back to sleep :)
J.
Try bringing him into bed with you, works wonders for us! You can find more info at www.askdrsears.com.
Good luck, S.
you can try buying a baby gate and using that in the doorway, that way he can see out and not feel trapped and you can leave the door open without being afraid he will escape. Then I would leave a light on for him. Not a bright light, and put it next to his bed. Go to home depot and get a timer for the light and set it for how ever long you want him to sleep. Tell him when the light goes off that is when to call for mommy, and when the light is on he is supposed to be really quiet and sleep.
D., the problem is is that your young son is going thru a physical change in his day.night habits. try a soothing bath with chamomile from johnson&johnson, and sit with him until he dozes off. there are quite a few things that you can try like shortening his nap times, a different sleep hour, or seeing if there is some type of medical reason why he isn't sleeping.
Children his age do suffer seperation anxiety too.
Is the toddler bed a new experience for him? Maybe switch back to the crib?
