Toddler Toddler Bed - Tampa, FL

E.,

Well lucky for me, I haven't had to cross that bridge yet, but my sister has already. What she had to do was suffer through it for a couple of nights. She has a baby monitor with a camera, so she was able to shut the door. A couple nights he fell asleep right by the door, and he cried, but eventually he went to sleep in his bed.

I saw this on TV. Baby proof the room. Start as early as you can in the evening. (7:30pm) The baby gate won't work if the door is wide open, because he will hear you and see light. If you are concerned about his safety, crack the door, and when he comes out of the room keep walking him back into the room and laying him down. Do not talk to him or console him. You will be exhausted for the first couple of nights, but eventually he will realize that you are not giving in and he will get exhausted and go to sleep.

Good Luck!!!

Ms. E.,
I have a 4 yr old and I know that he had seperation anxiety because my husband and I used to put him to bed by cuddling with him. We realized if we put a disney movie or some music on for him he would lay in bed till he fell asleep. Every child is different but I do know that I can now say goodnight to my son and mean it. He will stay in his bed and sleep through the night once and a while he may wake up and request that we start the movie over but the majority of the time he stays in the room . I wish you the best JUST REMEBER it Does Get Better!! Smile

I have seen the "supernanny" do this several times on her show and it seems to work every time. You have to be very consistent with it to work. When your son gets up take him back to his bed - don't talk to him - just put him back to bed. He will probably get up again - do the same thing again, take him and put him back to bed - again no conversations with him. This will take several trys and maybe even several nights, but he will get the point that you are not going to let him up or stay in his room with - not giving him what he wants. You might want to try this on Friday and Saturday nights if you work so maybe by Sunday he is trained:)

Good Luck:)

You need to wait until a weekend and you will have to bit the bullet and for 2 or 3 nights you and your husband take you son back to his bed. Just sleeping on the floor next to the bed is making the situation worse. Don't get mad or frustrated with him. Just walk him back each and every time. He will get the point. You should watch supernanny sometime. She has lots of great advice and she is not mean. She helped a single dad with the exact same problem. It took three nights for the son who was 6 to stay in the bed. Just get a good mind set and you and your husband work together so he knows that you will both give him the same response. Children need their sleep and so do adults. Be mom and dad and show him the rules.

Good Morning E.,

Yes, that is a dilema, and not a fun one. Have you asked your mother what she did? It is really important to learn from the past what worked.

Today, we try to make it as easy on everyone as we can, but in reality we are making it worse. (Like your husband sleeping on the floor of your child's room??)

I learned all these things after the fact, and in fact, I found it so interesting, I wrote a book about it.....

I found it to be very important to make sure he was totally relaxed when he went to bed. I guess they have lavendar products out now for children now. Awesome stuff!! It might even be a good idea to have a lavendar plug in near his room so he can smell it as it is really relaxing.

I found that the more I went to my child the longer it took to break the 'bad' habit. I am sure you have a dim night light in his room, and maybe some soft music. If he wakes up and yells for you, assure him you are right here and go back to sleep, it may take a little while, but the more you and your husband 'give in' the longer it will take.

I learned that this is the age when the 'manipulation' period begins to surface and the demands from our children get more and more intense. I really recommend you stop what you are doing as soon as you can, because it will only get worse. Try not to run to him every time. Honestly, you will reep the benefits from that one day.

Our children, no matter how young, will continually push us until they get what they want. So, stay strong and be CONSISTENT. It will be alright. If anything, he will cry himself back to sleep.

Let him know you are sleeping and that he needs to go back to sleep that you have a big day tomorrow. Tell him you love him and then that's it!

I never thought what I was doing was wrong, but as I learned, it was all wrong. I kept giving in and giving in and did everything at his beck and call and wow, before I knew it he was 14 and I was still doing it..............

Good luck!

L. Hein
www.lisarhein.com

I had this same problem and ended up getting a "Cozy Tent II" which is a crib tent that fits like a dome right over the top of a crib, it's mesh and works wonders. My son loves it and feels safe and secure and goes right to sleep. Also you may try putting your son to bed earlier. I know it sounds crazy but the earlier a child goes to sleep the longer they sleep. I know this because I let my son stay up to 9pm one night and he was up at 5am ready to go. When I put him to bed at 7pm he sleeps until 7am. I hope this helps.

How recently? My two year old son goes through short (3-4 day) periods of nightime crying and then they vanish. We sleep on the floor a couple nights and life seems to go on. We always ask why he is crying, talk about bad dreams or if he's afraid of something and put him back to bed. We frequently wait until he is ALMOST completely asleep and then whisper good night and leave (so he's slightly aware that we are leaving to give him the "sleep alone" message, but not so he's awake enough to really care) Good Luck!

Hi,

I would imagine if I were 2, it's nighttime and I'm alone, I'd be scared. If going in to sleep alongside him helps, I would do that. If you aren't comfortable on the floor, set up a mattress for yourself, or let the little one sleep with you. There's nothing wrong with reassuring your child that you are available for them.

What works for one does not always work for the other. With my oldest daughter (12) when she got to be about 2 1/2 we went through this. Her bed had a twin trundle so I would just roll it out and tell her it was ok we were going back to sleep. She would go right back to sleep and we both got a good night sleep. I never let her cry it out, mostly because my husband had to be at work early and I did not want to wake him, and I had a baby at home that I really did not want to wake. However when the baby, now 10, went through this phase, I tried laying with her and this did not work, she perceived it as play time. She even started sneaking books under her pillow thinking when I came in in the middle of the night it was going to be story time. At first I tried the let her cry it out, with a baby gate, one night she actually tried to climb over the baby gate, thud and hurt cry, that was a long night for everyone in our house. We finally changed our routine, dinner right at 5:30 when daddy got home from work, then we would take a walk, or play in the back work. some time of activity that she really exerted herself, for as close to an hour as we could. Then we would take a bath about 7:00, have a healthy snack, celery and peanut butter was her favorite, brush our teeth and in bed fy 7:30. I found that if she got to bed later it was worse. As a mother you have instinct, you have to do what is best for you. Don't be afraid to try different things. Let him cry it out for a few nights, if that doesn't work, try putting a mattress in there and sleeping with him for a few nights, Trust your mothers intuition. I would never recomend letting him into your bed though. If you feel like he needs to be with you and you need to be in your bed with your husband, try setting him up a sleeping bag next to your bed. I have a friend who has 6 children and that is what she does. She keeps a sleeping bag next to her bed, in case somebody needs that extra space. Her rule is first come first serve, if a second child wakes up in the middle of the night then the one in the sleeping bag has to go back to bed with the one who woke up second. She only has someone in there about once a week. She only has more than one when we have a bad rain storm, butwe are hurricane recoverers.

Good Luck and trust yourself.

Definitely leave him in his room! Let him climb in and out of bed and put himself back to sleep. It won't take long if you resist the temptation to go to him. I would get ear plugs for my husband if he couldn't handle it! the more he goes in there, the longer it will take....more crying, more sleepless nights!!
been there, done that....

I don't recommend letting your 2 year old cry it out. If he's crying for you, he needs you. It's that simple. Don't worry so much about creating bad habits. We as a culture have become so fearful of creating "manipulative" children that we are losing the gift of instinctual mothering that is innate in all of us. Do what feels right and be careful of so-called "baby trainers". You want him to feel secure and happy, right? Why don't you just bring him into bed with you when he wakes up in the middle of the night? That certainly would be a way for you ALL to get some much needed rest. Parents in cultures all over the globe bring babies to bed with them and they are far from creating generations of selfish spoiled children. Look into natural mothering and attachment parenting online. It will put your worries to rest. Best of luck!!

Hi E.!

Don't dismay. I'm a mother of four, two of which are a set of twins, so I'm well versed on creative ways to rear children. My last child had a real problem when it came to sleeping in her own toddler bed. This is what you should do... It's ok to get up and check on him because it's new to him. Reassure him that he's fine and that mommy and daddy are close by. Leave a night light on in his room so he's not afraid of the darkness. Bring a stuffed animal in the room that you only bring in on those nights when he wakes up. It will serve as a substitute to mommy and daddy. You can even name it mommy or daddy bear. Maybe you can even make one at Build a Bear. Don't stay long in the room with him though. Then a week or so later, tuck him into bed with the bear so that he feels secure and hopefully will sleep all night. You'll know when the time is right to do the last "trick". Good luck! Let me know how it turns out.

my daughter had a big girl (trundle bed) on her 2nd birthday. It is she did fine, if they can climb out they are ready. M. of 6

Hummm, I had to switch my son to a big boy bed by 22 months because we needed the crib for his new sister. My son lOVED his crib and would hang out it there. He like the security of the rails etc. We decided to by the TOP of a bunk bed to use as his big boy bed. It has rails all the way around and to him it just feels like a bigger crib. He stays awake for up to 2 hours after we put him down but he;s just chilling out in the bed, which is fine as long as he's calm and quite. My son uses pacifiers and he would wake up crying because he lost them so we'd just go in and find it for him. He seems to be doing good although our issue is that he is restless meaning every 10-15 mionutes he's in a new position. Anyway, you may need to let him cry it out especially if you didn't le thim cry in the crib. As long as his needs have been met, he should be fine. If it's in the middle of the night, check on him, Davin did this too, h woke up (I think) having a bad dream. We'd comfort him and them leave. He'll do fine, give it time but don't coddle him too much, you'll have the same problem 2 years from now!

Don't listen to Jodi B, THAT's for sure. If she thinks "training" a baby is wrong, then I don't want to be right. Give me a break. Humans are creatures of habits. Don't create a new one by having your husband sleep on the floor or by coming into your room. He's been perfectly fine by himself for 2 years, nothing is different now, except your reaction. What would you have done if he were in his crib calling for you? Address him (I always go in to make sure he's okay...not stuck, covers missing, etc) and then I don't come back. If he gets out of the room, put him back with no conversation and go back to bed. My three boys have all fallen asleep on the floor and that's perfectly fine. In fact, I think it's great, because it showed me I did the right thing. Good luck and stay strong. This is the first of many times in his life where you will have to do something he doesn't like for his well-being. Get used to it now! :)

I agree with the previous advice too. Leave the gate up in the door way but leave the door open. I have 2 gates up in my kids door way cuz they climb, but this is so they can hear whats going on so they don't think they are alone in the house.

As long as he can't get hurt I would ignore him. Start for 5 minutes then 10 then 20 etc. If he falls asleep on the floor in front of the gate so be it. You can move him back to the bed if you want.

It's really like he just has a bigger crib now.