2 Year Old Climbs Out of Bed

I can totally relate. I also tried the supernanny method, but it was utterly exhausting. My method may sound terrible but what I have done is put a locking door knob on my boys' door. I lock it when I put them to bed then unlock it when they are asleep. They are 5 and 2. As long as they know they can't escape they will settle down and go to sleep, but as long as they can get out of the room putting them to bed lasts forever! Just an idea, Good Luck!

Supernanny never said that it would only take one night.
You must do it until she knows that is the way it is.

In my opinion there really isn't a "nice" way to do this. I agree with SuperNanny. It's going to take time - she's had what, 2 years, to get used to sleeping with you, it's not going to be just one or two days to get her used to sleeping in her own bed. If this is something you want, you'll have to work for it - returning her to her bed 100% of the time. Like everything else with these little guys you have to be consistent. Every time you let her back in your bed it's one step forward, two steps back. We put a doorknob cover on the inside of my son's room so he couldn't leave his room - that way we could make sure his room was safe (safe than wandering the house in the dark for sure) and he had to stay there until we came and got him (just like he would if he were in a crib.)

With our daughter, we put a dvd player in her room and put in a movie. When she go to bed at night and then if she would wake up during the night the deal was that she would lay and watch a movie. She never made in until the end of the movie and then she was back to sleep.

The Supernanny episode I saw where the Mom had that problem she was told to gradually wean the child away from having company at night. For example, instead of holding her until she goes to sleep, annouce that from then on you will rub her back while she lays in her bed until she goes to sleep. Then after a time of that, sit with her but don't rub her back more than a few minutes. Then just sit in the same room, but don't interact. Eventually you should be able to just do your goodnight rituals and she should stay in her own bed.

What we did for our son was to play a CD for him. We had the Wiggles Go To Sleep Jeff album when he was smaller, and then we got a CD from Two Sisters Co called Nature Sounds. We would put the CD player on repeat and let it play all night long. Now he is almost six and he still likes to relax to the Nature Sounds for the hour it plays. It even works for the rare times he needs to nap...the music is an indicator to his body to sleep! Anyway, the point is that when they wake up during the night, they can go back to sleep when same conditions are present that were there when they went to sleep...the room is dark, the music is on, etc. When she wakes up now, Mommy is gone and that means it's not OK to sleep now.

It's hard, but stick with it. We're having the same problem with our 2 1/2-year-old. She's been up the past few weeks several times a night. It was easier just to let her climb in with us and we could all fall asleep, but we realized we were setting ourselves up for failure. (God bless Supernanny!!) Anyway, last night she was only up once, and Daddy walked her back, and that was the end of it. Another friend with a son the same age said she's having the same problems with her little guy, so maybe it's just the age. Just keep being consistent and calm, even though it can drive you nuts and rob you of your sleep...eventually she'll get the idea and stay put. It's even become part of my daughter's nightly prayers: "Help us all to have a good night's sleep, and help H stay in her bed all night long." AMEN!! :-) Good luck, and hang in there!

My friend made two tickets with her two-year-old son, who had the same problem. They illustrated them with magazine pictures of beds, laminated them with packing tape, and put them next to the bed. If the boy leaves his bedroom, he needs to give them one of the tickets. After he runs out of tickets, he's not allowed to get out again. Believe it or not, I don't think they've ever had to deploy an "or else," and the problem was solved in about a week.

Be persistant. And talk with her before going to bed. Because she can end up having night terrors if you get upset or anything...just keep being persistant. My 26month old used to do the same thing. Until we let her fall asleep with us once and carried her off to bed. Sometimes that helped. But I never really have problems with her sleeping all night. The only time she usually wakes up in the middle of the night is when she isn't feeling well. But let her know that its time for her to try and sleep in her bed all by herself like a Big Girl. I know it would be easier for me to do so, because my oldest is 11 1/2 years old. She sees that they sleep in their own bed, so she wants to be like them. Good Luck!

The supernanny technique you described will work...if you give it more of a chance than one night. It could take a full week, but if this is the technique you are going to commit to, you need to be consistent with it.

Keep a log of how many times you have to get up. The first night you could be making trips for 2 hours. The second night could be worse or better. By the third night you should see some improvement. By then she's getting the idea that getting out of bed is not going to result in funtime/playtime or any fanfare...but if you sabotage your efforts and cave in, then she learns that if she screams/cries/gets out of bed you will eventually give in to her.

It doesn't matter what technique you use, but pick ONE and be CONSISTENT with it. You've got to give it more of a chance than one night.

I have tons of easy meals
one our of favs is smoked sausage, potatos, and green bean,
or the sausage with mac and cheese.
If you would like more than let me know

Hi L.,
Patience and consistency. Keep working on it, it will come with time. You may try to ask her why she's "all done" sleeping in her own bed as well. My daughter all of sudden one day started putting up a fuss about being in her bed by the "dark window". We had the shade pulled, but she was obviously really bothered by it, although it had never been an issue before. It turns out there was a commercial on TV she had seen where a man was sitting on his couch by a dark window and a bear crashed through the window to get whatever food it was that the man was eating. She was terrified by that commercial and that a bear would come through her window. It took a couple of weeks and my mom seeing the commercial for us to figure it out and how to show her and explain that that could not happen in our house, on the second floor. Another option would be to get a special new stuffed animal that can be her sleeping buddy - but only if she stays in her own bed. Keep working at it, it will come!

Rome wasn't built in a day!! It will take more than one night of walking your daughter back to bed before she finally catches on. I don't think there is any solution that you will find that will allow you maximum sleep in the process!! Stick with walking her back to bed and you should find each night it takes a little less time/less visits by your daughter until she stays in bed. It will be a bit of work and less sleep for you for a little bit but it will pay off in the long run. Maybe you could also try and gate or something on her door so she can't get out? That wouldn't work in our house as my sons screaming for mommy would wake the whole neighbourhood but not sure of your situation!

I know this is probably not the best solution in the world but it may help...my son is 2 1/2 and it has been a project to get him to sleep with out me... we always slept in his bed together until a few months ago when i stopped it finally! anyhow my son still wakes up in the middle of the night except he just sits up in bed and yells for me to come in so i usually walk in there tell him mommys here and lay his head back down lay/or sit on his bed for a few minutes unitl he is back to sleep then go back to my room and if he wakes up while i am leaving then i say mommy is going potty she will be right back and he usually lays back down and falls asleep on his own again waiting for me to come back from the potty. Liek i said i t pobably isnt the bast solution in the world but it works for us!!

Camping out - I bought my daughter a sleeping bag and told her we could camp out but it has to be earned. We do party good with it and I can usually get her to sleep in her room maybe 4 times out of a week. Something is better then nothing. Tried to avoid her actually getting in bed with you. Once she goes to sleep real good get up(yes truly) and put her back in her bed. Tell her she went back on her on and that you are proud of her.

hi there well i think we used the supernanny method you mentoned with my 2 1/2 year old daughter when she first got her big girl bed a few months ago. she would get out bed and come out in the hall-w/o speaking i took her back tucked her in and left the room and pulled door almost shut-she'd get out of bed again and we would repeat the process- i just hid around the corner as i knew she would come back out LOL this took i don't know 10-15 times maybe more before she finally caved and stayed in bed. it hasn't been a problem since. i think the biggest thing is to offer no interaction with them which is what they want- absolutely no talking and just repeating the process over and over so they get the picture of what's gonna happen and they will not win the battle and they will eventually get the message.

i can say this may turn out to be more of a challenge for you as you said your daughter slept with you before and you do the whole holding her hand thing. Please don't take this as me being a judgemental mom but sometimes things like that can make it tougher for you. when she falls asleep with your hand that becomes her security object and when she wakes up and it's not there it can be very upsetting. i do speak from experience as my niece was put to bed with a bottle and every time it came out of her mouth she would wake up crying and it took my Sister In Law litterally years to break her daughter and get her to sleep through the night. I must say I learned from her mistakes. We also figured out a security thing that was happening with our own daughter. she would wake up from napping almost always cranky but is never cranky in the am. and we couldn't figure it out. well we just did! when she fell asleep watching a cartoon she would always wake up crying if it wasn't on- we experimented and when she started stirring we would turn her tape back on and she would be perfectly happy when she woke up. It's not that we put her to sleep with the tv but being 2 1/2 she doesn't take regular naps anymore and most often if she does nap it's when she falls asleep on the couch.

my number one suggestion would be to break this problem into 2 parts and conquer them individually. i would say you need to break her of the hand holding thing first. get her to fall asleep by herself- if you need to let her cry herself to sleep it will be tough but hold your ground and show her she's not gonna win- if you cave she will notice that! possibly find a substitue security item like a special doll or blankie. after you get her broke of that and she is falling asleep by herself i believe you will be much more successful in getting her to stay in her own bed- as she won't be associating it with you being there too. but yes sadly i think you will have to let her cry a bit and do the repeated SILENT trips back to her bed. I can say it will be tough on you guys but it may take a few nights of little sleep for everyone, but in the long run it will pay off. I've learned from personal experience and others that the longer you let a toddler maintain these "bad" habits the harder it is to break them of them.

kinda long winded but i hope my advice helps-these kinda tough love methods are both physically and emotionally exhausitng- no one wants to hear their little one cry or feel like they're being mean to their child, but it honestly does work. And i feel it works when nothing else will. The key is to not back down and keep at it as long as it takes some kids are much harder to "break" than others. good luck with getting a good nights sleep for everyone!

Put up gates. Start with one & if she climbs it, put up another. It will work if you stick it out.