Bedtime Troubles with 2 Year Old

We use a baby gate in the door. Just knowing that she could roam the house made it too exciting for her to sleep and made me too nervous to sleep. A week into the big girl bed we put the gate up and it took the fun out of it for her. And we started a reward system for when she goes to bed and doesn't get back up, she gets a marble to put in a jar. When the jar is full she gets a special treat, a trip to the ice cream store, a movie, small toy, etc.

We are going through this with our 2 yo as well. Even though we probably have a different dynamic (6 wk old baby) in our mix, the situation is VERY similar.

Our bedtime struggles usually average around 2 hours a night (this better not go up an hour for each year she ages). We use a gate. We had to take all other furniture out of DD's room because she started pushing it over to the gate so she could climb over it. The last straw was when she sauntered into the living room one evening after having moved her play table over to the gate.

Right now, we are letting her camp out on the floor so she can see/hear us (our doors are directly across the landing from each other). She takes her blanket and pillow and lays them right up against the gate and lays down. This seems to calm her nerves a bit and is in addition to the rest of the nightly routine (book, night light, soft music). It usually works 4 out of 7 nights and for now is better than nothing. Sorry for the long story but wanted to let you know that you are not alone. Maybe a "camp out" would work for your son too?

Hope this helps. :-)

I'm not sure how you discipline your 2 yo, but I use time outs. I used to have a problem with him going a wandering early in the morning, but after a few times of close watching and catching him in the act (and then sending him to timeout) he now will not leave his bed until I come get him in the morning.

confining him to his room isn't really getting him to do as he's told or teaching him to go to bed properly, but it is avoiding all the hard work - we went supernanny on my son's tushie. when he gets up, go put him back. i like the idea of a time out, if that works for the child. it constitutes contact with the family and NOT going to bed, so it wouldn't work for us. we just kept putting him back, as soon as his feet hit the floor, we'd pick him up and put him back in bed. it took WORK but it got the message across. no more issues since then, and i am able to leave his door cracked at night so i can hear if he needs me in the night.

I agree with Michelle, that is what we had to do with our 2yo, until he figured out how to use his finger nail, or a coin to unlock the door. Now we are trying to figure out how to keep him in his room.

I am noticing with each major change with my 22 month old that I am having to adjust her routine at night. She recently gave up her bottle (without a fight..I am proud of her). We have had a little more trouble getting her to bed at night. We just added more rocking time with her. I imagine when she goes to the toddler bed we will have the same issue...another adjustment. For a long while, we didn't have to rock her at all after her bottle. We could just put her in her crib and she would go right to sleep. I have read other posts on it since it isn't too far away. Thankfully, she doesn't even seem to want to climb out.
I have read that your situation is pretty normal. I imagine that I will have to sit or lay with my dd for around half an hour to get her to sleep. I may get creative during the transition though. If I lay with her, I am not sure she would go to sleep. Might try to sit with her with the side of her crib down so she can get accustomed to me being there for a while. I'm not sure yet.
One thing I know I will have to do is remove all toys from the room before bed and make sure to block the dresser so she doesn't wake during the middle of the night and destroy the room. If there isn't anything to play with, I am hoping she will get bored and go back to bed. I have also read about some of the aroma therapy scents. I may look into getting a plug in and putting it in at night somewhere she can't reach or get to.
Hope this helps. Let us know what works with your little one. I may need it soon...LOL.

Put a gate at his doorway and take all of the clothes out of his drawers until he gets used to the drill.

Switch his doorknob around! That is what we did. My husband took the doorknob off of our son's door and turned it around so it locks on the outside. He cried and screamed for the first few nights, and a couple nights, he even fell asleep on the floor right next to his door, but then it was all over! My son goes right in his bed at night with no problem. In less than a week, your son's sleep habits will be perfect. I promise. You just need to hold your ground w/ your son. When he cries and screams for yo to open his door, you can open it ONCE and give him a reassuring hug and kiss and let him know everything is okay and that he must go to bed and you are not going to open the door again until the morning. Trust me, it will work, as long as you don't cave in, and don't let him pull on your heart strings!

Every mom has a different thought on what they think should or shouldn't happen. I prefer to let my son get up. No toys a few books and thats it. I shut the door almost all the way. Sometimes he comes out and I just tell him to go get back in bed and off he goes hiking up the stairs. Sometimes he cries on the way and sometimes he doesn't. He is 17 mo and has been doing this for awhile. I know sometimes I can't sleep and I would hate to be forced to.