How Do You Keep Your Toddler in Her 'Big Girl' Bed?

What is wrong with playing/singing to herself, as she winds down?
MANY kids do that.
The thing is, she is doing this by herself. This is 'how' she winds-down.
No kid/toddler, instantly falls asleep as soon as they lay down.
Nor an adult.
To me, she is winding herself down. She has a routine. She sings/plays a bit, before lulling to sleep.
Both my kids do that too.
Then they fall asleep.
Its fine.

To me, she IS falling asleep. On her own. At her pacing. She is winding down. And this is what kids need to do, when they are Toddlers or older.
They can't be still as a statue.... as soon as they touch their bed.
Its okay.
My kids do that.
They then fall asleep.
That is good.

We had a very set bedtime routine.
Every night.

Quiet bath (no horseplay), dry off, Pajamas, read 3 books (no questions and answers no playing). kiss and lights out. There were times she would ask for 1 more book please.. Or 1 more chapter please.. and we would honor that.

We played either quiet music or a story on cd. Then lights out and door mostly closed. She had a night light.

We told her she had to stay in bed. If she laid there quietly that was fine. If she wanted to look at books she could do that but had to be with the low light. But she was not to get out of the bed.

When we first took her out of the crib, we had the mattress on the floor in a corner. Sometimes in the morning we would find her asleep on her bedroom floor. That was fine. As she got older, she liked to make a "nest" either on her bed or on the floor with all of her pillows and blankets.. Again, this was fine as long as she was quiet and stayed in her room.

Some people put up a gate across the door, we just closed the door till it was mostly closed. In the beginning there were a few times coming to look for us, but we just walked or carried her back to bed and told her, it is time to sleep. Sleep is when your body grows. She learned we were not joking.

I honestly don't remember changing much of anything about bedtime. Maybe that is why it worked so well?

We reversed the handle on our son's room and lock him in.
Gates wouldn't work, he's a climber. And there's no chance that he's staying in there if left to his own devices.
Thus, the lock.

Took a couple of nights. He would check the door, find it locked and start yelling. We'd go in, and put him back to bed, leave...etc... Rinse and repeat. After a few nights and a few tries with this, he got the message that locked door = bedtime. We never left him to cry in the dark. We just needed to introduce a new "cue" to him to know when it's time to go to sleep.
We still do it today and he's 3.5.

we just did this not too long ago & honestly, it wasn't as bad as I thought it would be. The 1st week we had some episodes & some days are better than others....we really didn't change much but we do stick w/ a bedtime routine & we don't use any nightlights or such (never have at nighttime, nap-time she has an electric aquarium she likes to watch) I think keeping the room completely dark helps because she knows the security of her bed & doesn't get up to wander. She has however fallen out a few times & I keep a thick/fluffy comforter on the floor for that purpose, the 1st time it happened she cried of course, but now she just gets back up into bed & we're shopping for a twin bed. I originally wanted to go ahead & transition directly into a twin bed for that reason (I have a rail but it doesn't fit the daybed/crib). I don't regret this change though because she knows this bed & it's been good to make the change this way.. good luck!

We put our DD in a toddler bed at 22 months b/c of climbing out. She did seek her freedom and naptime was a bust after that. It took a few days of taking her back to bed at bedtime, but she did fine. Naptime became a nightmare. She just turned 4 and I got her to sleep today for maybe one of 5 times since 22 months.

My kids worked with a babygate, but I knew someone who installed an inexpensive screen door (removed br door and put up screen door, so they could latch it, but he could still see out. we also had one who went to bed fine, but would then wander around the house.

If your child is still young, you may try a crib tent.

We had to move to the toddler bed when we moved in with my parents temporarily (while house hunting and closing on the new place--about 6 months) because there wasn't room for her crib and our bed in the one room we all shared. So, we put her crib mattress on the floor in the corner and she slept there. We eventually found a cute toddler bed and upgraded to that, which is what she's still sleeping on in our new house. We put a baby gate up in our hallway so she can go from her room to our room or to the bathroom (she is fully potty-trained). There have been many nights where she can't sleep or she wakes up with a bad dream and sneaks into bed with us... and of course, she's fallen out of the bed several times... but it's all a learning process. These days, we do the "quiet time" routine: potty, bath, brush teeth, book, water, bed. She is allowed to have her stuffed animals and a few books in bed with her. She also has her choice of 3 night lights (very dim, medium-low, and medium light). Depending on her mood, she picks the light--for example, if she wants to "read" in bed, she'll pick the brightest light. It works for us and she has been sleeping through the night pretty consistantly for about 8 months now (4 months at new house, 4 months at grandparent's house)! The first couple of weeks/months may be rough, but it is definitely worth the work! Good luck!

make her room safe and then use baby gates to keep her in we only had to do this for about a week with my youngest and she got the hint hope this helps!

until she gets used to going to bed and going to sleep, limit the number/amount of toys and distractors in her room. If possible, have an area elsewhere (just to start) where the bulk of her toys are kept. Maybe just one stuffie in the bedroom