Looking for Suggestions to Keep 22 Month Old in Toddler Bed

YOu've got some good responses...and each child is soooo different. Any new sleeping situ. for us called for trying it out at nap time first. I* would go thru a soothing routine, then make it really dark (we had to get the roll shades or he wouldn't sleep), put him in bed, and tell him he had to stay there with his head on the pillow. I put on music and sat in the room with him... not allowing him to get out. This was kinda time intensive at first but it gets better.

Do you have a bed rail? they have some at Toys R us that fold down.

This worked for my niece. I am not a believer in playing when you go to bed so try not to make this a play time thing. My brother was having the same problem so he put her Big Teddy Bear on the wall side of her bed ...he has a side railing on the other side and he told her that she was going to be camping and when you are in your tent you have to stay there until morning or until you call Daddy...and he then took a sheet and hooked it behind the bear and over the side railing like a tent...and it seems to work for her ...that is a thought.

Good Luck

S.

We went through the same thing with my daughter, only the problem lasted three months with her not going to bed until 11:00 every night, regardless of what time we put her down. I knew she was tired but preferred her new found freedom ;) We put a baby gate on her door and left her. Sometimes she played, sometimes she cried. We would check on her to make sure she was safe and unharmed but would tell her it's bedtime and leave the area. Also, you can try to the Super Nanny tactic of guiding him back to his bed everytime he gets up until he gets the point. (My daughter is extremely stubborn and after the 56th time of taking her back to bed one night - no joke - we figured she needed to figure it out herself!) Good luck!

B.,

The novelty WILL wear-off and he WILL get tired. Just try not to lose your mind in the meantime. You may already have this covered, but I have 2 recommendations (one already mentioned). Just make sure he can't get out of the room and let him wander a little. AND don't make his room TOO interesting. My girls are 10 mos apart and share a room, so unfortunately, they make each other thier playthings. However, their room has no toys. Pretty curtains and decorations on the walls, books to read, but NO toys...as little stimulation as possible at bedtime.

Good luck. My girls still play at times, but most of the time only for abt 20 min now. It took abt a month for them to start to get bored with running from one side of the room to the other just because they could. <g>

S.

My heart goes out to you. This was a very difficult time for us as well. I'll keep this short since alot of what I have to say is a repeat of others. We tried EVERYTHING and ultimatly had to lock him in the room. Our routine goes like this...We tuck him in and rub his back for 2 minutes and remind him he needs to stay in bed. If he stays in bed the door can remain open, however, if he chooses to get out we need to close it for his safety. We explain that he can have 1 token (1 last request). So after he uses his token if he get out of bed again the door closes (we put a safety knob on so he can't open it...yes, we had to try several before we found one he couldn't pop off). The first couple weeks he cried/played for an hour or so before he went to be until we discovered that if we rolled up a towel and put it covering the bottom crack on the outside of his door he would calm down alot faster. I guess because he couldn't see underneath the door he lost interest. (BTW there wasn't anything for him to see b/c we had been downstairs...but it still worked for some reason). Hope this helps!

I would just put a nice high gate on his doorway. And tell him he can play quietly or read books in his bed until he falls asleep. Then undo the gate if you want after he falls asleep.

That worked with my kids, but I only had a few small toys in their room and lots of books.

I feel for you, as we experienced the same with both our children. Stick to the same bedtime routine every night. Put him in his bed, turn off the light, leave the room and close the door. When he comes out, don't say anything, just put him back in the bed, lights off, leave the room and close the door. This will go on for sometime as you probably know, but the key is to NOT say a word to him and to just put him straight back to bed. After a couple of days, he will stop.

We are having the same battles here! Our 19 month old daughter kept climbing out of her crib, so we finally decided to convert her crib to a toddler bed. She goes to sleep just fine, but if she wakes up at night, which she has the last two nights, I can't get her back to sleep without a crazy fight. I'll be interested to hear responses to this!

It is very exciting for you son but you do need to put your foot down. Do everything as you did when he was small the only change you need to make is when you leave in stead of just walking out and doing as you please you need to close the door or walk out and out of the way and listen for him getting out of bed. When you hear him getting out of bed. Go back in and with out getting mad take him and put him back in bed, saying "it's bed time stay in bed"
You might have to do this over and over. You have to do it as many times as it takes. It could be for hours depending on your child. It should take less than a week of doing this every night but if you don't continue until he stops getting up he will keep getting up and will get more demanding about what he does with his time when you leave. My rule was you didn't have to lay down you just needed to stay in bed.
Good luck

hi B.,
being far from this point in my parenting, you're causing me to look back with nostalgia and great fondness at this juncture in my babies' development! take heart from the fact that at some point it will for you too be a sweet memory, not the cause for nutting up that it is now<G>.
i suppose there are quicker fixes, but they are more drastic and more likely to cause angst and sorrow. the most loving and long-term reliable way to fix this is the slow patient one. just keep putting him back. lovingly, quietly (no playing, no lectures, no lost tempers), and extremely persistently. it IS exciting to move out of the crib and discover all this freedom, mobility and most of all CHOICE. you don't want to remove his potential for making good choices or crush his pioneering spirit, so punishment is not a good thing here, just rustle up some extra portions of humor and resign yourself to a week or three of boinging back and forth. the novelty WILL wear off and your quiet persistence WILL pay off. and some point you'll look back and sigh in longing for this phase. really.
:) khairete
S.

This is not a fun battle at all :). Only my 4 year old didn't fight us here. We honestly, if they refuse to stay in bed after laying with them, reading to them, singing to them, bath time, etc (trying all options) will lock their door. With my youngest (now 26 months) he won't even get out of bed if I tell him I am going to lock the door. If they fight even with that, we just take them down stairs and rock them to sleep. But I think we at first always laid down with them to let them know it was okay and they didn't have to be scared, and then locking the door after weeks of fighting always let them know this was their new bed and they didn't have a choice in the matter. But of course the door was unlocked within about 20 minutes because it didn't take long for them to fall asleep. Good luck!

I feel your pain. We had to switch my son a few months ago as he wouldn't stay in his crib anymore. He also refused to stay in his toddler bed and would scream and leave the room. I tried the super nanny approach of returning him to his bed everytime, putting my back to him and inching out, but after 3 nights and 100 returns, I couldn't function anymore. I talked to several friends and called my pediatrician in tears, and all gave me the same advice: put a gate on the door (he kicked it down), then lock the door,and ferberize him again and he will eventually figure out to go back to the bed. He cries for a few minutes then sleeps in front of the door (still won't go back to his bed). the doc said as long as he is sleeping to let him sleep on the floor if he wants, eventually he will find the bed more comfortable. It was really the hardest few days and nights of my parenthood and i hate locking him in, but it is the only way right now. The lady at Target said they have some tents that will hook onto the beds, so that may be an option, my child just pried them off. Good luck and happy sleeping.