My 2 & 1/2 year old son learned how to jump out of his crib. His crib turns into a toddler bed so we took the side off. Since my son was 4 months old, he has went to bed at 7:30. The first week he didn't get out of his bed. He went sleep at his normal time. We kept up with his night time routine (dinner, bath and stories). He has now realized he can get up at anytime. So for the past week he has gotten up over and over. He has been going to sleep late and is tired the next day. Any advice would be great. Thanks.
Put him back over and over and over again, don't make eye contact, just be serious and say something like, "its bedtime now, goodnight" and leave.
When my daughter challenged me on this I would tell her that I would close her door if she kept getting up and that worked well. Hang in there mama :)
My daught is 19months old and we put her in the toddler bed at 18 months old and put a baby gate up in her room so she couldnt get out. We put her to be at 8pm and we tell her its night night time and turn the light out. If she gets out of bed we go in there and tell her no its night night time and put her back to bed. We usually let her go to bed with a book and she will look at it and then fall right to sleep. I would try letting him look at a book in bed while he's supposed to be sleeping. It keeps her from wanting to get out of bed and play with toys.
I'm going to echo what the others have said but add: don't talk to him at all. When our son was about 2 he started climbing outa the crib & I had to train him to stay in his crib. Every time he got up, I picked him, made no eye contact, said absolutely nothing to him & put him back in bed. The first night, I swear I must've done this about 20 times in the first half hour! It took about 3-4 nights of me doing this w/the amount of time he got outa bed lessening each night until I could put him to bed & he'd stay there. I even trained his older brother to completely ignore him as he stood there sheepishly in the hall. Sadly, this wreaked havoc w/his naps & this back-to-bed routine didn't work during the day so I had to take him on a drives til he was asleep & then transfer him to the crib. But, as another parent said: the key so to stay consistent. Stay patient. Do not give in under any circumstances & he'll know you mean business. Be strong & good luck!
Is he leaving his room or getting up and staying in his room?
If he is leaving his room, you need to return him to his bed every time saying "It is tome to sleep." NEVER give in. All it will take is one time and he will know he can wear you guys down. Some people will put up a baby gate and actually stack them one on top of the other so children cannot climb over it.
Each time you say good night, remind him, "it is time to sleep, do not get out of your bed." Make sure he has his lovey and play some quiet music. He just needs to get used to this transition and your repetitive actions. This will teach him you are serious.
My mom taught our daughter how to relax her body, starting with the top of her head.. She would lightly touch daughters head and say, "rest your head", then move to her forehead with a light touch, "rest your forehead", "rest your eyes", "rest your nose".. All the way down to her feet. After a few nights, it only took, "rest your head" and Poof, our daughter would be out..
I had the same problem with my twins. What has worked for us is the crib tent. They love it now, and always asked for it to be zipped up before bedtime.
Our granddaughter went through this. The door to her room was closed, and they didn't keep toys in her room so playing wasn't an issue. She would get out of the bed and cry at the door... sometimes we'd see her little fingers sticking out through the space under the door. Often she'd go to sleep there, so my daughter just put a soft mat at the door so if she went to sleep it wasn't a problem of her having to lie on the floor all night. (this is because sometimes she'd also go to sleep but wake up after they had gone to bed and would get up and lie down by the door). It took quite a long time for her to get to the point where she stayed in her bed all night, but she's now six and doing great... no problems from the way they handled the bedtime routine. They did do the put her back into bed without a word routine, but she was really persistent with getting up again, so they simply started ignoring her. As long as a parent has enough oversight to know for sure there is nothing wrong, ignoring the child is often the best way to handle bedtime training.
What worked for us (in addition to the other suggestions) was a hook & eye latch high on the door, so he (and I) could still see thru the inch-wide gap but couldnt get out. It's what my parents did with us kids when we just wouldn't stay in our room.
the only thing you can do is keep putting him back in the bed. have you ever watched Super Nanny? she has the parents just very calmly and without any discussion simply pick the child up, and put he or she back in bed. It can take hours, but eventually it works. As for his being tired, maybe you can start a little earlier until he finally stays in bed. Good luck!
