My son will be 2 in a couple months and i tried the big boy bed. He did fine with laying down and and fine sleeping, but... at 3:30 am he decided it would be fun to go in the living room and play with his toys. What can I do to make him not get out of bed in the middle of the night? I dont want to use a baby gate.
"No Sir, It's time for bed, Let's go Ni-night"
Every time he comes out of the bed, walk him back to it and say a similar phrase. It took us 3 nights. The first night took more times then the third but now mine sleeps in his bed rarely waking up! The only time I would use a gate is if you had stairs. GL!
Why no baby gate? This is the purpose of the gates. We always had our gate at the top of our stairs, so that the boys had to stay upstairs at night. How will you sleep without knowing where he is at such a young age? I say go for the baby gate!
Maybe he is just not ready for that level of responsiblity. My son was younger than 2 when we moved him, but he just seemed ready. He rarely gets out of bed if it's not morning yet. We never liked the idea of, or used a baby gate either. If you have a monitor, have it on high so you hear him if he gets up, and calmly and quickly walk him back to bed, tuck him in, and say "time for sleep". You may end up doing it several times a night at first, but eventually he should realize that this is no fun and stop doing it. Good luck!
We use a baby monitor---one in my room and one in the living room so we can hear when he is up. We also use the door knob covers on the inside of his bedroom door. Once he is up, I let him play in his room and when he is ready to come out he will knock on the door and call for mommy.
I say use the baby gate. We used a baby gate at our son's bedroom door as well. We used one that had a lever that you stepped on and the gate would swing open. Luckily my son didn't weigh enough to open the gate by himself. Ha! If you don't want one on his door, then why not try one in the hallway, like someone else suggested? 2 year olds are still learning their limits and testing their independance, so it's even more important that they learn where the boundaries lie and sometimes it helps if those boundaries are physical (rather than verbal). Do you use baby proofing locks on the kitchen cabinets? It's sorta the same thing in my mind.
I have no advice...sorry! My son was a killer sleeper and still is. We, of course, have our other issues. I just thought your post was cute. I could picture him getting up and figuring out he could go play with his toys. I would try the baby gate, but my boy would have scurried right over it at age two. I heard about a technique using an alarm clock, where the child has to stay in bed until the alarm clock rings, no ifs, ands, or buts. It probably takes several tries to get it right. I hope it's just the novelty of the big boy bed and he goes back to sleeping normally.
Good luck!
S.
Your son is very young! You may not like it but you need to use a gate on his bedroom door. This is a safety issue, nothing more. He's not old enough to do what he's asked as he's not even 2 yet. This is early to be put in a regular bed, but since he's in it now you MUST think of safety first before convenience or anything else. His entire room must be baby proof with socket covers, dressing supports, closet locks, etc. Cords hidden or taken out. And yes, a gate at his room door. As he gets older and begins potty training you can move the gate down the hall so he can get to the bathroom when he needs to go on his own. This will be far in the future at this point. And everything within the gate must be child proof, including the bathroom when that day comes.
Safety first!
K. B
mom to 5 including triplets
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We took down our son's wood door & replaced it with a screen door (like one you would have on the outside of your front door. We installed a hook and eye latch on the outside to keep it closed. We did this b/c we wanted to be able to keep him in his room, but also so we would have good circulation of heat & air conditioning. It has worked out well. The first night we put him into a big boy bed he stood & cried at the door for a long while. Eventually he gave up & went back into his bed & fell asleep. He has never gotten out of his bed since. When he wakes up he calls for mom or dad. When he gets up in the morning & is ready to start his day he says "Mom I'm all done sleeping." When I go in to get him he is still sitting in his bed. When he learns to potty we will change the hook & eye to a regular handle lock on the door. One advantage over a gate (in my opinion) is that we should be able to switch this door with a regular solid door at anytime with out any problems. Good luck
I used a gate for all four of mine. It is not like you are shutting the door and locking it. If they need you they call over the gate. Aren't you more worried that he will hurt himself very badly in the middle of the night? I don't even want to think of what could happen. It is not mean to use a gate... wasn't he pretty caged in when he was in a crib...lol!
Why no baby gate? It is pretty unreasonable to expect a 22 month old kid to understand the dangers of unrestricted access to the house at night. If possible, put him back in the crib and keep him there until he climbs out or grows out of it. But if not, then babyproof his room and put the gate up.
try a baby gate in the doorway...and if you hear him trying to get out...go gently tell him its night night time right now...you can play later. good luck. =)
I definitely recommend a baby gate. My son is 21 months and we had to make the switch 2 months ago due to him climbing out of the crib. The first 2 weeks were quite a battle and he was not sleeping through the night - he was coming into our room several times throughout the night. We put a baby gate in his doorway and he quickly learned he had to stay in his room. He woke up a couple nights, went to the gate, realized he couldn't get out and went back to sleep. In the morning when he wakes up, he plays with his toys in his room for a while - sometimes for as L. as an hour - before he calls for us to get him.
I didn't want to use a baby gate on his bedroom door but didn't want him wondering the house either, so we put the gate up at the end of the hall so he didn't have anywhere to go other than his room or our room or his brother's room. Hope this helps
Wondering why you don't want to try a gate? We used O. for my son. His room was at the top of the stairs and it freaked me out to think we could be sound asleep and he could be falling on the stairs or getting into ANYTHING without our knowledge. Reconsider the gate for safety's sake.
