Two Year Old Sleep Problem

1. My daughter is 2 1/2 and basically what we did was start of slow, when she fell asleep we would pick her up and put her in bed, and anytime we rocked her to sleep we place her in the bed, whenever she would wake up in the middle in the night, we would put her to sleep and put her back in bed. Yes it is very tiresome, but then she will start understanding to sleep there.

2. If that doesnt work, maybe just let her cry herself to sleep, i know it sounds mean but it might work.

3. Or you can make it a big event by letting her choose the pj's and her dolly she want to sleep with and the book she wants you to read to her.

1st, buy a fisher price flashlight. It stays in the big girl bed. They are be best out there on battery use. They don't stay on a long time. You turn them on and after a few minutes they fade out. It takes a single push of the button to get it back to full power. She will love the power it gives her to turn the light on any time she wants it. I tried some of the others but they are not near as user friendly.

2nd, I would buy her a bed buddy. Something about her size to snuggle with or something special she really likes. She can only use it in her bed. Let her pick it out. Make it a bedtime ritual to put the buddy to bed in the big girl bed.

3rd, give her a choice of sleeping with the buddy or on the floor next to your bed. You can still reach out and touch her and she will know you are there. After a few days you can move her to her bed after she goes to sleep and make a special breakfast if she makes it all night. After a while you can move to putting her down in her bed. Be sure to talk up how big she is. Make it a big parade to the bed, read a story, buy her a crown or whatever you think will work to make her feel big. I promised my son a pancake with chocolate chips when he started sleeping in his bed. I only put a few on there with some whipped cream and it made a big difference.

Maybe you can find a fun bedspread to put on her bed after she starts sleeping in her big bed. Maybe buy her the little polly pockets or whatever the things she likes are and give them to her every few days. Put one on the table and tell her I would like to give you this pony but you have to sleep in your big girl bed all night.

Finally, you have to remain committed to putting her back to bed there for several days. It will not be easy and yes, you will be majorly tired but in the end it will be worth it. Say something like, I am so proud of you. It is still nighttime and you need to go back to your big girl bed. Let me walk with you. Then you walk her back to bed and tuck her in. I wouldn't get into long debates with her about it, just tell her what you expect and prepare for the battle. After a few days, it will get better but if you give in it will get worse, much worse. then any progress you have made will take three times as long to get back to. Basically your options may boil down to a week or two of exhaustion or taking the long way home adn giving in before you know where you went wrong.

I just hope that you don't let the new one sleep with you. It seems easier in the beginning but in the long run it will be easier to scoot a bassinett or playpen next to the bed. I tell my friends that if you let the baby sleep with you, it is really cold in that bed when you decide to kick them out and they don't want to go.
Good luck
C.

this is about the age we moved my daughter to her own bed . the thing I found that helped most was laying in her bed with her until she went to sleep and sneaking out of bed afterwards. Then when she woke up I would explain to her that 'see there is nothing wrong with your big girl bed.'Using the 'big girl' phrase really helped alot.

I have advice that worked great for me. Kids need choices so first move the toddler matress into you room (no frame or anything cute) and tell things are changing so she has one of 2 choices she can sleep on the matress in your room or she can sleep in her room in a big girl (decorated) bed. She will most likely resist but make it clear it's her choice one or the other. If she picks you room at least you have made a huge step by getting her out of your bed. If she picks her room you are one step ahead. Just make sure everytime you lay her down put her in the bed she choose until it's time for another choice. Also there are books Like "the moon in my room" which light up and allow a small amount of light for a toddler to feel comfortable. Hope this helps.

Hello S.!
I had the same problem with my son who is now 5. He too was pretty clingy at that age. My husband is in the military and is gone a lot due to deployments etc.. and I always just found myself letting my son sleep with me. It became such a habit and one totally hard to break. He would not even nap alone anymore either as a result from it. It just became such a hassle trying to fit the three of us in a queen size bed when my husband was at home. Plus, it kind of put a damper on things in the bedroom too! :) So, we purchased a toddler/twin bed and made a HUGE deal out of it. We let him go and pick out all of his own bedding and decorations and he loved it. We talked and talked about how he was such a "big boy" and how proud we were of him and how proud he should be of himself. The first night was a little rough. Up and down, Up and down! The next couple of days got a little better. We just made sure that a baby gate was put up so he couldn't wander and childproofed his room again. Within a week he was a pro. We just really made a routine out of it... bath, book, bed and he just knew what to expect from then on. We also found that giving him a little child friendly flashlight helped too and you could even try a lullaby cd or tape to help calm her. Well I hope this has helped in some way and I wish you the very best of luck!

B.

I have a 2 1/2 year old. After we do the bath, story, bedtime thing, I say something like "Now, I have to go downstairs and finish the dishes, sweep the floor, and talk to daddy (etc...), but I'll come and check on you in a few minutes. Then I leave, but come back. Then, if he hasn't already fallen asleep, I make up some other excuse to leave, again promising I'll be back, but I stay away a little longer. Each time, if he's not asleep, I'll promise to come back, but each time it takes me longer. He feels secure and knows he can count on me, and he sleeps in his bed.

My son is 6 and started really sleeping on his own when he was about 5. When I say sleeping on his own, I mean he started out sleeping with me, then would sneak in in the middle of the night, then stopped all together. It took some training. WHen he would sneak in, we had to gather the energy to get up and take him back to bed and really commit to it. Before we started it, we warned him that the bed was getting too crowded and he was going to have to be a big boy and sleep in his bed because we spent a lot of money on it and he needed to use it or we were going to take it back-which he did not want. We put a cool night lamp in his room and a CD player to play calssical music to lull him to sleep. Now he is a pro and does not get up in the middle of the night-the only problem we have now is recognizing when he has to pee when asleep and going to the restroom instead of the bed, which happens rarely, but does still happen. Like I said, it can take a while, but you all have to commit and be consistent with her. Good Luck.

We have a 2 year old son that had the same problem. We had moved from Alaska this past Feb. and before that he didn't have a problem sleeping in his own bed. We bought him a race car bed and he got to pick out his favorite character sheets to sleep on. I sat in his room next to his bed. I would give him lots of hugs and kisses and say good night. I wouldn't look at him or say anything to him. I would get frustrated because he would cry and cry himself to sleep. My husband thought I was crazy but it worked. Each night I sat further and further away from him. Everytime he got up out of his bed I wouldn't say anything I would just put him back in his bed. Now he is sleeping by himself and even sometimes he would say "I am sleepy, good night!" and go to bed on his own. I got the idea from supernanny...LOL but it works! Good Luck!

I USE TO LAY NEXT TO MY SON UNTIL HE FALLS ASLEEP THAN I WOULD GET ONE OF HIS BIG BEARS AND PUT I NEXT TO HE SO HE WOULD THINK THAT I'M NEXT TO HIM

Hi S. H,

Well I have a 2 year old also and have done some moving since and she hasn't never slept in her crib consistantly! And believe it or not it's my husbands fault! I was the one who had to go put her in her crib at night, and when she'd cry, he'd go get her! So, now I don't even try! She automatically gets comfortable in our bed!! It's so annoying!! So, sorry I couldn't give you any advice!! GOOD LUCK on the new baby!

CJR

My oldest was 6 when his brother arrived, and had slept with us the whole time. If they made a large enough bed, I would family bed-I am codependent on my kids LOL...

Anyway, he sleeps like a wild man, so I knew it wouldn't be safe to have him and the new baby in our bed. So we bought a cot like you camp with. The whole camping idea was a fun adventure but even more, we put it at the end of our bed and went from there. At 11, he still tries to sneak in my bed if dad happends to fall asleep in the living room, and I like it, I mean it wont be long before he will be moving out! My 2nd son now 5, could care less if he sleeps in my bed or his own...that is when he sleeps.

Seeing how so much is changing for her, I personally wouldn't try anything drastic. If I could put her bed in my room, I would do that and then not even mention her sleeping there for a week. Maybe put her baby doll to sleep there each night. Then the next week, lie down with her in her bed or in your bed with her in her bed. Still not making too big of a thing of it and just gradually ease her into it.

Good luck!

Girl, Don't fret!!! My daughter from birth slept on her fathers chest all night long UNTIL SHE WAS 18MO. On weekends, she would take naps on his chest. The ironic thing was that my husband snornes like a bear hybernating in the winter. And she will sleep soundly on his chest. As soon as you lay her down she would scream. And believe me I tried every sleep method found on the internet. I just could not put her down when sleeping. Finally when she was 18 months old my friend who is a Child and Adolescent Psychologist told me that we were the problem. The baby was just trying to get what she wants and that we were beginning horrible attachment issues that wern't healthy for her development. She told me conduct my bedtime routiene then lay her down. Let her cry for a minute then return. But don't pick her up. Touch her and tell her to go to bed and you'll see her in the morning " I love you". Then Leave the room, and return in two minutes and so on each time increasing the time until she falls asleep. Or another method you can use is placing a chair in her room next to her crib and sit there until she falls asleep (don't look at her or talk to her)and then leave. This method is for the parents abandonment issues. Needless to say, neither method worked for me. My daughter just made herself vomit and we would run into the room in hyesterics. So what actually worked was to not give a bottle before bedtime and put her in her crib and let her cry herself to sleep. WOULD YOU BELIEVE THIS CHILD CRIED FOR TWO HOURS. I kept calling my so smart friend who calmly told me that if you go into that room she will get the message that the longer she screams someone will come to her. So we let her cry. This went on for two nights but the length of time she cried got shorter. By the fourth night she wimpered a bit but went strait to sleep. WE WERE SO HAPPY AND COULD NOT BELIEVE HOW GOOD SLEEPING IN OUR BED FELT. We actually regained our sex life and she is still sleeping well. Sometimes she will get off track with family events and such and we go right back to the cold turkey method and the following night she is fine. You will feel horrible trying this, but you will feel even better with a good night sleep. E-mail me if you have any questions.

T.

I think Brandi has a good suggestion. Bathe story bedtime. YOu can have your child lay down as you lay down with him while you read him a story also get him a stuffed animal or favorite blanket sor something to sleep with. He can cling on to that, knowing you are in teh room when he goes to sleep will help him feel better. and the stuffed animal replaces you until morning. Also a nightlight would work for extra lighting. It's all about making him comfortable with being by hisself. By laying with him while you read stories or sing to him gives him that comfort that you will be with him during the night. making him sleep easier without you because you pretty much psyched him out. It has worked with my children and they sleep alone on their own just fine.

Explain to her it is time to sleep in her big girl bed put her in it everytime she gets out put her back right after she gets out the first while put her in and sit next to the bed with your back turned and not talking to her lights off just like bed time tell her your not here to play or talk just to make sure she is ok the scoot closer to the door every like 10 min till your out the door so she is use to being in there.