2 Year Old Out of Bed Each Night

of course she wants to come in and snuggle! (and of course it is heartbreaking for you to hear her scream - imagine how it is for her!)i'd say enjoy it while you can, she will grow up soon. how would you feel if your husband insisted that you slept alone in a separate room and then wouldn't even let you come in and snuggle with him? you could get a bigger bed, or put mattresses on the floor next to each other so that you could easily go back to sleep.

A.,
We are getting ready to transition our daughter to a big girl bed, and I'm certain that she will do just what your daughter is doing. I was reading Dr. Ferber's book the other night about sleep training and it includes a section about using a toddler bed. I would check out the book at the library if you have a chance. I haven't tried it yet, but his method for infants is very widely accepted and effective. It also doesn't involve crying it out.
Good luck.
K.

My 2yo has been popping up too -- shortly after bedtime and then night-time waking. We found that a very effective punishment (and deterrant) is a couple drops of Tabasco Sauce on a spoon.

When she is being bad we give her a warning of getting "hot sauce", and then we give it to her if her poor behavior continues. I only had to give it to her once for night waking (after three times of returning her to bed) and now I only tell her that if she gets out of bed she will get hot sauce. She's been very good about staying in bed now.

We do give her water to rinse it out afterward.

Hi A.,

We went through this with all 3 of our kids around this age :) What we did was put a doorknob cover on the outside of our bedroom door so that when we heard them trying to come in, we would get up and take them back to their bed. The first couple of nights are rough but it does work. Eventually they stopped trying and sleep soundly. :)

Hi A.-
We have recently been through this and we have followed Dr. Weisbluth's, Healthy Sleep Habits, Happy Child. We are still struggling with our good sleeper getting out of bed initially when we put her there. The things the book tells us are based on science and practical experience from the doctor. They seem to work if we are consistent. We are trying:
Give no attention, positive or negative to the behavior you don't want, otherwise you are reinforcing it.
Write up sleep rules, review them and let her know what will happen if she gets out of bed. Remove things she wants if she gets out of bed.
Reward the behavior you want...even if it's not perfect. Reward with stickers, extra exuberance.
Gradually close door if she gets out of bed, then remove night lights.

This is with a 3.5-year-old. We are willing to let her cry, however, Dad has to go to bed early, so it's not easy....that's why we haven't been consistent. I'm not sure how this will work with a 2-year-old, and the behavior is different (coming to cuddle with you). We don't have that problem since our daughter has never slept with us and doesn't want to get in our bed even when invited. Locks on doors, holding the door, crib tents are other things the doctor discusses. I suggest you read the book....very valuable information. And remember, no child ever died from crying. When she remembers how to sleep by herself, you'll all be happier. Be consistent and brave--you all need your sleep. A.

Sucks, but Supernanny had a GREAT idea. It took a bit, but I did it with my son and it worked great. When bed time arises, do your usual routine and place your daughter into bed. If you have to, sit by the front door, with your back turned to the bed. You want her to know you are there...without being right next to her. When she gets up, let her know it's bedtime and she needs to stay in bed. After this, don't say anything else, just keep repeating process until she stays in the bed and falls asleep. I've seen some parents go through this for over an hour, but eventually, the child goes to sleep. Then the next time this happens, it's less time...and so forth. Hope this helps. :D

Our 2 year old does this occasionally too. We find what works best is to continue the supernanny approach even in the middle of the night. Put her right back in bed, no talking. She has learned if she gets up you will let her in bed. If you be consistent (it will be rough at first) she will learn that the only option is to be in her bed and she won't get up as much, if at all. Good luck! It is so hard on me to hear the crying at first so I have my husband do it since he is tougher than me.

When they're two, it does seem that crying-it-out simply doesn't work, doesn't it!??

Our daughter was 2.5 when her baby sister was born, and we experienced total regression. She did not want to sleep in her room anymore and some nights it was easier to just let her climb in bed with us and all get some sleep! We did realize though, that none of us were getting quality sleep (the newborn was sleeping better than all of us!), so we had to stop, cold turkey!

We started a new nighttime routine, and I would stay with her in her room after books and lights out until she was drowsy enough that I could say something like, "Okay, Mama's gotta go take care of the kitties now--how many minutes do you want me to wait before I come back to check on you?" This served two purposes, 1) preparing her for me to leave and 2) letting her feel in control enough that she got to "tell me" when I could check back on her. Most nights, I'd just peek in after 15/20 minutes and she'd be sound asleep.

If she came in our room in the middle of the night, we told her she'd have to make herself a "nest" on the floor and sleep in it. It was so cute, the first time she walked back and forth getting her blanket, pillow, stuffed animals, etc., making her nest and finally sleeping (at 3am!. The next night, she dragged blanket and snuck a pillow off my bed. The third night, she dragged blanket, rolled it into a ball and used that as the pillow (i took pity and covered her that time) and by the fourth night or so, she stayed in her bed.

A lot of it is about control and comfort. We finally got our girl a twin sized bed and she loves it. The toddler bed was kind of small now that I think about it!

Hope you are able to figure out something that works for you all.