My 2yr old won't stay in her bed at night. When I put her in bed in her room every night at 2:00am she is up and wants to sleep in my bed with me. What do I do?
Thank you all for your responses!! I have tried everyones suggested to do. I am glad to say after trying everything . I am happy to say this pasted saturday she stayed in her own bed all night. She didn't even wake up to come to my bed. I couldn't sleep all night saturday because every night she would come to our bed. I got up a hundred times to check on her. Every night now she staying in her bed. I have been getting up every night to check on her. I am so happy that I get to sleep close to my honey now. Thank you very much for all the help. It finally work out. I was starting to think that she was going to sleep in my bed for ever. A.
dear alexandria,
unfortunatly the only thing that worked for me is sitting by her bed until she falls asleep. both my kids still sleep in my room, not big house. so they do it to me often. i set a rule though. no kids in my bed till 6a. if they get up tell them to go back. it sucks enforcing this at first but they get the idea.
M.
Set the boundaries now so that you and your husband get the sleep and alone time that you need. Whatever it takes, keep taking her back to her own bed. My 2 year old did the same thing so we started closing her bedroom door when we put her to bed at night. She did scream for the first few days and a couple times we would find her asleep on her floor when we would check on her before we went to bed. But we were persistant and every time she would come in our room either my husband or I would take her right back to her own bed. She is now sleeping in her own room and will fall asleep shortly after being out to bed. 2 year olds are stubborn little people, you will just have to be more stubborn then her.
We put a dog gate at the door of his room... it may sound a little cruel but it works. I also love Super Nannies approach (you can log online and watch past episodes).
We are going through this right now. We have a 2 1/2 yr old and an 11 month old. The baby has slept the night through since 10 weeks but the 2 1/2 yr old has never slept the night through.
We put a doorknob cover on the inside of her door so she was confined to her room, and not wandering the house at night.
This weekend she learned how to pop the doorknob cover off. So every morning around 3:45 she has been waking me up wanting me to play with her or asking to watch TV. Sleeping is not an option. She hands me my glasses, pulls my covers off and tugs on my arm until I get up.
I work 40+ and I'm working on my MBA so I understand the loss of focus the next day. I'm beat. This morning I was tempted to put her out on the corner with a sign that read FREE! It's amazing how quickly a person's patience fades when she is sleep deprived!
I'm going to try just taking her back to her room when she gets up and pray that she gives in before I drop from exhaustion.
Good luck!
hi ..
i best way i know to handle this is to put her back in her bed ,,and let her cry herself to sleep ..Not what you want to here i', sure,,give her a drink kiss her ,tell her mommys loves her ,,,but this is her Big girl bed
good luck L.
Does your 5 month old sleep with you?
It sounds like you are VERY busy!
Do you think she just really wants to be with you?
It might make both of your lifes easier if you just let her get some snuggle time.
She might be insecure about not seeing you enough.
-Good Luck , it sounds like you are trying so hard, and care so much, and have alot on your Plate!
-A.
My 3-year old gets up at night from time to time. Some nights not at all, some nights 3 times. I scoop him up and take him back to his room. I comfort him and sit for just a minute and then I go back to my room. One thing we do is have a special night light on a timer. The snail light stays on when he is in his bed. "Come get mommy in the morning when the snail light goes off. You have to stay in your bed (or in your room) until the snail light goes off. Mommy needs her rest"
It works mostly, except when he think he needs to tell me when he as to pee at night, or if he has a bad dream etc. If he consistently gets up anyway, I will make a sticker chart that he can put stickers on for staying in his room until morning and at the end of the week will get a prize or a special outing.
My son is a climber, therefore has been in a toddler bed since he was 1 yr old. At that time, we realized he an occasional sleepwalker too. Best advice I have had is to put a baby gate on his door. He has yet to try to climb over it. Worse case, he will wake up and stand at the door and call for us. It is hard to not give them what they want especially when you are working full time (believe me.. I also work FT and a little PT gig as well). The first few nights he cried at his door, I would wait 10 mins put him back into bed, then 15 and so on until he just realized he wouldn't get his way and eventually fell asleep. Now he just goes and climbs in bed when we tell him. If he is over-tired or has been over-stimulated during the day, or on a few occasions when we went on trips and he had to sleep in the bed with us, he occasionally gives us a hard time getting back into the routine. But within 5 mins he is asleep. He is now 2 1/2 and we still use the gate just so he doesn't wander out of his room. I know I could probably hear him on the monitor, it just helps "me" sleep better. Hope this helps.
I highly recommend the book, "The No-Cry Sleep Solution for Toddlers and Preschoolers" by Elizabeth Pantley, to address issues like this. It has many great tips to help in various situations.
In my home, my older children often join us in the bed at some point during the night, typically when they've had to wake up to go to the bathroom. I almost never know when they come in, just wake up at some point to an extra warm, snuggly body! They know they are welcome to join us AFTER they've gone to sleep in their own bed. We have set some rules, such as they make come to our bed after the clock in their room starts with a "3" or bigger number. This avoids them coming immediately to our bed, for instance, and similar strategies can work in whatever your situation is. Some families will make a rule that they can come to the big bed once the sun is up, etc.
I would not exclude her from your bed, but evaluate your needs as well as her own. The book I mentioned is great for helping you through all the phases of identifying the problems and needs and finding the best solutions.
oh man...we are getting ready to transition to "big girl bed"! let me know what works!
This was a huge issue in our household as well. My oldest son was up 3 - 4 times every night and wanted to come into our bed or for me to go to his and sleep.
We used the super nanny technique, modified to fit us. The first time he got up we kissed him and walked him back, we sat on the floor until he fell asleep, with no talking to him, looking at him etc. If he got up again, we just put him back to bed and never looked back. It took two loooong weeks of consistency but it finally worked. During the days we talked to him about what a big boy bed he had and how special his room was etc.
Don't give up!
