How Do I Get My Son to Sleep past 4Am?

I Don't know how much you will like this but have you tried a t.v. in his room.I have been told thats a bad thing,but if it works and you show educational programs whats the problem? Also my Mom would tell me that my grandma would stick them in the playpen and let them play or if they were too big just let him play in his room if it's baby proof. Let me know what you think....Liz

Is he awake at 4 or just wanting to get in bed with you?? I would say if he is just wanting to get in bed with you try putting a gate in his bedroom doorway so that even though he can get out of bed he is not able to get to you and he will probably go back to sleep. It may be in the floor but it will keep him in his room until he realizes that coming to mom's bed is not an option. If he is awake and ready to go at 4 then I would think about changing his bedtime or nap routine so that he sleeps later in the mornings. My son is also 20 months old and he just recently went to one nap a day and he has to go down before 2:00 or it is a fight at bedtime and early up the next morning because he has had too much sleep late in the day. He does nap between 2 and 3 hours though. His bedtime is between 9 and 10 depending on how long his nap was. This schedule works for us and he sleeps until at least 7, sometimes 8 if I am lucky! I am a SAHM so I don't have to be anywhere early though. You may need to adjust if you have to get up earlier.

I dealt with the same problem with my 4 year old
(when he was about the same age). Just keep putting him back in his bed and tell him it's still night night time. It will be hard for a couple weeks but he'll learn and will stay in bed if your consistent.

I had the same problem when my son got too big for his crib and had to move to a toddler bed. He kept getting out of his bed at odd hours of the night and crawling into bed with us. I put a child-proof knob on his door so he couldn't open it himself. I also removed the lightbulbs from his overhead light so he couldn't just wake up and play. After a few nights of hearing his door handle jiggling at 3 a.m., he finally got the idea that he needed to go back to bed. When he got used to staying in bed the whole night we took the child-proof knob off. Hope this helps!

My 15 month old finally started sleeping through the night in her crib. The babysitter started putting her in the pack n play for naps without rocking her and my hubby has bed time duty. He puts her in bed and says night-night and she is fine. In the beginning we had to hear her scream for about 10 mins or more and really that is so hard! (that is why my husband was designated bed time duty!) Anywho after about a week or so it actually worked! Not really sure how you would keep him in his bed though? Good luck!

Too many unknown variables to comment...how much napping does he do? What time is his bedtime? How fun do you make it at 4 am?
If he's napping a lot during the day and his bedtime is really early, then he's possibly getting too much sleep during the day? Just a guess without knowing details.

I would try putting a LeapFrog baby tad that plays music in his bed something in his bed with him so that he thinks you are next to him so that he will go back to sleep. My little 3yr old sleeps with the baby tad and sometimes she sleeps the whole night in her own bed some nights she sleeps with us. I am having a hard time getting her to GO to sleep in her own bed.. she likes to sleep on the couch so she can see everyone. She shares her room with us for now because her little brother (3months old) gets up to much at night and she is a light sleeper so se sleeps in our room in her own toddler bed until he starts sleeping thru the night then she is back to her room.

N.,

My name is J. R. Have you giving him a warm bath with bedtime bath and or bedtime lotion. I do that with my kids and the bedtime routine is so much easier. Please let me know how things go: ____@____.com