My 2.5 Year Old Won't Go to Sleep!

This sounds simple but it's not. It takes patience and perseverance. Every time she comes out, take her back in; over and over. After the first time putting her back to bed, say nothing. Just calmly put her back in bed. She will get the message that she is to stay in bed. The first night or two will be long. She will probably keep coming out until she's so tired she falls asleep.

You are giving her the message that getting out of bed does not get her attention and that she is to stay in bed. I've seen this work. Give it a try. Keep doing it, over and over with as little emotion as you can maintain. Staying in bed is just a fact of life. No big deal. She has to do it.

My daughter did this same thing and we had to do what Marda said. We had to repeatedly haul her back to her room over and over night after night and fit after fit. She finally stayed in her room (Victory #1) and then we had to work on the crying and fits she would throw in her room.

You have to be calm, patient, and assertive in your actions and tone. We pretty much got to a point where we would ignore her and she would eventually stop out of boredom, realizing we were not going to participate in the ring around she was trying to ensue, and she would tucker out.

Things that I have found to be helpful are having soft music (classical or jazz) in her room, turning the lights out right away (we used to give her time with the lights on and then would check back in to turn them off but this led to her staying up and playing and the disaster would start over) and keeping a consistent bedtime routine. She knows it is playtime until dinner, her baby brother's bath time followed by hers, we feed her brother and put him him to bed while she does PJs and teeth brushing, then it is story time or cuddle time with dad & mom and then bed. I would start preparing her for each step along the way so as to avoid her feeling like it "came up out of the blue" (i.e. "You have 10 minutes until your bath so please start getting ready...).

Just be patient, calm, persistent, and consistent. Sounds like a lot because it is a lot but it will work.

My daughter did that.
MOST kids, at 2 years old, have sleep tweaks.

My girl, at that age, wanted to sleep on the floor too, next to her bed. Or on the living room floor. Fine. She got sleep that way. No biggie.
In some cultures they regularly sleep on the floor.
Its fine.

It is a phase.
So, pick your battles or not, about it.

Turn EVERYTHING off at night, before bed. Even the lights. Make everything quiet and boring.
Consistency and 'routine' is key.
You don't have to lock her in her room.
Would you want your husband to do that to you?

Have a regular 'wind-down' time BEFORE bedtime.... and factor in that time, so that the actual bedtime, does not get later and later....
My kids take about 1/2 hour, before bedtime, to 'wind-down' first. We do not play at that time, we make everything QUIET and turn off everything except for 1 light. Then they get ready, brush teeth, arrange their bed the way they like, they can do quiet things. But only for a little while.

It is all about "transitioning" a child, to the next step, that you want them to do.... and making that a regular routine.

Mostly, its a phase.
It will pass.
Just keep to your bedtime routines, every night... and don't argue with her. Just state things, calmly.

If she gets out of her bed over and over.... don't engage with her or 'argue' about it. Just keep everything DARK and BORING. Let her have all the loveys she needs in bed with her, and make her bed all comfy and cozy... and maybe give her a flashlight for in bed too. That is what we do with our kids.

Our little guy (also 2.5) likes to be able to hear us when he goes to sleep in his big-boy bed at night. When it's time for bed there's usually a fuss but if he gets out of bed we close his door. If he stays in bed we'll leave the door open. Just that sense of our presence is enough to keep him in his bed. Good luck!

T. you don't take toys away because a child does not stay in their bed/room. and at 2.5 they have to be able to get to the potty at night so a crib or locking them in is, I don't know what the word is for it. our son started doing that and his dad put a stop to it, by using discipline not punishment. J.

After going through the same exact scenario my suggestion is find your child's motivation. I can't say what that is for them. I too tried everything, both with sticker charts, bribery, and using a baby gate at the door. My dd has a lovey she likes to sleep with and after suffering 2 months of endless waking up I told her that I would have to hold her lovey so that she could get some sleep. Anytime she would continue to get out of bed I would remind her that she had to give me her lovey. I have never actually had to take it away. She def does not want to risk taking her lovey's away and will go to sleep! All I can say is good luck and I hope whatever you do works for you.

Sounds like your daughter and my daughter need to have a party together at night! My daughter drives me crazy! She won't got to bed or stay in bed until 10pm (sometimes later)! Aack! Then she gets up at 4 or 5 am and wants to play, she will even stay up for 2 to 3 hours before she goes back down. I also do not feel comforable locking her in her room. Ultimately I just tell her that mommy is going to sleep and to play by herself. She typically will go play toys in her room and leave me alone. Thankfully, once I quit flipping out over it, she calmed down and began sleeping more normal hours.

Good luck!

Just be consistent and keep enduring. We just kept putting our 2.5 year old back to bed. Multiple times every night. I totally know how you feel. But it is finally paying off after at least 6 months. Last night I was just commenting on how better it is. She may get up once or twice, but it is usually after she has been trying for a long time, which is better than she used to be. Wish I had a magic solution. Just keep taking her back without attention for it and EVENTUALLY it will work.

When we moved our son to a toddler bed, I told him that he had to stay in bed until we came and got him. If he didn't he would go back to a crib. Knock on wood - it has worked so far.

My son is also 2.5 (turns 3 in December). He's been in a regular bed for a few months, and it was hard the first couple nights. He's not potty-trained yet, though, so we put one of those plastic child-proof handles on the inside of his doorknob. He hasn't yet figured out how to open those (well, maybe once or twice, but it was a fluke). It only took a few nights of him not being able to come out and me standing at the door, telling him I was there but that he needed to go back to bed and he would see me in the morning, and now he doesn't get out of bed anymore. Does he go to sleep right away? Nope. Sometimes he's in there talking to himself for over an hour, but at least he realizes it's time to be in bed, whether he sleeps or not.

I also second (or third? can't remember how many people have suggested it) the idea of keeping the lights low, the TV off, etc., especially right outside her bedroom. Make it not exciting to be out of bed. Tell her that Mommy and Daddy need to go to bed, too, and that she needs to sleep so that you can sleep. She doesn't need to know that you won't be going to sleep for awhile, just that you can't go to sleep until she does. That has seemed to help with my son.

As for naps, he has been going on nap strikes, sometimes for up to a week at a time. We decided to start telling him when we put him down, "Okay, it's naptime. You don't have to sleep, but you need to stay in bed and be quiet until 2:30" (and we point out the clock). "If we hear you before 2:30, then we will add 10 more minutes to the time you have to be in bed. If you've been quiet until 2:30, then Mommy or Daddy will come get you out of bed." We've done that for two days, and both days, he was quiet until around 2:15, then cried for maybe 1-2 minutes, then fell asleep for over 2 hours. It could be a fluke, but it could also be that our ideas are working! Haha!

I don't know if any of this will help, but just thought I'd share what has worked for us. Feel free to PM me if you have more questions or just want to vent. Hope some of this will help!