My son is 22 months old. We moved him to a toddler bed approximately 2 months ago. He's a climber and we thought it best to move him out of his crib. Since then we've gotten no where on getting him to stay in his bed. He takes an afternoon nap and then there's bed time. I'm 7 months pregnant and can't do the standing in the door and lifting him back in his bed routine that I'd like to do because it wears me out and he weighs about 30 pounds. Currently, it'll take him about an hour to an hour and a half at night time to finally get to sleep. We start the routine at approximately 8 p.m. every night. He'll continue to get out of the bed and my husband or I will be laying by the bed and put him back in. What else will work? Surely this can't go on forever!! The plan was to have this solved before baby #2 came. Thanks in advance for any input!
make his room one big crib.
make it SAFE- anchor all the furniture to the walls,
cover outlets, etc.
then put a baby-gate in the doorway and that's that.
you chose to take him out of the crib.
now you may 'put him back' so to speak by letting him do whatever it would be in a crib, only this time it's the whole room.
Same exact circumstances with my son. I just found that as long as he was safe (and not waking up grumpy), I just allowed him to fall asleep when he was ready. Now, I had to bolt everything down in there, but we've been incident free and he moved out of his crib (actually lept) at 22 months and we're at 32 months and he's still climbing out of bed. Sometimes he gets right to sleep and sometimes he takes an hour. We have to be strict about napping no later than 1 to make sure he "goes to bed" by 8:30. We had to turn the doorknobs backward though to keep him from roaming at all hours. And don't stress yourself out with the deadline for baby number 2. It puts unnecessary pressure where it's not needed. Just dont drop the nap. You'll need him to keep it for baby 2!!!!
i would start by making his nap earlier or cutting out his nap all together. it might make bedtime so much easier.
My lifesaver was the book "Healthy Sleep Habits, Happy Child," by Dr. Marc Weissbluth. I've used and reused it with my 7 kids. It covers every sleep issue you could ever encounter, and it has always worked for me. I would definitely NOT give up the nap, but I would try to keep it fairly early. I had the best luck with putting my kids down around 1pm. Then they went to bed at 7pm, probably until they were at least 6 years old. If he can't get back into the bed himself, try just putting the mattress on the floor. That way you won't have to lift him in, and he's close enough to the floor to be safe if he rolls off. The book will walk you through, step by step, the whole process of teaching him to settle down, stay in bed, and go to sleep. A worthwhile investment, especially with another little one coming. Good luck.
You should try moving his bedtime up earlier. Move it by 15 minute increments... but move it up closer to 7:00 pm. At his age.. he needs it. My own kids went to bed by 7 or 7:30 until they were 5 years old. They don't get up any earlier in the morning, just because they went to bed a little earlier. You may find that he goes to sleep easier and faster. Does he get really tired soon after dinner (or just before) and then get a "2nd wind" later? If so, he needs his bedtime moved up sooner.
