Toddler Getting Out of Bed

Put up a baby gate, (stack 2 if she's a climber) and when she wakes up and calls you go to her room and using a quiet voice (a whisper really) remind her she needs to get back in bed and go back to sleep, everyone is asleep and she needs to do the same. Don't engage, or pick her up, or make eye contact, or give milk, (a solid food that she doesn't need in the middle of the night ~ have her take a sippy with water with her to bed at bedtime) etc., if you want to stop this. Tell her you will be back for her when it's time to get up, at 32 months I don't know that she'd get the concept of the clock ; )

Betcha you've got a growth spurt coming... since as soon as you get her some milk she's out like a light again. (Milk's a super food: fats, proteins, sugars, vitamins, and minerals... all in it's most digestible format)

My 3 methods for growth spurts all involve feeding hungry kids. Either

1) something SUPER high fat (and preferably high fat AND protein) right before bed (like climbing into bed right before bed) or

2) to have something ready to zap on the door of the fridge. Or..

3) To wake the child up right before I'm about to go to bed and feed them

Hungry kids just don't sleep well. Their empty tummies wake them up just like needing to pee while preggers wakes us up. Biological need overriding a less important need

What she's doing is completely age appropriate. Everyone wakes several times during the night. As adults we've just gotten used to it and generally role over and go back to sleep without even fully realize we've woken up.

When we first moved our son to his big boy bed and he woke in the middle of the night he would slide out of bed and wonder into our room. It was actually adorable because it seems like his eyes weren't even open and it was clear that he was not awake. He still gets out of bed in the middle of the night, but before coming into our room he now has to shut the door to his bedroom, shut the door to the bathroom and shut the door to our room. It stinks, because now I have to get out of bed and find him!

My husband and I have agreed that this is just part of being a little kid. It's a phase that he'll grow out of. Thankfully we have a big enough bedroom for a king-size bed, so we just put him between us and go back to sleep. With our older son we found that trying to change the middle of the night waking was simply an exercise in futility so we just accept it and go back to sleep.

I recently went back to work, so I suspect part of the reason our son is doing this every night rather than 2 or 3 times a week like he did over the summer, is because he's adjusting to the new routine and needs that extra comfort of sleeping with Mommy and Daddy.

Personally, I am not a fan of putting up a gate and forcing the child to be alone in the middle of the night. I believe that children need us 24/7, and sometimes they need hugs and reassurance, even in the middle of the night.

Put her back in bed, let her sleep on a mattress in your room, bring her in to bed with you ... whatever you are ok with, just make sure you do it with love. She really will outgrow this. Right now, she needs to feel safe and secure.

Oh its a phase.
She is also and the cusp of an age change.
When there is a cusp of an age change coming up, and growth-spurts coming up, sleep tweaks happens.
Also, by this age, my kids were having developmental related "fears" of night time and night mares. All normal.

Well so for us, we have a futon on the floor of our room. Our kids can go there anytime or when they are sick.
It works for us. It is no biggie.
We get sleep.
They get sleep.
It works.

I see no point in locking a kid in their room.
Would you want your Husband to do that to you?
Imagine how a kid, views that?

Sleep in a kid, is never static.
But as they mature.... and age, it changes.
One day, you will miss her little night time visits.
Really.
She is a little girl.
They do that.

My son would do that and still does that, when he is growing a ton.
And he will literally be HUNGRY in the middle of the night. He will tank down a HUGE cup of milk. Asking for it. Then he goes back to sleep.

this is normal and she doesn't realize she is doing it. both of my boys did this. my youngest will switch places up to 4 times a night. his bed to bubbas to mamas to the sofa and back to bed or bubbas bed. she will outgrow this. keep putting her back to bed like usual. The clock won't help she is not awake enough to realize the time. the gate may make her panic cause technically she is only sleep walking. my oldest did this from2-5 yrs old. my youngest has been doing it for about a year now and he is 3 1/2. I figure he has a couple of years yet if he follows suit to his brother.

I put my DD back in bed, or if she's really having trouble (kids have bad dreams, too), then we snuggle on the couch for a few minutes. DD knocks on the door to get out so I hear her with the door closed.

Also the season is changing. I wonder if that's part of it.

My daughter turned 3 in april, she's been in her big girl bed about 2 months now, and we have had similar activity. The middle of the night visits did stop after a few weeks (keep the faith), don't give in! It felt like we had a tiny baby all over again, the lack of sleep both my husband and I were getting as we took turns putting her back to bed.

We had the clock that turns colors when it's OK to get out of bed, that didn't really work after the first few days. Eventually I think she was so wiped out, eventually she started sleeping through the night.

She does have a hard time going to bed, we'll put her to bed and she'll get up 1-10 times with excuses. A friend suggested instead of taking things away (if you get up again, I'll take your X away), try a reward - if you stay in bed, we'll go to the park tomorrow (or whatever is appropriate for your DD). That has been working well for us too.

Our girl is also still napping, but since we cut it down to 1.5 hour nap at daycare, she's going to bed earlier and sleeping better.

good luck!

As someone posted, a high-protein snack (I'd go high protein but not so high fat as recommended) close to bedtime can help. I would cut out the milk at 4 a.m. -- that's bad for her teeth and gets her into a habit of her body expecting something to drink at that time, so her body grows wakeful anticipating the "4 a.m. feeding," so to speak.

It's totally normal for kids to get up and down. You can try the gate but take her temperament into consideration: Some kids would be OK with encountering the gate and would go back to bed, while for other kids, being thwarted by the gate in the night would bring on tears or even a tantrum--when just walking them back to bed would be fine. I would opt for just returning her to bed. Do not speak to her (maybe the first time only, sayiing "Time for sleep" or something soft and very brief) but after the first time, say nothing; guide her by her shoulders back to bed and tuck her in and walk right out. If you interact with her in the night or linger she will of course want to interact with you, and you're trying instead to teach her that nighttime is for being in bed. And I don't think this is ever an issue for discipline -- she is just going through a phase that all kids go through as they transition to being older and to a different sleepng situation. But it is a long phase. Still, she's not misbehaving; she's doing what her body tells and, somewhat, what you've trained her body to do by giving her the 4 a.m. milk.

A clock likely won't mean a lot to her at 32 months. And if she's sleeping OK in the bed, why switch to a mattress on the floor?

Kids have changes to sleep patterns for years and years. My 10-year-old sometimes still gets up and comes to see me but rarely. Be aware that your child may have nights she gets up even more times but if you are consistent, do not scold, and do not engage her or interact with her, she will return to sleep faster and so will you.