Just a few months ago my husband and I transitioned our 2 1/2 year old daughter to a toddler bed. She loved it, and we had no problems getting her to stay in bed. But recently she been getting out of bed at all hours of the night. The other day I woke up at 2:30am and discovered that she had been playing in her room. She'll often want to come to our bed and just snuggle for awhile late at night, this isn't a problem, but I do worry about her wandering around the house. I would appreciate any ideas on how I can ensure that my daughter stays safe in her bed at night.
Thanks for all the advice! I ended up putting a child safety latch on my daughters door so she couldn't turn the knob. It worked like a charm!
Have you tried just putting up a gate in her doorway.
She will probably get up in the middle of the night still
but at least you would have her in her room and safe.
If you have stairs, put a gate up 1st. Next make sure that all doors and closets that you do not wnat her in are childproof. After that, try haveing her come into your room and lettling you know that she is awake. Is she having trouble staying asleep because of nightmares, or is it because of a nap or something she has before bed. If youare very worried contact your doctor and see what you can do> I do hope that some of this helps you out.
We put a baby gate up in our girls' doorway when they go to bed and then move it to the top of the stairs when we go to bed. That way the only place they can go when they wake up is to the bathroom or our room. We also only have mostly books, but some toys in their room so they're not really interested in getting up to play with their toys in the middle of the night.
Ditto on the baby gate. Not sure how your house is set up, but we put our gate in the hallway so our son's only option should he leave his room is to come into our room. If for some reason you can't do that, you could put one of those door handle guards on to make it more difficult for her to open (but that seems a little harsh to me), or even one of those little battery operated beeping door "alarms" so you are awakened when she opens the door.
You can also keep a baby monitor in her room (wether you use a gate or not), so you know if/when she's awake. Also, try to eliminate all toys from her room. This way, there is no desire to get up and play in there. My son only has books in his room. He knows that he can look at books and that's it. Luckily, he rarely gets up through the night, but there were a couple weeks when he was up quite a bit if there was a toy in his room.
Anyway, Good luck to you! It will pass...
Have you tried putting a child proof door handle on her bedroom door?
N.,
What worked for us is using the child's currency. For example, my boy loves stuffed animals. every night, he wants to sleep with his stuffed animals (all of them). when/if he get's out of bed, I warn him and say "if you get out of bed again, I will take away "duck" or one of the other animals." because he loves them so much, he usually will stay in bed. If by chance he does get out again, I take away the animal I said I would and I tell him if he does it again, I take away two animals; and so on and so forth. It works like a charm. If she has something she just loves, like a blankie or pacifier, use it against her. it doesn't have to just be getting out of bed either, it could be playing with something she knows she shouldn't etc. but, because they love their things, make sure they have a way to earn them back. If my son stays in bed all night by himself, he will get one of his animals back or if he cleans his room without complaining he gets something back. (we just keep a box up high in his closet labled "Toys to be earned back" where he can see it all the time. I hope this helps! Good luck!
Put a gate on her door!!! She could definetly hurt herself wandering around at night. If she continues to play with toys when you want her to sleep, then take the toys out. If she turns on the light when you don't want her to, then unscrew the lightbulb. My thought when my kids were that age was to think of their room as a big crib. If she throws a fit about the gate (and she might) tell her why you have to use it. My kids threw fits a couple of nights and actually fell asleep on their floor, so I left an extra blanket in their room, but they got the point real quick that when it's bedtime, it's bedtime. Everyones different, but I need my sleep and I never negotiated bedtime. It's not being mean to lock her in at night, I mean it wasn't that long ago that she was locked in her crib, right?
Our 8 year old goes to bed at 9pm but doesn't fall asleep untill 11 or 12. He then is awake at about 5:30am and knows that he is allowed to go to the living room to watch tv. However, there are some night he gets up at 2:30am and the only way I know it happened is because I had to get up with the baby and saw that his bed was empty. They do have alarms for doors or maybe even a simple bell on the door works. Our Ped. said to put him back to bed and eventually his body will learn. I don't mind him waking up an hour early to play or watch tv but I do mind the 2:30 in the morning times. It's scarey to thing that he could walk out one of the doors!
We are going through the same thing with our two year old! She was fine staying in bed all night until she figured out we were in the living room all night with her brother when he was born 3 months ago. Now she's used to getting up, we've found her sleeping in the living room next to the dog bed and such and now she wanders at 5A and starts crying as it's dark so we get her and bring her to our bed for an hour until it's time to get up. We make sure the gate is shut to the top of the stairs so she cannot go far, make sure all doors are locked as she doesn't knwo how to open those. We also played with the idea of getting a baby gate to put in her doorway to ensure she stays in her room if anything. We're also getting her a twin bed this week as she keeps waking up in her toddler bed as she is hitting her head on the wall as it's still too small for her. She can crawl over the gate we put on that anyway. Hope this helps!
I had this very same problem recently. I started putting a baby gate up in front of my sons door at night. It has worked very well. He still stays up and plays in his room but as long as it is dark he eventualy goes to sleep in his bed.
I have read that a baby gate will keep your child in her room, and that that is your safest bet provided the room is well child-proofed. Other than that, quietly but firmly returning your child to her bed without discussion every time she gets out is the best way to keep her in her bed--or at least put her on the road to staying in her bed. Good Luck!
Hi N.!
I've seen a lot of questions pertaining to sleeping issues with young children and my suggestion is always a simple one that is safe and effective: Have you thought of trying AROMATHERAPY? (My mother-in-law teaches aromatherapy and I've learned a lot from her!) A nighttime massage with a lavender-chamomile blend (very good for children) would help calm her down and relax. Plus, it'll be soothing for you as well and a great bonding experiance!
There are multiple ways to apply essential oils (massage, baths, air diffusor) but the number one thing to focus on is finding a quality line of essential oils that are all natural, pure and free of "filler chemicals" which can sometimes aggravate sensitve people and possibly do more harm than good! (If you would like to know more about the line of essential oils my mother-in-law recommends to her massage therapy students, just send me an e-mail.)
Good luck with your little ones! :o)
E. T.
1000MomsClub.com
Many years ago I read in parents magazine about the same problem. I tried their soultion......I bought a cheep screen door (about $30) and replaced the bedroom door with the screen door. I also made sure everything was very secure in her room, bolting the bookshelves to the wall, no hanging strings or cords anywhere. This way with the screen door locked from the outside she could still hear and see whats going on, and so could we. When she figured out everyone else was sleeping and no fun, she started to stay in bed. Someone also said if they are pottytraining, the sub concious wakes them up, but not enough to fully wake them up (sleepwalking) so also try a pottyseat in their room too if that applies. Good Luck, M.
N.-
I used the gate at the door with my older son, but he decided to climb over it and then fell and bumped his head. It's still worth a try, but if your daughter decides to climb, you can always put the kid-proof doorknob on the inside, and use a baby monitor. I know that it sounds harsh and my son screamed for a couple nights, but he got the hint that it was bedtime. We did that for a month or so and now he just knows that it is bedtime and stays in bed without the door being closed. It's all about safety...
I agree with the gate. Some will say 'what if there is a fire', etc...but she doesn't know to come out and run on her own anyway, so you are not putting her in harms way. On the contrary, she can get hurt much more if she is up wandering. Good luck!
