Omg i am going to rip my hair out. please help me get my 2 year old to stay in bed?

Question

She just keeps getting up over and over she is almost 2 1/2 and is way to big for the crib. I have both set up in her room and i keep telling her that when she gets out of bed she has to sleep in the crib and she screams and promises to stay in bed(she dosent). I am at the point of taking everything out of her room put her to bed and shut the door and if she wants to slrrp on the floor thats her choice. I have tried letting her pick out sheets etc that dosent work:(

Answer 1

My son started sleeping in a twin bed when he was 14 months.  He is now 24 months.  He has his good nights and bad nights.  But for the most part, we put him in his bed when it's time to go to sleep (we tend to put him down a little later than most people between 9-10pm because if we put him down too early and he's not ready he just won't go to sleep).  Some nights he does very well and will just go to sleep a few minutes later, other nights he just cries because he doesn't want to go to bed yet.  When he doesn't want to go to bed, usually we just let him cry it out.  After a little while, we look under his door and if he is sleeping by the door, we will move him to his bed.  He can't open doors yet and when he can we plan on putting the child locks on his door k**b to keep him in his room.  Sometimes he just gets up and plays for a while and then falls asleep on his floor or climbs back into bed.  One more thing that works when he doesn't want to go to bed is to make it seem like we are going to bed too.  He doesn't like to go to bed and "miss out" on anything we are doing, so we turn the tv off and the lights off until he is in his bed.

Good luck.

Oh yeah, with the crying himself to sleep, usually he will just do that for a few nights and then he's better for a while at going to sleep better.

Answer 2

how about starting with a jar of coins...or something. Explain to her that everytime she gets out of bed she loses one. when the jar is empty she has to go in the cot. she will find it easy to see hwo close she is getting to going in the cot as the coins (or sweets, or something equally blackmailing) go down. She can have whatever is left in the jar in the morning. Keep the jar somewhere she can see it, but can't get to, or can't open. She might end up in the cot for a couple of nights, but will eventually 'get' what the idea is. You could even do a jar for yourself to show her in the morning that you got all of your coins/seets because you satyed in bed like a good girl. Or maybe she could do the same for her doll.

Answer 3

1) Put up a gate at the door so she cant get out of room-move toys and games esp noisy ones either out the room or out of reach. This way when she gets out she has nothing stimulating her to stay out of bed! If you leave quiet toys then atleast she has something to distract her and keep her busy till she drops off to sleep. Again nothing to stimulating-books ,dolls, teddies etc are fine. This way you can ignore the screams and you know she is safe!

2) Have a routine and stick to it-look at diet (nothing energy based in the hours before bed), exercise (make sure she's got rid of excess energy), comfort (warm bath with lavendar scent, quick story, kiss then sleep)...consistency works out in the end-just takes time :)

3) Make sure room is suitable-eg: nightlight, no scary shadows from this or street lights, quiet house whilst she's dropping off, warm enough etc.

Answer 4

Let her play in her room until she falls asleep.  Then move her to her bed.

With my second (she was hard) we kept all toys out of the room, left some stuffies and some books and said she could play with them as long as she stayed in bed.  It did work a bit, after lots of tries.  

Patience.  And if she falls sleep on the floor, in closet, etc...thats fine!  Just let her sleep and make sure it's safe for her.

Answer 5

You're confusing her with having both a crib & a bed in her room.

Remove the crib immediately.  Have her help take it apart so she feels like a big girl. Maybe she could hand you the screwdriver or help you undo a s***w or bolt.  Then ask her to help you put the sheets on the big girl bed.  Make a big production out of it.  Be silly as you make the bed with her help, even if all she does is hand you the bedding items.  Tell her this bed is for the big girl princess (insert your daughter's name) & that her bed is the royal throne of the room or some other such sillyness.

Get her into a bedtime routine.  Give her a bath using Johnson's Bedtime Moisture wash or Bedtime Bath, finishing off with the Bedtime lotion or massage gel, then put her jammies on, letting her do some of the jammies herself.  Let her pick out a book to read, or suggest you pick one tonight & she picks the next one, whichever works.  Read ONE book to her, no more.

Tell her that if she stays in her big princess bed all night, without getting up, she'll get a reward the next morning.   Maybe you could make a sticker chart that shows her progress.  If she stays in bed all week, 7 nights, she can get an ice cream treat.  Or go to the park for a picnic.  Or the reward of your choice.

When she stays in bed all night, praise her in the morning.  Make a big production of it.  Cheer, clap your hands, say "whoo hoo!", tell her she did a good job of being a big girl by staying all night in her bed.  This would be the best time to reward her with a hug & a sticker for the chart, if you chose to make a chart.

If she doesn't stay in bed all night, do NOT get angry.  Tell her it's bedtime & walk her back to her room.  Tuck her back in & leave the room.  If she gets up again, do NOT speak to her.  Take her hand & go back to bed, tucking her in again.  Repeat this as often as she gets up.  It may take an hour or more but she'll eventually fall asleep in her bed.

Soon, she'll be sleeping all night in her own bed.

Answer 6

WELL SHE IS ONLY 2 MAYBE SHE IS SCARED JUST TAKE UR TIME WITH HER CAUSE EVERY CHILD IS DIFFERENT  

Answer 7

I would just be firm with her. I would put her to bed and make her stay there. If she gets up tell her she won't be able to watch cartoons for an hour. If she keeps doing it take something else away. If that does not work I would just shut her door and let her cry. Good luck and it will improve.

Answer 8

i have twins and believe me we went though the " you need to stay in bed" thing because with 2 they always want to play. We pulled a "nanny 911" What we did was had a well formed bedtime routine. They like to drink milk before bed always have. So about 30 minutes before bedtime we turn off all lights put on one of their cartoons they like, calm them down, read a book if they want and then when the cartoon is over we give them their milk, they go brush their teeth go pee and then off to bed. Since they didn't want to stay in bed what we had to do was sit on the floor of their room, every time they got out of bed we just got up, didn't say anything to them, didn't look them in the eye and placed them back in bed, went back to the floor, crossed our legs and looked down into our lap.. Did this over and over and over nights on end it seemed.. but the key is to not talk to them, and not to look them in the eye, and to stay calm.. some nights in the beginning we were in there for an hour or more, and it sure seems a h**l of a lot longer! but after a week it was about 15 minutes, we did this for about 3 weeks and now we have a really nice bedtime routine. We started this when they were about 1.5 years old.. now they are 3 and they have been good sleepers.. we have our nights but it worked wonders for a long time.  

Answer 9

First don't "threaten" her with the crib unless your willing to follow through.  if you know the crib is just way too small for her then stop threatening her with it.  She's 2 not stupid.  If you do follow through with the crib then obviously it's not too small for her and she is just not ready for the bed, keep her in the crib for another couple of months.  You may want to try encouraging words, being calm and possibly rewarding in some fashion.  Just necause your ready for her to be in a big bed doesn't mean she is.

Answer 10

Then try taking out everything except a cuddle buddy. You can try something to create white noise too like a fan. My cousin is like this and she's 4. This mostly works except she starts playing dress up. Make sure she's on a schedule and she's not eating anything energizing (even apples) try to stick to something like crackers and peanut butter before bed, or oatmeal was my favorite bedtime snack. My cousin has lost the privledge of getting up in the night to pee or get a drink (usually excuses to come out of bed) if she already has. And she hasn't had an accident yet and isn't anymore thirsty in the morning than she was when she got a drink after bedtime.

Answer 11

She is becoming more independent and it testing the limits. When my daughter was her age I would let her pick a few favorite books and stuffed animals then explain to her that she had to stay on her bed and read or play with the stuffed animal until the timer when off. I would set the timer for a half hour. It took repeated attempts, she would want a drink, have to potty. I would get her one drink and let her potty once then I would take her back set her on the bed and tell her again what I had said earlier. It's hard but stay patient and repeat the procedure over and over. You will where her down. Being consistent and patient is they way for you to get what you what without all the drama. If you feel like your losing it, take a breather and get back to it. Your time invested now will bring you peace and quite later. Good luck

Answer 12

Put one of those gates up ..that way she has to stay in her room.  When she is tired enough she will fall asleep, even if its on the floor.  THen she will eventually learn that her bed is more comfortable then the floor and she will sleep there.  And tell her when she sleeps the whole night in her bed, you will take the gate down.

Answer 13

Just keep putting her back in bed with no words and no eye contact.  I know it may be exhausting, but try to stay calm.  It seemed to work for both of our boys who are ages 4 and 1 1/2.  Even if they made it down the steps we would just take turns and lift them up (no cuddling) and put them back into bed.  They would finally give in and fall to sleep.  It wouldn't take them much to learn not to get back up, cause they just weren't receiving any attention, it got boring for them.  Goodluck!!