Sleepless in Seattle...! Toddler won't sleep in her own bed! Help...?

Question

18 months old, stays up late, refuses a routine, ms. independent! Won't even go in her own bed unless she is asleep first, screams hysterically... any tips?

Answer 1

dont feel bad about her screaming, or shell keep doing it, just put her in bed and dont feel bad  when she cries. when she gets the hang of it start praising her the next day when she wakes up telling what a big girl she is and shell start to like being independent in that too. if she trys to leave her room a sfaety gate is a good idea. i bet your like a lot of other first time moms who feel bad when your baby is crying hysterically, but shell be fine, i always would wait ten minutes with my babies when they did that and if they they were still crying id go check on them and calm them down then try again, and now i dont have any problems with bedtime.

Answer 2

They say that it takes 2 weeks to change a habit like this in a toddler. You must remain persistant, even if it means losing sleep. Good luck

Answer 3

This sounds very frustrating for you. I would probably do the whole bed time routine, put her to bed, and say that you are not going to let her out of her room because it's bed time. Perhaps you could put one of those toddler safety gates in her doorway. Otherwise you may have to just spend a night putting her back in her room over and over until she gives up. Eventually she will realise it is futile, and get up less and less each night, until one day she'll give up and stay in bed. You have your work cut out for you, but it will be so worth it once you get this sorted. Good luck.

Answer 4

Stand up to her. She's bossing YOU around with her screaming fit. You will have to teach her a routine, and make sure she follows it. That's what being a parent is all about.

Answer 5

i know exactly how annoying this can be because we have gone through this with my 28-month-old. we did a couple of things that helped, and she miraculously started sleeping through the night. i don't know if any of these things helped, but we did the following:

1. closed the door to our bedroom because she undoubtedly preferred to get on our bed and sleep.

2. converted her crib to a daybed - i could tell she hated it, but i tried to get her to sleep in it every night. i sat down next to her bed after putting her on it and rubbed her back, etc. for the first several nights, i sat right next to her. after she didn't seem as upset, i began doing little things around her room like picking up toys and organizing books, etc., so she could still see me. once she seemed ok with that, i would begin leaving the room on little errands and come back to check on her.

3. we were still frustrated that she wouldn't sleep in her bed after she woke up, and we decided that, because she liked our bed so much, that we would get her a bigger bed with more pillows (she has to have them). fortunately, our friend was selling  a full-size bed, so we bought it and put it on the floor in her room. she loved it so much that she actually refused to go to sleep anywhere else. i did, however, have to start over with the routine in #2 above, but once i got to the point that i could move around her room, she was sleeping through the night. now i can tell her to go to bed, and she will walk to her room, climb into her bed (we just got rails about 3 weeks ago), and lay down. i kiss her goodnight, tell her i love her, and leave the room. sometimes she cries, but it only lasts for about a minute.

4. everyone else is right. she has to have an established routine. we watch dora and diego, then take a bath, then read a book and go straight to bed. she knows exactly what to expect. many times we have to chase her down to take a bath, but once she's in, she refuses to get out.

aren't toddlers fun? i hope this helps. just remember that the problem isn't going to be solved overnight. it took me about 4 months to get her to sleep through the night in her own bed.

Answer 6

Does she have a night light in her room??

Do you search for scary things in her room??

She sounds like my boys went they started fearing everything. It turns out they were scared of the shadows in there room.

We now go on a monster hunt before bed time, and they sleep with a night light on.