How do you keep a toddler in bed at night?

Hannibal Smith

We moved the boy to his 'big boy bed' a few weeks ago and every night at 9.30, 12.30, 4.30am and 6.30am he comes into our room. Every time we bring him back to his own bed, he goes back without any trouble, falls back asleep for another few hours and is off again. I understand the whys behind it, but I'm just wondering is it normal and has anyone any tips for keeping him in his own bed, short of putting a gate on the door to keep him locked in

xzanti

Hannibal Smith wrote: »

We moved the boy to his 'big boy bed' a few weeks ago and every night at 9.30, 12.30, 4.30am and 6.30am he comes into our room. Every time we bring him back to his own bed, he goes back without any trouble, falls back asleep for another few hours and is off again. I understand the whys behind it, but I'm just wondering is it normal and has anyone any tips for keeping him in his own bed, short of putting a gate on the door to keep him locked in

Would a baby gate on his door be that bad of an idea?

I have a 9 month old so I'd be interested to see if anyone has any better ideas

January

Baby gate on the door!

Hannibal Smith

oh really? I thought I was gonna get a 'you can't fence a baby in' backlash to the fencing him in bit I'd just hate the thoughts of him crying at the gate, but anyhow we may have solved it. I don't know why we didn't think about it before....hubby suggested we put his grobag back on (the boy's not the the hubby's ) So we gave it ago and he slept the whole night...he obviously tried to escape at some point because I checked on him at one stage and he was the other way around in the bed. He's obviously wrecked because he's still asleep now. I don't remember the last time he slept till 9am :eek:

ocy

We left our fella in the gro bag, at around 3.5 years he decieded they were for babies, and he has never gotton out of the bed, even at 9.30 in the morning unless he needs to go to the toilet, even then he yells TOILET, NEED TO GO!

Hannibal Smith

ocy wrote: »

We left our fella in the gro bag, at around 3.5 years he decieded they were for babies, and he has never gotton out of the bed, even at 9.30 in the morning unless he needs to go to the toilet, even then he yells TOILET, NEED TO GO!

You're right. Three nights running and he's slept with the grobag on the whole night through. he'll be in that grobag till he's 21

dshamrock2000

We had the same problem, So we bought a clock that we set at nightime and the face of the clock turns to the moon and stars, we have it set then to change to a big yellow sun at 7.30am, he got used to it very quickly (2 nights) and now knows he isnt allowed out of bed until the sun comes up on his clock

BoardsMember

Two things that helped us. One was talking to him during the day, and as part of the going to bed routine - tell him what a good boy he is, how big he is, how he's going to stay in his bed like big boys do etc etc.

If/when he gets up, no chat, just pick up with outstretched arms so he doesnt even get a hug, no trace of impatience or any reaction, and put him back down.

He'll eventually grow out of it, but the above seemed to help with us.

fi1979

Hi all,

I would be interested to know what age people are moving their kids into beds? I realise potty training probably plays a big part in the move?

thanks!

Hannibal Smith

dshamrock2000 wrote: »

We had the same problem, So we bought a clock that we set at nightime and the face of the clock turns to the moon and stars, we have it set then to change to a big yellow sun at 7.30am, he got used to it very quickly (2 nights) and now knows he isnt allowed out of bed until the sun comes up on his clock

awww that's a lovely idea! how old was he when you did it? The grobag is working for now, but I might borrow this a bit later on when it's time for that to go.

BoardsMember wrote: »

Two things that helped us. One was talking to him during the day, and as part of the going to bed routine - tell him what a good boy he is, how big he is, how he's going to stay in his bed like big boys do etc etc.

If/when he gets up, no chat, just pick up with outstretched arms so he doesnt even get a hug, no trace of impatience or any reaction, and put him back down.

He'll eventually grow out of it, but the above seemed to help with us.

We kind of did that in a way, we'd mention it and he'd say he'll sleep in his big boy bed, but when he woke up, he'd be straight into us. Like that we did the Supernanny 'don't talk to him just bring him back in', but it still never stopped him getting out in the first place.

fi1979 wrote: »

Hi all,

I would be interested to know what age people are moving their kids into beds? I realise potty training probably plays a big part in the move?

thanks!

Our lad is 2 and a half. he's not potty trained yet. It's a matter of necessity, we've another one arriving in a month's time and we need the baby room for him We did give the potty training a go, but it was a total disaster

January

Our daughter was 2 and a half too, just thought it was time for a bed

dshamrock2000

he was about 1 and a half, as soon as he could climb out of the cot we put him in the bed with a safety rail, he wasnt potty trained and i'd still take him out of bed once a night for the toilet, heres the link to the clock i bought, has 368 reviews so it seems to work very well for most,

http://www.amazon.co.uk/GroCompany-HJ008-Gro-Clock-Sleep-Trainer/dp/B002APJCNE/ref=cm_cr_pr_product_top

Dades

Can you set that clock to show stars until 9am?

Our 3 yr old is still (happily) in a cot as she doesn't climb over the top yet. If she was in a bed I know damn well she'd be roaming around, raiding the fridge, or jumping in our bed.

dshamrock2000

yep you can set it for anytime, you just press a button to put on the stars and then the sun will come up automatically at the time you set