Attention all parents!

[bunker]

Our 2.5 year old stays in bed, she just screams for us when she wants a drink or something. I'd almost rather she got up!

 

[HomeBrewerDude]

When you read stories, demand that your toddler is laying down in bed with his/her head on the pillow. the minute she gets up, stop reading and ask her to lay down again so you can keep reading. Its just simple reinforcement, but it works. Sooner or later you kid will want to stay in that bed.

 

[Crucial]

Vodka and OJ worked wonders for our daughter.

 

[Sealy]

Once he falls asleep, he's staying in his bed all night and sleeping. I've put a childproof door knob thing on the inside of his door, so he can't open it. I've always shut his door at night, fire safety thing for me. So I'm not really worried right now about him roaming the house. He's also never been a child that's liked to sleep with us...which I'm not so sad about! I like my pillow talk time with my husband! If my son needs me, I can certainly hear him yell across the hall!

As for waiting too long to move him into a bed, maybe I did, but he never tried to crawl out of the crib, which he could have done very easily, as he's been walking since he was 9 months! I also liked the comfort of just being able to put him in his crib say night night, and shut the door, knowing he's not getting into anything! But it's definitely time, as I'm not about to spend anymore money on baby furniture like buying another crib!

This is it for us as far as kids go, and I can't wait until they have outgrown all the baby stuff, so I can give it away!

 

[Crucial]

We didn't put our daughter in a bed until she started climbing out of her crib. I will do the same thing with my son. He's 2.5 now and has a toddler bed in his room. I have tried putting him in it to sleep but he prefers his crib still.

 

[Biggerhammer]

What worked for us was to make a solid routine. My son knows that once he's had a book or two read to him, a five minute impromptu story involving his stuffed animals, and has heard 3-5 songs (he gets to choose the songs), then it is time to stay in bed. The solid routine is all that has saved us- even if we are visiting, traveling, or putting him to bed outside of the norm he knows that bedtime comes after the stories and such.

I could never do cosleeping... I'm always afraid that I'd either roll over and squish him or just elbow him out of bed!

(speaking of which, we've avoided most of the fall-out-of-bed worries by jamming a pillow under his mattress on the side away from the wall. Gravity keeps him close to the wall- a good thing)

 

[Jeraden]

My son turns 4 in a couple months. He's been in a bed since about 2.5yrs old as well. He used to put up a big fuss about it at first too. We'd keep telling him to go back to bed and he'd cry and stuff but eventually would stay in there. Then he progressed to quietly sneaking out - we'd go up for bed and find him sleeping in the hallway or in our bed. At that point we could usually carry him back in and he'd stay asleep. He still sneaks into our bed during the night quite a bit. I'd say 50% of the time he'll try to climb in with us. I'm usually too tired to take him back to his room if I notice, but he's pretty stealthy with it now so I usually don't even notice until I wake up in the morning.

Lately he's been pulling a new trick where we tuck him in, but he conveniently leaves something in another room. So he has to come back downstairs to get a certain toy or stuffed animal to take back up with him. Or he'll come down and say that he forgot to give daddy or mommy a hug and kiss. He's kind of cute about it so we haven't really taken any action against it so far, which is probably why its turned into a nightly occurrance.

 

[Sealy]

I agree 100% about using a routine, as an ex daycare teacher...routines are what saved us, and gave children some control over their day. They always knew what was happening next...which I think is very important.

Right now though, I put my monkey down for a nap, followed our routine, and I've gone in once to reinforce he go back in bed, and he did'nt fight me at all, just got back in and started rubbing his eyes...so we'll see! Cross your fingers!