Toddler bed trouble...

[yeshuaskid]

We got our daughter a toddler bed when she turned 18mths old. What was great in the beginning has turned out to not be such a great idea in the end. I'm not really looking for advice although, those of you who know me know, I'll take any that you offer. This is more of a warning (sort-of). Our daughter has never tried climbing out of her crib and is bigger than a 2yr old. We thought that she was big enough for a toddler bed. Size-wise...yes. Age-wise...no. The first few nights were great. She took to it well. The first saturday after getting her bed...we were woken up by her. My little 18mth old Hannah opened her door, went into the living room and played, and then came into our room and woke us up. It scared us. Theres no telling what she could have done. Her door is a hard metal one and it sticks so, we were surprised that she was able to get it open, in the first place. Three weeks later and we are now resorting to a new routine. I hate it but, it goes like this...

• Hannah climbs into bed
• We kiss her goodnight and leave the room
• Five minutes later, she is knocking at her door
• We go in and put her back into bed
• Five minutes later, back at the door
• We go in and spank her bottom one time
• Five minutes later, back at the door
• We go in and spank her bottom three times
• Within five minutes of crying, she is asleep

I guess my point is that I wish I had waited a little longer to put her into the toddler bed. She looks and acts so much older and I thought it was cute. What a big mistake.

 

[andiesmama]

I'm sorry you're having those troubles!! Been there....we put Andie in her toddler bed right after her 2nd birthday. She for awhile I don't think realized that she could actually get out of bed on her own! lol She would still call for me to come & get her when she woke up!

But once she got the hang of it...there she went! She kept getting up as well, and would be up at the crack of dawn in the mornings!!:o So I read this hint in one of my parenting magazines that we're trying now, maybe it'll work for you...

Buy a timer that you plug in the wall (like you use for your lights when you go on vacation) and set it to come on at a certain time (we do it for the morning at 7:30)...buy a cute night-light of their favorite character (we have one with Rudolph on it) & plug it into the timer....then tell your little one that they cannot get out of bed until "Rudolph" (or whoever) "wakes up" (comes on)...

I told Andie she can play in her bed with her friends (stuffed animals she sleeps with) but can't get out until Rudolph is awake...still working on it, sometimes it works, sometimes not...but I think I'm onto something here!

Anyways, I didn't mean for this to turn into a huge long post but just wanted to give you something to think about that might work for you!!

Good luck!!

 

[Zoomer]

Sorry that you are having troubles.

My daughter hated her crib and threw a fit when she was put into. We ended up puting her into a toddler bed at 16 months. It took her time to adjust, and we did go through some rough nights. To keep her in her room, we put a baby gate across the door of her room. It took about a month to get her to stay in bed and fall asleep without us in the room. My son was pretty much the same, though he was 20 months when we moved him into a toddler bed. It was worth moving them because they have been great sleepers ever since.
They are really easy kids to put to bed and some nights ask to go to bed before their bed time. They get "reading" time before bed, in which they can look through books quietly in bed. Most of the time, they do not even make it through reading time and are out before their 8 pm bed time. They wake up around 7 am, and play pretty quietly in the bedroom before we have breakfast.

 

[Neenie1]

Some good ideas here.


We never really had that problem with our son who is now 3.

The first week, he was pretty excited about being able to get up when he wanted (mind you he only went into a bed because he was climbing out of his cot - 23 mths)

But eventually he just got up when he woke up which was at a civil enough time for us (around 7 am)

 

[bliz]

For what it's worth... Family Bed! We believe that children of that age are meant to be in bed with their parents.

 

[yeshuaskid]

Hannah is doing ok with her bed. She never tried getting out of her crib and has been sleeping through the night since she was four months old. She was a big baby. She still is. She gets up at 7am now. Until her toddler bed, she slept until 9am. I miss those days.

 

[Andry]

For what it's worth... Family Bed! We believe that children of that age are meant to be in bed with their parents.

Yes Amen!

 

[andiesmama]

She gets up at 7am now. Until her toddler bed, she slept until 9am. I miss those days.

Do we have the same daughter?? lol Andie was the same way....she'd sleep in until 8:30 or 9....now I'm lucky if she makes it past 7!!

 

[OracleX]

What you are experiencing sounds almost the same as we went through with our daughter. Even now she has 101 delay tactics for going to bed.

There are a few things that we have found that have worked very well. First start putting her down to bed earlier. Our daughter likes to have a bit of quality time together before going to bed. Things like reading a book or two, putting her stickers on her calender, praying, turning on her music and usually a snack and a little to drink. Basically if we do all these things every night she almost never gives us any trouble. She goes to be very well. If we are too 'busy' to do these thing then she ends up being to 'busy' to go to sleep. If we take the time to wind her down she goes to bed. If not she winds herself down in whatever way she can.

Most adults have a routine of some sort when they go to bed. Kids are no different. Can you force yourself to go to sleep? Not too many can go to sleep whenever they want. Kids are no different. You can not force them to sleep but you can help them wind down so that they can.

 

[Celticflower]

Do we have the same daughter?? lol Andie was the same way....she'd sleep in until 8:30 or 9....now I'm lucky if she makes it past 7!!

My daughter was the opposite. When she was in her crib she would be up at 5 wanting to play. We moved her to a bed and she slept until 8. Now she is almost a teen-ager (gasp!) and if left on her own will sleep until 9, but I have to work get her up at 6 for school.

Celtie