Anyone have advice on how to keep a child in a toddler bed at night? My son is almost 3, and he will not stay in his bed when I put him to bed. This is why I love cribs so much ... they can't escape! Any suggestions?

ZachsMommy82101,
This is the one thing I can't remember. My daughter is now 11. I do not really remember having much of a problem. Call me blessed in that area. I do remember putting her in a toddler bed at 20 months because she crawled out of the crib one morning and scared the crap out of me. I would rather have had the problem of getting her to stay in the bed than the problems associated with her falling out of the crib.
I hope someone comes up with a solution for you quickly.
Good luck.
Carla

My son never learned to climb out of his cribbed, or at least he never attempted to do so. I'm questioning why I even decided to put him in a bed now!

Didn't anyone tell you that you should keep children in cribs (with a lid) until they're 10? (just kidding)

How is napping going?
How was he when he was in a crib? Did he fall asleep easily or fuss a lot?
Gwen

ref. Topic: How do I make him stay in bed ? we have the same problem

You don't. My sister who I live with had this problem when we put her in a toddler bed. We found since she was in her own room if we just put a gate up so she couldn't wander the house that eventually she would fall asleep. Sometimes in the bed and sometimes not. Also with anything you need to keep consistancy. Start a bedtime routine. Dinner, play for a while, bath, story, last minute potty, water etc and then lights out. For a while it is going to be hard for him to stay in bed. It's a whole new world for him to explore. He has never been able to explore his room at night because he was in his crib now he realizes he can get out of bed with no problem and explore. Just limit his exploring to in his room. Eventually this will get tiresome and he will stay in his bed. My sister was in a toddler bed at 1 and a half. She is now 4 and we still have problems with her because she now has no gate because she learned to climb over. So this is only the beginning. Eventually they will get the hang of this whole bedtime thing. Good luck. Hope this helped. There are also some great books out there on sleep habits and getting good sleep routines going.

Shannon

quote:

Originally posted by gwendlyn:
[qb]Didn't anyone tell you that you should keep children in cribs (with a lid) until they're 10? (just kidding)

How is napping going?
How was he when he was in a crib? Did he fall asleep easily or fuss a lot?
Gwen[/qb]

He refuses to nap - at all. He'll be so tired and still, he won't nap. Just as he's about to fall asleep, he gets up and starts walking around or starts kicking his feet to wake himself up. When he was in a crib, he went to sleep fairly easy - or maybe it just seemed that way because he couldn't get out. He'd seldom cry in his crib when I put him to bed. It would depend on the day he had and how tired he was.

I live with my parents right now, so we share a room - and last night was hell. Lucky for him he can nap today if he's tired - not me of course because I've got to go to work.

Yikes, you must be so tired.

As I said somewhere else around here, often over-tired children can be more difficult to get to bed. Keep working on that nap time, it may help. My mom used to tell us "you don't need to take a nap, just rest" and she'd put us on the couch, close the curtains and forbid the other kids to come in the room. Sometimes she'd leave the tv on very low (Sesame Street or Romper Room).

At bedtime the motto was "You don't have to sleep, but you must stay in bed."

Do you have a simple bedtime routine? Is it the same as when he was in the crib? What do you do when he gets out of bed after he's in?

Here's a suggestion I made to someone else: Simple bedtime routine: Wash up or bath, pj's on, brush teeth. Have 5 minutes of quiet snuggle time, with or without a book, in a quiet, low-light room. Then put to bed with a hug-kiss- "see you in the morning." And close the door behind you. If he gets up react as minimally as possible, no talking, no hugging, no scolding, no drinks of water, put him back in bed and close the door.

It worked for me.
Good luck!

Hi zachsmommy,
My son will be two in september and he has been climbing out of his crib since he was 12 months old. I follow one rule with the bedtime thing and that is consistancy. I kept putting him to bed and telling him it's night night time untill he got the picture. Now he sleeps in his own bed. It's fustrating I know expecially if you are a working single mommy. I hope this works for you if you decide to try it.
Good luck,
Angie