Problems transitioning to toddler bed

KonnubialKat

Please come in if you've had a child who had difficulty with this transition.  I really need some help/advice. Thanks.

Cutemin

What kind of issues are you having?

KonnubialKat

He's not sleeping through the night anymore.  Once he's awake, he's awake and wants to read, play, whatever.  And, since he's awake, he can get up out of bed and open the door to do who knows what. 

We've got a reward system for him in the event he's successful, but that hasn't happened yet....

FWIW, someone tonight suggested a baby gate at his door, but I'm still mulling over that idea.  At least he wouldn't be out of his room and running around.  I can see its merits at the top of the stairs, but the thought of 'penning' him in his room, isn't something I'm warming to easily.  Yes, it's for his safety, but...

Thanks for any advice or suggestions.

Telyco

How old is he? Maybe he isn't ready for the transition.

And I guess I see little difference between a baby-gate and a crib railing.

KonnubialKat

Thanks for asking, I'd forgotten to include that.  He's almost 2.5 and could easily crawl out of his crib.

If you see a gate as protection, then I can understand your point of view.   I do see a distinction between the two though and that where it's tripping me up.

Cutemin

When we bought our last house, the door knob had been reversed in the kid's room so you could lock it from the outside!  I thought it was such a terrible thing to do, lock a child in their room!!!  That I would NEVER do such a horroble thing!  Now, Tyler doesn't have a lock on the inside of his door, but he has a childproof handle which is basically the same thing.  But it is something we needed to do.  Otherwise he would be up at night getting into everything!  Childproofing the house is one thing, Tyler proofing our house is impossible!!  The kid can open childproof bottles!  He once got into our bathroom, climbed up on the sink vanity, and started helping himself!!  Luckily I got him before he ingested anything more than Tums, lots of Tums.

Even worse, I had to start putting him in his room now at times other than bedtime.  Which makes me feel guilty, but I need to put him a safe place away from the baby (and he loves playing in his room) while I put the baby down for her morning nap.  It is only for about 10 minutes.  My point is you would probably in the majority of people who confine their toddler at bedtime for thier own safety.

As for keeping him in his bed all night, every kids is different.  But for Tyler, when we finally ditched the crib around 22 months old he started STTN for the first time ever.  The first couple nights he would wake up and play for a little bit then go back to sleep.  For us, these were our first nights ever that he didn't wake up screaming unconsolably.  After not quite a week, he stopped waking and just slept soundly all night!