WWYD: Bedtime & getting out of bed

docmay25

Emmy is terrible at bedtime.  She does fine getting ready for and getting into bed.  But minutes after we leave, she is yelling for us and getting out of bed.  We actually had to do the "supernanny" technique the other night for 2 hours!  She does not give in.  We just started a sticker chart for her to earn something if she has 5 good nights. 

Now the past couple nights she has been using having to go to the potty as an excuse to get out of bed and stall bedtime.  I feel like I don't know whether I let her go or not.  Dh thinks she is just using it as an excuse, which I agree she may be...but how do you know?  What if she really does have to go?  One night she did really go and the last night she didn't.  She does go potty before bed. 

What would you do?  believe that she has to go potty?  or say no?

I am at the end of my rope with bedtime.

august06mom

Does she still nap? DS was exactly like this and then we dropped his nap. Now he goes to bed like a dream on the days he doesn't nap. If he does nap, it's terrible.

docmay25

She doesn't nap.  She dropped her nap over the summer.  She has always taken a long time fall asleep, even as a baby.  So I think part of the problem is that she doesn't want to lay there to try to fall asleep. 

elm1032004

If she is saying she has to go potty I would let her go.  You don't want to not allow her to use the bathroom.  I also would suggest dropping a nap if she still naps, that way she will be tired and ready for bed at bedtime.

Zenya

i would do one potty stop and then that's it.  Does she want you to stay with her?  Maybe she's scared?  For the longest time we sat in DS' room until he fell asleep (like 10 minutes).  Now he's fine when we leave.

jlw2505

Believe she has to go potty.  My DD is only allowed to call us three times and we are pretty stick with that - going potty counts although I would never not let her get up to go potty,  When we do go potty, I give her about a min but if she is playing or doing anything other than trying to go - she is told to go right back to bed.  It took a while of being pretty strick with her but she gets it now and most nights she does not call more than once or twice.  She is allowed reading time at night after we read to her and if she fights bedtime, she loses that for the next night.

docmay25

Thank for the opinions.  I let her out of bed for potty and dh thinks I am falling for her games.  But how am i to know if it is a game or if she really has to go?  So, I let her go.  I do watch her to make sure she isn't fouling around. 

LanaM

I agree with Zenya, tell her she's only allowed to get up once to go to potty after the lights are off... and you will only come back to her one time after she's supposed to be in bed, after that she's on her own.

Ethan used to call us back constantly, and then we agreed that I would sit in his room for three minutes when he's in bed, or lay with him for 3 minutes, and that's it. If he called us back, we'd go back once and then tell him that this is his only time calling us back, we won't come back again.

He never really cried.... only called us over and over again.... and of course, there were many times when we went up there more than once, but eventually he agreed to one time only.

wish me luck, we're moving our almost two y.o. out of bed to a toddler bed next week.