Need help with bedtime and keeping DS in his room!

kaekee · July 2011

I'm wondering if anyone out there uses a baby gate to keep their son or daughter in the bedroom for bedtime. I'm having a huge problem with my son getting out of bed repeatedly. It doesn't matter how many times we put him back in bed, he gets right back out. I've tried the thing you put on the doorknob, he gets it right off. We've tried just standing there and holding the door shut, which works eventually, but is a pain in the butt. I don't mind him crying....as long as he's not freaking out. I'm thinking of putting up a baby gate... Once he's asleep, I will remove the gate so it's not a safety issue at night. Does anyone else use this method? Let me know how your child adjusted to this. Thanks!

susanmosley · August 2011

Can you go back to a crib?

Meow71 · August 2011

I use a gate in front of DS door. Switched him to a toddler bed at 18 months. It only took him 2 nights of CIO to get used to it. I leave the gate up all night with his door open. DS freaks out if his door his closed. If I locked him in there he would be traumatized.

EastCoastBride · August 2011

We put a gate up. We leave it up too- it actually helps in the morning too. He sometimes will get up, open the door and because the gate is up, he'll go back in and play quietly for a little while and it gives me more time to get ready.

One thing we've done, though, to keep him IN bed (so that he'll actually fall asleep) is that I tell him if he gets up one more time, ___ (one of the random toys or animals he's taken to bed) will go "bye bye". Then, if he gets up, I go in and take the object away. He cries for a little bit, but most of the time, he stays in bed and ends up falling asleep.

I do NOT take away his taggie (his lovey) or his binky. Those 2 objects are untouchable. I just do the cars, or foam letters, or whatever other odd thing he decided to take to bed that night.

KathrynMD · August 2011

I just have the doorknob cover on there. We did the gate for a night, but it was painful and took DD a long time to fall asleep.

I crack her door open in the morning so she can get out and come to our room. If she wakes up before us, she cries and I come in and get her.

lovemytwoboys · August 2011

We have a gate at his doorway and have ever since we transitioned him to his toddler bed. I wouldn't remove it after he goes to sleep though! The morning is the time I worry about most, because he could get up and be roaming the house while we're still sleeping. We leave it up all the time.

I highly recommend this one. We had to go with the extra tall one, because he could climb over the regular one. Indifferent

He has done really well with it. He doesn't mind it at all.

ETA: As pp mentioned, this allows us to leave his door open, which is a must for him. Oh, and this is for my 3 year old. My 2 year old is still in a crib, and I am in no hurry to move him.

ErinInVA · August 2011

I also leave a pressure gate across the door at night. DD transitioned into a toddler bed recently and on a previous attempt at transitioning her, she was getting out of her room multiple times a night. We live in a pretty large house now and her having free roam of the house while we are still sleeping in the morning definitely scares me. I shut her door after putting her to bed and then put the pressure gate up. I still have a video monitor in her room. In the morning she plays or reads books for awhile and then she'll start calling to me to tell me she's awake. She knows we can hear her. Either my husband or I will go get her from her room and she comes in our room at that point for the morning.

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