Getting out of bed.
susangilchrist
member
I've SO had it. I need some suggestions/advice. On Saturday, Emma decided to climb out of her crib for the first time, and subsequently fell. I had hoped it scared her into not doing it again. Wrong. So Saturday afternoon we disassembled the bed and brought in the toddler bed. I babyproofed the room (or so I thought) and we had a really great first nap and night. We did the Supernanny "stay in bed" technique where you go in the first time she gets out, put her back, and tell her it's time for night-night. The second (and all other times) you just put her back in. The first night, we had to do it 6-7 times, and then only 1-2 times afterward. Well, that worked for a day or 2. Now it's a nightmare. At night she screams hysterically when she realizes it's bedtime. She screams in her bed for awhile, and then after getting out 1-2 times, falls asleep and stays asleep until morning. This morning, before making a peep, she found her wipes (high on a dresser) and took them all out and they were EVERYWHERE. She also emptied a dresser drawer all over her room. What do you do about that??
Naptime is a nightmare. We've tried cutting her back to 1 nap a day and she's a terror. She does great with 2 naps, but takes awhile to fall asleep for the second one. However, once asleep, she's out for at least 2 hours. When I put her down for nap, all hell breaks loose. She's out of bed CONSTANTLY. I've got a video monitor, which is a godsend. I put her back in bed over and over and over again, and she thinks it's funny. I put her in time out today after she emptied another drawer and she got upset. I THINK it got through to her somewhat because she went to sleep afterwards. What the heck do I do? Time out every time she gets out of bed? She's never been spanked before, but I'm nearing my breaking point. It's to the point that I can't get anything accomplished during "nap" time because I'm constantly in her room. Help.
Re: Getting out of bed.
For us, if Bailey is in his room then we leave it alone. If he gets out of bed so be it but he's staying in there. We never go back in until it's time for him to get up even if that means he sleeps on the floor which he has done.
Bailey was a lot younger (13 1/2 months) when we switched him over to the twin bed. So I don't know if this will work for a 2yo but we started playing some in his room during the day so that he would learn to like his room. He loves his room and will actually now go play in it by himself.
Can't help on the dresser b/c we have Bailey's chest of drawers in his closest so he can't get to it. I wish I had more advice. Hang in there.
I'd duct tape the dresser shut, anchor it to the wall, baby-proof whatever's left, shut the door, and don't go back in.
I'm joking about the duct tape, but I think the best thing you can do at this point is just shut the door and walk away. She seems to think it's a game that you keep popping in. I did this with Geneva and I would hear her get up, but eventually, she put herself back in bed and went to sleep.
Regarding all of the messes she is making. Have her clean it up. I'm serious. Sit her down, tell her that it's unacceptable behavior and tell her to clean it up.
We had a gate on Ava's door, so she couldn't leave her room, but keep up what you are doing. Put her right back in bed and keep using the SuperNanny techniques. Consistancy is the key here. Don't get upset with her, but be firm and let her know that you are in charge. You can do it!
Everyone is different, but if I put Adam back in the bed everytime he got up I would be spending my entire day doing it. I can pretty much promise you I would be frustrated enough with it by now to have spanked him, so I know where you are coming from.
Once Adam is in his room its up to him if he sleeps. I know this sounds extreme, but honestly I think its important for him to learn to fall asleep on his own so when he wakes up at say 4am he knows how to go back to sleep. If he wants to run around and play for 30 minutes first I really don't care. His room is totally baby proofed (I even bought this really cool plug in covers on amazon you can put over the plug ins). He does like to ocassionally take all his clothes out of the drawers, but I just pick them up and throw them back in. With Adam if you make a big deal of it he will keep doing it.
This is one of those pick your battle things with me and as long as he goes to sleep and stays alseep I'm willing to over look the fact that he doesn't just go into his room and go to sleep perfectly. I have tons of friends who do not agree with me on this one and they spend hours each day fighting with their kids over sleep. I read in the book parenting with love and logic that you can do a lot, but you can never make your kids sleep or eat. I remind myself of that often when I get frustrated.
Not sure if this would help, but over 2 years old is really old for 2 naps isn't it?...maybe she'd go down quicker for that second one if you phase out the first? And I'm in the camp of just continue to babyproof as much as possible, I hate having to keep saying "no" to the same thing or fighting the same battle over and over when it's preventable. I'd literally get a bin and throw all her clothes in it and remove them from the room till she's done with that phase. Put the wipes in the top of her closet, put a lock on the closet. I've removed all books from the boys rooms when they wouldn't stop picking the locks (they would stick the hard covers in the slot and unlock the door). Eventually I tried putting the books back and they left the doors alone, so they could keep them. I even took Ethan's lamp out of his room when he wouldn't stop taking the lampshade off. After two days he asked for it back and left it alone
I agree with you can't make your kids sleep or eat, so what I can control is that they stay in their room and don't make a gigantic mess.
Good thought, Stephanie. I totally agree with this. By two, Geneva had gotten down to only one long nap a day. And she's a big napper. She still takes a 2-3 hour nap a day (when at home - at school they nap for 1.5-2 hours).
Oh yeah. If she's still taking 2 naps, you gotta give 1 up. I know it sucks but trust me, it really ended up making our lives easier once he made that transition.
I agree with all of this. I would go ahead and phase down to one nap. Derek hated that for the first week but after that he adjusted fine and now takes 3-4 hour naps once he's down.
As far as the messes, Derek will do the same thing with the wipes if we forget and leave them on the changing table where he can get to them. He sometimes pulls stuff out of the dresser and we're working on getting him to stop that by doing what Kerrin suggested and having him clean it up, but he hasn't seemed phased. Personally, I'm fine with him doing that for a little while before he goes to sleep so long as he stays in his room. We put him down for nap and close the door until it's time to get up. He got used to that pretty quick and now he's good. Occasionally he'll fall asleep on the floor but I don't have a problem with that either, so long as he's napping.