Question
How to keep my two year old in bed!!!!
Oh my! I am so glad that I found a site, where it looks like you are all trying to help each other out! My son - who is 27 months old aka- 2 years old, refuses to go to sleep. When I put him in bed at night, he either tried to open his drawers- i have locks all over the dresser, looks out his window, or go to the door and sleeps there. If I try to bring him into bed with me- which I know is not a good idea, He doesnt fall right asleep like some mom's are saying. He literally acts like he could not sleep, ever. I'm 4 months pregnant and cant handle this much longer. Any advice?
-Stressed out Prego
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3 Answers
OMG, we have the same exact problem (at the same age)!!!
My younger one is a total night owl! He never wants to go to sleep and used to play with all his toys for hours once we put him to bed! I tried all kids of things, and then we did start taking things away from him. It was the only thing that worked. I would take away his favorite stuffed animals at first, then he knew he wouldn't get to watch any movies the next day. That seemed to work.
He realized that when he got out of bed, he'd have to pay the consequences. Now, he still doesn't sleep for an hour or so, but he just lays in bed and talks to himself :) And he's always the first one up in the morning- crazy!
I know it's hard to "punish" your kids sometimes, but we found out the hard way that just explaining it was time to sleep, letting him see we were going to sleep soon and all those lengthy conversations really got us nowhere in this situation (has worked great in others).
If the kids don't get enough sleep- we all suffer! (especially being pregnant)
You should also check out the sleep forum on the site.
We HAD the same problem with our daughter, she was only sleeping on the floor or near her door. And she was always asking for things and staying up for hours after her real bedtime. It was just a phase, it will pass, and to help things a long we created a sleep chart, explaining the bedtime routine and what was expected of her, short and sweet and easy to understand. Whenever she successfully would do those things in the morning we would give her an UBER surprise. If you don't want to over do those, you can also create a sticker chart, a sticker everytime there is success that leads to a big surprise once they fill it. This sort of system has really been working for us in all areas. Good luck! I know how much it sucks to not get sleep, especially when you are pregnant. I hope the phase passes quickly for you!
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Oh boy. So sorry you're not getting enough sleep. First, if he's not falling asleep in your bed, don't do it. It will just make it harder for both of you. Second, just be consistent about putting him back in his own bed each time he gets up. Third, try an earlier bed time because a lot of times kids who won't sleep are overtired.
Finally, he is old enough that you could start a reward system to get him to stay in his bed. Give him a sticker every night he stays in bed (you can pick a time you want him to stay there til and put a digital clock in his room -- teach him to read the very first number so if you want him to stay in bed til 6, he waits to get up until the first number reads 6). Once he gets a certain number of stickers (we did 20 when I used this trick) he get a toy or prize of his choosing. One caution: be prepared to take away stickers and eventually take away the toy if he starts getting up again. Clever little ones will figure they can start getting up again once they get their prize.
Also, check out my Sleep Forum club! Link below. You can read all about my trials and travails getting my daughter to sleep in her own bed. I'm happy to report that she's almost 5 now, has been sleeping through the night for a long time, and still comes and snuggles with me in the mornings. :)
Patti
SAHM in SoCal and administrator of the Sleep Forum group, http://www.mothersclick.com/group/sleep-forum and Tri-Counties Moms, http://www.mothersclick.com/moms-club/tri-counties-moms-sb-ventura-slo-c...