How can i try and keep ds in his bed???

[fifisboys]

He was moved into his cotbed about 6 weeks ago and was fine, stayed in t and slept no problem, but the last few nights he keeps getting out and coming downstairs or running roundno matter what we say to him.
We have tried keeping him up later so he's exhausted but as soon as he gets into his room he comes to life!!
Its getting to me a bit now as he is waking up ds2 with his running round and it went on fr 2 hours last night

[wideratthehips]

this happened to us...you say "big boys in bed babies go back to the cot".

don't stand for it

put him back in his cot...he will be outraged but tough line i say

[fifisboys]

Thanks, i did consider this but as he's 2.8 and thought he'd have to get used to a bed at some point. I just dont know why its suddenly started.

[wideratthehips]

hes testing you to see what he can get away with!.....has it coincided with potty training?

i'm pretty easy going about most things but bedtime is i think my top thing to be tough about....my evenings with dh/without children are vital and no mucking about!

ds1 has tried it on a few times..i'm hungry/thirsty/scared/looooovvvee you/etc etc..if he doesn't take the hint you switch off all the lights and go to bed (have done this) then whats he going to do...its pretty boring being up on your own! (you get back up later if you haven't fallen asleep)

[fifisboys]

Well he's sort of potty training, not quite trained yet though thats my task for next week when im off!!

Im the same about bedtimes and thats why this is so hard as we've never had any problems at bedtime before both ds's have self settled and are usually asleep within minutes!!

[wideratthehips]

my dc are 4.5 and 21mths so can't quite remember how to negotiate with a child thats 2.8. i'm sure he must have some understanding of whats expected of him. ds1 went into a bed (and it was a full sized bed with pillows down the open side) when he was about 2.4 because he was so big he was threatening to break the base with all his jumping up and down but we left his cot up in his room as a gentle reminder. if after story etc he doesn't appear to be sleepy would you consider a short story on a cd to unwind him even more? or bribery? (i used for potty training those glow in the dark plastic stars) and he loved lying in bed looking at them!

[luvlydECMOrations]

try this

[fifisboys]

Thats just what i need luvydECMOrations

We've even kept him up a bit later tonight and thats still not worked he was still up and about 2 minutes ago!!
Bedtime has never been an issue with him at all, even when he was put in his bed he would shout down if he wanted a drink or anything.
He does generally know whats expected of him most of the time, ive tried keeping calm and just putting him in to bed without saying anything, ive bribed, shouted , took his special toys away etc..
'll have to perservere over the next few nights

[ches]

They can follow instructions from around 13 months old, so I'd say it's not about negotiating, it's about enforcing.

[LadyPenelope]

I've seen one of those "experts" dealing with this on TV and she recommended just quietly and calmly returning them to bed each time they get up. Don't talk to him, just either lead him by hand or carry him back and put him back in bed, then walk out.

It might take several hours of taking them back the first night, less the next until finally they just stay.

Had to do this with DS a few months ago. He got into habit of needing us lying next to him or sitting in room - if we didn't do it he would get out of bed. If we did it, it was taking longer and longer for him to drop off.

So I started leaving him and carrying him back to bed everytime he got out of bed. It did take a lot of times and tears and shouting the first night - seemed to take hours. But we cracked it over a few nights and we have no problems now.

[fifisboys]

Thanks everyone for the replies.
Like i said he started going in fine and even the first few nights he'd only got up a couple of times but now its a nightmare!!!
I will keep trying to just put him in without saying anything and hopefully he will get the message as no matter how many times he gets up he's never allowed to stay up so hopefully he will get sick!!

[MrsGokWan]

My DC1 did this after a period of being fine in bed so I just did as LadyPenelope did and did the putting back to bed and leaving the room. The first night it was several hours but by the 4th night he stayed put. We also put a safety gate on his door when he went into the bed so he never got to career around the house.