Transition to a toddler bed

[BumbleNova]

Help! My DS (25 months) has started pitching himself out of his cot head first 😱.

He is not a great sleeper, he would literally rather do anything else - vaccinations, the dentist, you name it.

He does self- settle in his cot but does often protest and bed time can be stressful. We put him in his cot and go in and out every 2 mins, cuddling him if he needs it.

We had previously taken the side off before. We tried for 7 days (about 2 weeks ago). It was just carnage. He would not stay in bed, slept anywhere but and absolutely would not stay in his cot (with a bed guard) and put himself to sleep. He was waking multiple times etc. He generally was really upset and unsettled.

So we put it back on. But now, landing head first is funny so I think so for his safety we need to try again.

Please give me your tips?! I've got no idea how to approach this. We also have a 7 week old so absolutely have our hands full.

We put a stair gate on the bedroom door.. made sure all furniture had safety catches on them so ds couldn't pull them down on top of himself. After a few days of the stairs gate ds realised he wasn't getting out of the room so may as well stay in bed. He still tests that theory every month or so but it's short and then he will close there door and get back in to bed himself

I did stair gate on the door and made sure his room was safe... he spent a few nights asleep on the floor but then started to get back in bed

Thanks @Smurf123. He can't open the bedroom door so that's a blessing. So your DS would just put himself back to bed?

@WooYa was he waking multiple times?

Pretty much the first few days we were constantly putting him back into bed when he got out. Then we started going downstairs and leaving him for a bit.. the first day or 2 of that he did shout and cry but he would stop the minute he saw me. He was cross I wasn't staying. Dh started to go up instead and when ds saw him he would close His door himself and go back to bed. Sometimes now he will get out of bed and play with a few toys on the floor. If he's not crying we mostly leave him - I can see him on the video monitor and after a couple of mins he will usually get back into bed.
At the beginning we did have the odd time where he would lie down on the floor to sleep but usually after a short time of that he would decide better of it and climb back into bed and pull the cover back up over himself.

We did have some night waking at the beginning too .. I always go in and settle him in the first instance .. then come back out. Sometimes he cries.. I time it for 5mins and always go back in after 5 mins if he's still crying but 99% of the time he's back in bed and quiet before the 5 mins are up. He usually sleeps through now except if he needs the toilet - he's just day time trained but showing some awareness at night now.

We found audio books to be a lifesaver though too almost forgot about that. Ds loves the Julia Donaldson books so we bought them all on the kindle fire and after we have read a story together and tucked him in we will put on an audio book that he listens to before going to sleep.

Yeah even after 7 days he wasn't taking himself back to bed. Hmm.

We obviously were putting him back to bed but he would just get out instantly.

I think he isn't ready but where he can climb out, it's forced our hand. No idea what to do.

@Smurf123 how old was your DS when you moved him?

So at 18 months our ds kept waking himself up early doors by hitting the cot sides when he rolled so we took the sides off and replaced the one side that wasn't against the wall with a bed guard. Ds has now (26 months) started to ask for the side down to get out in the morning so today I have taken it off and moved his room around in prep for new baby.

We will see what happens. He loves going to bed though, he's chuffed he can now climb into bed himself whenever he likes. Our bedtime routine is books, brush teeth, warm a hot tie toy thing, I put him to bed and sing to him (he seems to think I'm a juke box) and then I leave the room and he goes to sleep. Even though with the bed guard he's been able to get out, he hasn't wanted to and has stayed put on the whole.

I may put the guard back on if it doesn't go smoothly tonight

We did it during the first lockdown so around 26 months. We had a good week or more having no success until we got the stair gate on the door. I think the fact that we could go all the way downstairs knowing he was safe helped also because he then didn't have a constant audience