At the end of my tether

[Jaffacakelove]

DS is just about to turn two. Moved into his own bed at Christmas time as he was able to climb out his cot.

Ever since it's been constant misery. He now will not go down for nap at all during the day. I can spend hours trying to get him down but he completely refuses to stay in bed. When he doesn't nap he is so miserable al the time. Is constantly crying and whinging for no reason. Refuses to listen, will constantly pull things of the desk even when repeatedly told not to.
Bedtimes are a battle to get him to stay in bed, it can take hours.

I'm at a complete loss atm I'm so fed up of him and I just don't know what to do.

Could you try taking him out in the car? You could do this for his nap if it means he won’t be miserable, and you can even do it at night if you can transfer him.

How about a long long walk in the buggy?

If we go out in the car he's happy for a bit then gets squirmy and angry about the straps and tries to break out.

The pushchair is okay for as long as we're out but then as soon as we're home it's back to being miserable again

My lo was like this. They slept on gym mat type things at nursery - invested in one of those and she napped like a log!!

Stair gate on his door and remove anything dangerous, climbable or tippable from his room and thus if he gets out of bed he’s safe and you don’t need to automatically run to him. Make it a boring room that’s only associated with sleep.

Ds always napped on the floor!! Grabbed a big cushion and his blanket and zonked out himself!!
Battling with a bed twice a day is madness imo.

what didicat said. It feels awful now but it will pass. He is just getting used to it. I would also be doing the supernanny thing of taking him back to bed with minimal communication until he gets the idea.

Can you revert back to a cot and try a sleeping bag so can’t climb out?

My toddler can technically get out of his cot but never does.

Was he climbing out all the time or was it just because you knew he could?

I’ve left mine in his cot even as he sleeps so well I am not tempting fate in moving him to a bed.
Any chance you can put the cot back?

If not then I would just put a stair gate on his room, extra mattress on the floor with some extra blankets and let him get on with it, it’ll only take a couple of nights of crying before he concedes and goes to sleep. (Not suggesting you leave him to cry but I would definitely suggest do some kind of sleep training)

This was when we used the stair gate.

It was put across their bedroom door and left open as long as they stayed in their room. If they came out we shut the gate and not the door.

Then it was the tedious back and forth to bed. No drinks, no toilet (still in nappies so no need), no conversation just a calm repeating of “bed time now, goodnight.”

We weren’t bothered so much about the going to sleep or staying in their bed straight away but keeping them in the room and calling for us to come to them. It only took a few nights for them to understand the expectation and consequence.

We’d open the gate when we went to bed so they could come into our room for nightmares, in the morning, etc.

@Didicat

Stair gate on his door and remove anything dangerous, climbable or tippable from his room and thus if he gets out of bed he’s safe and you don’t need to automatically run to him. Make it a boring room that’s only associated with sleep.

The only decent comment so far

Hi, end of nov at 2 and a half my son was vaulting out of the cot so we moved to a bed - it took 4-5 weeks for him to get back into a good routine.

For those 4 weeks we had nightly battles where he would be up every 30 seconds running round the landing. For two hours each night. We tried ignoring him, 1,000 walks back to bed, stern voice. We got some advice about talking to him about how he needed to stay in bed at night.

Now this was either a coincidence or we had 'broke him' but on Christmas Eve he broke the 'bed guard' side of his bed. His bed had a partial guard one side (with a gap to climb out) and a rail all the way on the wall side. So we turned the bed round so the long rail is not against the wall and ever since he now gets straight into bed and stays there. He can still climb out but he lies against the rail - which is what he did in his cot.

Naps - we have up in his bed and put him down on a mat downstairs with a blanket. This is what they do at nursery so we now do the same.

Back in the cot, he's young to be in a bed. get a sleeping back and put it on him backwards so he can't undo it and climb out.

If you have to, you could see if you can raise the height of the cot sides by adding a bit more wood to around the top.