3 year old's bedtime - aaaarrrrrgggghhhh!

[heymango]

DS3 is 3.4 and an absolute nightmare at bedtime. He will not stay in his bed, runs around upstairs, disrupts everyone else - it is driving me mad.

If I shut his door he hurls anything he can find at it, destroying his room.

I am just at the end of my tether, and I have had to walk away before I lose control.

Any ideas? Thanks.

My DD was similar...I spent one whole week putting her back in bed...with the light off...repeatedly.

As I put her in, she would leap out and I would put her back in..or at least on the bed.

I kept the light off...only dim light coming in from the hall....I put her in and she leaped out until she was so exhausted that she would lie down.

It would take over an hour at first...but after a week of this she was over it.

I never spoke or lost it except to say quietly "It's bedtime now"...every now and then.

Thats all I said...no matter what she said or did.

I never left the room until she was under the cover and her eyes drooping.
It was a hard week but worth it!

It's a common problem around 2.5 / 3ish years apparently.

Info on the 3 year sleep regression here here and here.

Marking spot so I can come back when I'm less tired and read links! Thanks!

DS1 is 4.5 and we still haven't cracked it. It's made worse by over tiredness but impossible to strike the right balance and time it right.

I suspect Shana has the right advice but I was far too soft on him (we had a new baby at about the same time) and gave him more attention than I probably should have.

No advice really, except to try and nip it in the bud now .

DS1 has much improved negotiation skills now and it is much harder to lay the law down.

We did same as shananahans with 2 yo ds. It took about a week. Dh and I did it in 5 minute "shifts" so to save out sanity. As much as I loathe supernanny at times, we did what she does. First time is kiss cuddle and "night night. We love you"
Then "it's bedtime"
Then 3rd time nothing x repeat loads of times. We didn't even male eye contact. Doing the shifts really helped a lot. On my own I probably would have gotten way too tired and irritated.

Also take all items except bedding and soft bed toys out of room
when you do it.
It took a couple of weeks - 2nd week was just 10 minutes (so 1 shift each) and now he's usually fine. He has the odd night where he needs putting back in a few times but we follow same procedure as above and all is fine. :) HTh

Our and maKe not out and male! iPhone typos

Thanks everyone - I am going to try the persistent approach. DH is here tonight, so have a bit of back-up.

DS is still rampaging around upstairs, so will start now - desperately need him in bed as need to do some wrapping!

Thanks again.

DS1 is also still going, but DS2 is being kept awake by the running around and so is screaming.

DS1 won't settle in his bed because DS2 is screaming

Aaaarrrrrrrgggggggghhhhhhhhhhhh