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Behaviour/development

Talk to others about child development and behaviour stages here. You can find more information on our development calendar.

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Original poster

How do you keep a 2 year old in their bed

35 replies

allatsea · 07/06/2006 20:19

About 6 weeks ago we put ds (2.5yrs) in a bed since he was able to get out of his cot with toys, a blanket and still wearing his growbag. I expected that he'd spend a couple of nights exploring his new found freedom in his bedroom. It is now weeks of him getting out of bed and trying to play with whatever is in his room. This is not very much - no toys, no books. It is currently taking anywhere between half an hour and an hour for him to settle down and go to sleep. Please someone suggest something I could try.

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bourneville · 12/06/2006 10:48

just realised, my post sounds awful, about boyf - it's not just him, my free evenings are really important to me too, i was always determined i wasn't going to have a child who messed about at bedtime! I'm a single mum so is doubly important i think! I just meant that that particular night if it wasn't my birthday boyf would have been open to doing it my way, and also, generally it is more stressful when there's 2 of you trying to deal with it. At least for me anyway, as boyf is not dad or stepdad or anything.

fuzzlepelts · 12/06/2006 10:50

I too resolved to do rapid return and just couldn't face it last night - it was so hot! I really am rubbish - I can see that it works am just too lazy.
The cot bars threat seems to work just now

fuzzlepelts · 12/06/2006 10:53

hunkermunk - yes, we thought it was funny until it became a reason for not staying in bed. Grrr
How old is DS1?

hunkermunker · 12/06/2006 22:31

DS1 was two in April - I've been talking to him about sleeping in a bed and he said "DS1, cot" so I thought I'd not mention it for a little while

I know he's old enough for it, but we need to rearrange the room and I can't be arsed because it's too hot

bourneville · 13/06/2006 09:38

do you think it would be worth me trying rapid return now having been using the rope? I imagine it would be v v hard going... just want dd to respect my authority not the authority of a rope!! plus of course before long she'll be getting too old to use a rope really.

FlameBoo · 13/06/2006 09:52

Not read all the thread...

DD has always been allowed up to an hour to poddle about in her room before sleep (then she stands on a step, turns her light off, and gets into bed ).

She is put to bed at 7.30pm with a story and bottle, and is then shut behind her stairgate - the door is still open though so she doesn't feel so shut in. The light is always switched off as I leave the room, but she used to get out of bed and build a tower to turn it on, so we came to the compromise of giving her a safe step so she can turn it on/off as she wants to. I go up after an hour (if she is still awake, which is rare), and tell her its time to sleep and get her back into bed/turn light off, and she normally settles.

She's been in the bed from about 18 months, and been doing the same system since about then - normally she just falls asleep straight away. The only times we have problems are when she has had a sleep during the day.

foxinsocks · 13/06/2006 10:00

I'm afraid ds is 4 and still does this (he doesn't make a fuss but certainly pootles about his room for ages). We shut his door but his room and his sister's room lead off each other's so he often goes into her room and talks to her for a bit or he just seems to wander round his room!.

We go through phases where he sometimes goes to sleep v quickly and sometimes is up for an hour/hour and a half even if we know he is very overtired. His better nights over involve quite a long wind doen period so maybe you could try a long warm bath and a long story with your ds lying down in bed while you read.

bourneville · 13/06/2006 17:46

wow FlameBoo i can't imagine my dd being as good as that! Maybe we underestimate our children. How old is she?

yomellamoHelly · 13/06/2006 18:32

We put ds into his own bed last October.
Up until just over a month ago he would nearly always fall asleep on the floor. Now he climbs back in when he's ready to sleep. (He was 23 months when he went into a bed.)
He can't open the door himself, but if he starts rattling the door we do Tanya's rapid return. I have to say the technique hasn't really worked for ds apart from giving him a clear message that once he's in his room for the night he isn't coming out (he doesn't automatically go to sleep once we say goodnight).
If he wants to play in his room, so long as he doesn't rattle the door and it's fairly quiet play we're happy to let him do so. Generally he's asleep within 15-30 minutes.

FlameBoo · 14/06/2006 09:02

She's 3 now, but she was about 18/20 months when she started (she used to scare me to death with her climbing skills trying to get the light on and off!!!).

She has been doing it pretty much since the beginning - I remember going up expecting to find her curled up asleep on the floor by the stair gate, and being stunned to see her in bed. Then when I realised that she was turning the light on and off too, I was even more .

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