Please HELP! Toddler transition from cot to bed nightmare

[PrincessConsuelaBanana]

Hi! We moved my DS (2yrs 4 months old) from a cot to a toddler bed about 3 weeks ago as he could easily climb out and we were worried about him hurting himself. He was a good sleeper - would roll around a bit at bedtime and sometimes take a while to fall asleep but he didn’t cry or get upset so it was all feet calm and peaceful.

The first week in his bed he was great, but then all of a sudden he’s decided to constantly get up and mess about in his room. Or bounce on his bed, throw teddies around etc. A couple of times he’s fallen asleep on the floor.

For the last two weeks me and DP have been taking it in turns to sit outside DS’s room with the monitor and go in and take him back to bed the minute he gets up and not engaging with him. The problem is he can spend up to three hours getting straight back up as soon as we put him back and it’s exhausting and infuriating! Tonight’s it’s been the same old, it’s take an hour and 45 mins of constantly putting him back in bed before he’s stayed there and started to fall asleep even though he was tired when I first put him to bed.

If we leave him he messes about for a bit and falls asleep on the floor faster than he’d settle in bed but we don’t really want to get him in the habit of that though it is tempting as it’s so much easier and less stressful!

Please does anyone have any magic tips to stop him constantly getting up - I’m 39 weeks pregnant, knackered and desperate thank you very much for reading and any advice anyone can give! X

As the weathers pretty warm just leave him to sleep on the floor, put a blanket over him later. As soon as it gets no attention from you he'll get bored of it and sleep in the bed again. Currently he has your attention for as long as he wants, heaven for your average toddler!!

I tried the return to bed technique with my son when he was a similar age, it didn't work for us, he just did it for hours on end. What worked for us was agreeing with him we would sit there until he fell asleep (and cut out his nap concurrently so he was knackered) and each night sitting a foot further away. Eventually we were outside the door with the door open. And then the door was gradually closed. It took about 3 weeks but we went from him being really upset at bedtime to being fine, and each night was usually only about 30minutes. I had a newborn at the time so my timing was also terrible!

Can I rephrase your qn: My toddler DS has realised that he will have a sibling in a week or 2 and is a bit anxious and playing up a bit...and it is hot.

Is it a disaster to let him sleep on the floor? One of you needs to reassure him in the morning.

Intentionally or otherwise he is possibly worrying about his forthcoming sibling. it is easy for kids to sense.

You need to be planning about what to do when you have the baby.

I’d just leave him to sleep on the floor. He’ll get bored of it and realize the bed is more comfortable.

Also what’s the nap situation? My DS started to drop his nap around then and it meant bedtime became a nightmare if he napped

Thank you for all your advice guys I really appreciate it I’m going to talk to DP when he’s home from work, maybe letting him fall asleep on the floor is the best thing to do if that’s where he’s most comfortable! I was thinking we’d just be making a rod for our own backs by letting that become a habit for DS, but he’s unlikely to do it forever isn’t he.

@Madcats he definitely knows something is going on in terms of new baby coming! His communication / understanding is delayed so He doesn’t know exactly what, but about 4 months ago there were some obvious changes and he did get more clingy with me. The fact that he was fine in his bed for the first week though makes me think maybe this isn’t to do with the baby...? But you could be right! I really didn’t want to put him in a bed this close to baby coming but all of a sudden he turned into a cot-escaping ninja so we didn’t really have a choice. We’ve got lots of plans and ideas to put in place to try and make this massive change as easy as possible for DS though I’m definitely open to suggestions! It’s honestly been one of my biggest worries through this whole pregnancy.

@Caterina99 nap-wise he is still napping in the afternoon usually from about 12.30-2.30 I don’t know why I didn’t even think of that being an issue he is at the age where the nap starts to drop off so I’ll try putting him down a little earlier and potentially waking him after an hour rather than leaving him for 2.....

Thanks again all

The putting her back method didn't work for us either. Sticker charts have already been done to death for potty training (dd demanded it c.20 months).

She now receives a present each day that she's stayed in her room all night. Nothing huge: a 90p pair of flip flops from Primark or something from Poundland generally and there are lots of sales around just now.

We also made her room as dark as possible so she'd struggle to see enough to do any playing and reminded her that if she wakes up she can just close her eyes again and she will fall asleep again.

Hope this helps. Good luck!

I am currently having exactly the same problem, my son is 2yrs 4months and was continually climbing out of his cot for the last few weeks, we made the decision like yourself to take the side off and replace with a bed guard incase of injury. And the fact it didn't really matter whether the side was on or not as he had become a pro and slinking out of bed.. Also the same as you the in and out of bed routine could continue for hours on end 11pm - 4am I recall being the worst then up at 6am to start his day. I to am 39 weeks pregnant but also have a nearly 5 Yr old to who he shares a room with and continually wakes up with his night time antics. We made the decision to put a gate on the bedroom door to stop the running around the house so he is now confined to his room at night. It's seems so have done the trick and we only have a couple of run around before he gets bored and realise there's no where for him to go. We to are started to drop his afternoon nap to see if that helps sometimes it does sometimes he's just over tired. And you know what over tired toddlers can be like 🙄 also similar to you his speech is very delayed so I think hes finding it very hard to express himself and to actually communicate with us which I think sometimes is the reason for the naughtyish behaviour. I definatly think they are sensing the soon to be new arrivals of babies and its difficult for them I had the same trouble with my eldest when I was pregnant with my son. It doesn't last for ever and eventually they give up fighting you.

We done this 2 weeks ago, along with his 1 year old brother in a cot in the same room. Fun times. On a rare occasion he falls straight to sleep, but usually he's on the floor with his cover and pillow we just leave him to it and scoop him up and put him back to bed. Hopefully he will learn his bed is more comfy soon.