Can anyone put their 2.5yr old to bed without spending an hour up and down the stairs, culminating in...

[bohemianbint]

...someone bellowing "WILL YOU JUST GET BACK INTO BED!!!"

It's shit, I hate it. DS1 slept like a log in a cot, but now he's in a bed it's hellish. There's a stairgate on his door to stop him wandering out of the room but he's out of bed every 3 seconds, wanting to be put back in bed, wanting his cup in the room, wanting it out again, etc etc yadda yadda...

Do they all do this? Can anything be done? Will he grow out of it? Have DS2 as well so can't spend the whole evening putting him silently back into bed, even if I agreed that supernanny had a point with that (she hasn't met my son, perseverance isn't the word.)

He will quite happily sit at the top of the stairs in the dark for 2 hours, despite having dropped his nap and being totally knackered. If we shut the door so he can't get out he goes to sleep in seconds, but I don't like to do that.

There must be a middle ground?

shut the door,so he cant get out, and he will sleep in seconds, why dont you like to do that?

i close door on 7mth and 3yr, always have done

or shut the door and then open 10mins later when asleep

you wont harm your child shutting the door on them

but if you dont want to do that, then yes do the supernanny approach, def no talking and sure aftre 2weeks he will get the message

You have my sympathy but if you think it is bad now just wait until your ds can open the stair gate.... that's when the fun starts!

They do grow out of it but from my experience you have another 18 months of this .

I wouldn't worry about shutting the door. My ds soon learned to open his and when he couldn't he would shout so loudly that I'd get comments from the neighbours (and I don't mean the ones immediately next door!)

And just another thought...perhaps he needs the door shut to get to sleep. I know I do, and did as a child. I hated(d) being able to hear whats going on down stairs, I just want(ed) dark and quiet...

he obv doesnt have a prob being shut in the dark,as goes striaght to sleep

so its your problem rther than his iykwim

you could always buy a small nightplug in light

I couldn't do the shutting the door thing, its just not my style, no criticism of those that do BTW. We just did the putting back to bed thing and to save me going up and down the stairs we sort the washing and potter around tidying up until she falls asleep. DD has been in a bed since 11 months (she was very anti cot!) and we went through this phase around 18 months when she discovered the novelty of getting in and out of bed herself. It soon passed and now she doesn't get out of bed, although she will call sometimes.

It's funny, DS is quite the opposite and (touch wood) has been much much better since we took the side of his cot. Theoretically he can get out, but he never does. We leave a light on low in the room, he might moan for a while and want to know I'm close by, but he's no bother really.

Thank you - on the upside, the last two nights I've put him to bed whilst DH has still been at work, I've just told him he has to stay in bed, and he has. So am quite blown away by that. On the downside, he's started getting up at 3am instead! But it's not required too much wrangling to get him back down.

Funny how they go through these little phases from one day to the next.