Hi there,
DD is 2.4 and has always slept through the night from about 5 weeks old. About 6 months ago we took the side off of her cot-bed, effectively turning it into a toddler bed and she seems to love it. The new Peppa Pig and Hello Kitty duvet sets have also added to her pleasure of getting into bed.
We've never had a problem with bedtime and have had the same routine since she was very young. Teeth, milk, story in the rocking chair and then into bed.
For the first 4 months of being in her bed, she never got out of it in the night, even if she was ill. She would just sit in bed and call for us. She knew she could get out as in the mornings when we'd go in to get her up, she would climb out, but she just never did it in the night.
Well, since she was ill a couple of weeks ago (tummy bug followed by a cold), she has started getting out of bed. When she was ill it was at all hours, but because she was ill, I would take her into our bed and she would go back to sleep. But she's now doing it even though she's better.
More often than not it's after 5am when the dogs will occasionally bark and I think that wakes her. But last night it was 1am.
Both DH and I work FT with DH starting at 5am and me starting at 8am, so we're generally up around 6.30am anyway to get her ready for the CM.
I'm exhausted as I seem to always take on the 'getting up to see to her' role. In fairness, last night I took her back to bed twice and she didn't cry either time and then slept until about 5.30am when the dogs barked and woke her.
So, what methods did you find worked? I was looking at one of the 'Stay-in-bed' alarm clocks and trying to explain to her when she could get out of bed etc and when she needed to stay in bed. Or should I still be tackling it with the 'Back-to-bed' process, even if it's 5am, or is that only for middle-of-the-night situations?
Any help and advice gratefully received...