3y old - will just not stay in bed and is driving me insane

[expectingno2]

He is like a yoyo all evening - tried staying with him until he goes to sleep but he just messes about, tried quietly putting him back to bed but tried this for a good few nights and it got no better and took all evening every night, tried reward charts, tried shouting at him but that didn't work.

Any suggestions? - he is a stubborn little %&% at the best of times tbh.

He is currently playing on the stairs

I've just had exactly the same with my almost 3yo. I ended up strapping him in his pushchair and rocking him off to sleep.

He's exhausted after a busy day and a similar evening last night.

We've got a new baby and dh has just started working away, so I guess there's 2 good explanations for his messing about, hopefully it'll settle down soon.

Does your ds know you're expecting no2? Is that why he's not settling?

thanks - should make that clear - this is an old username that i have never updated - this 3 year old is my expecting number 2 - i will get round to updating it one day.

Do you think it is a normal 3 year old thing?

My nearly three year old is the same.

He came downstairs twenty minutes ago so I telephoned Father Christmas and told him that my DS will not go to bed. 'Ok Father Christmas I'll tell him that he can't have any presents because he won't stay in bed. Yes Father Christmas I'm really disappointed too.'

DS shot up the stairs and is staying put so far!

Not sure if this is relevant to you but I have a very vigorous 2 year old who keeps getting out of bed. He's in a cot but it makes no difference he can vault out before I even reach the door.

I am trying rapid return which works eventually in the evening but during the night he usually wakes. If I try rapid return he goes crazy and screams the place down - I have a 13 yo who has school next day plus neighbours etc. I usually end up giving him milk or whatever it takes. i am exhausted.

Last night he kept coming into our room (next door, he can see us if we leave the doors open) and because we cannot go back to co-sleeping (did it till he was 18 months but he is huge and wriggly) so I ended up telling him if he didn't stay in the cot I would close his bedroom door, which I did leaving him 1 minute each time but he was really upset and I'm not sure if I'll stick to it this evening .

So not sure if that's any help. I use the Millpond book but may resort to their sleep service just for the support.

Is he napping much in the day?

I feel for you. DS1 was exactly the same at this age, as soon as he went into a bed he started fucking about, up and down, up and down. We did rapid returns but it didn't really work (our record was 175 times!!). In the end we put a stairgate up at his bedroom door and he would go to sleep on the floor behind it, after crying or just getting bored.

To give you some hope, he did stop in the end on his own accord. He became ill and didn't have the energy to do it and seemed to forget about doing it when he returned to health. Now he's fine going to bed. He is 6, mind!

Keep strong....

thanks - gives me some hope - not sure I will survive until then.

No sleep at all during the day - eventually he went to sleep on the stairs at about 9.30 - then I immediately feel mean for shouting at him

his older sibling has never ever got out of bed so this is all new

My 2 year old has issues staying in bed as well. We moved him into the bed because bars were also more inconvenient for me than for him. I spent the last two evenings on the stairs, outside his door, holding it shut every time he tried to open it. He eventually gave up and went to sleep. It took less time the second evening than the first, so it was all going well. Then husband came home from his business trip and let him come down and sit with us for 20 minutes and then head back to bed. :-/ We'll see how things go the next few nights.