New trick: crying til sick

[Solasum]

Can anyone help us?

17mo DS used to go to sleep just fine on his won in his cot, asleep by 7.30.

He then discovered how to get out of the cot, so the side had to come off. There is now a gate over his bedroom door. But he just won't go to sleep. He has cried several times to the point of being sick. So far have tried a Slightly later bedtime, sitting in the room with him but not interacting, letting him potter about until he decides he is tired (apparently this never happens) Nothing works. Though one night I cuddlwd him in my bed for a while, then he gave a big sigh, went off to his own bed got in and went to sleep. But this did not work the next night.

He is exhausted during the day as he is getting hours less sleep and has started having a morning nap again.

Please help! I have no idea what to try and I am so tired now my evenings have disappeared into 'bedtime'

17 months old is too young to be out of a cot anyway. To have moved your DS into a proper bed when he already had poor bedtime boundaries was a mistake, frankly.

It is possible (indeed responsible) to teach your DS not to climb out of the cot. Him climbing out is not actually a signal he is ready for a bed. Indeed it is a clear sign he isn't ready - he lacks the boundaries and self-discipline needed to stay in bed (as you have found). When older and ready, there should be no need to have a battle to keep him in his bed and go to sleep at bedtime.

If it was me I would bring the cot back and work on him not climbing. A few very young babies are ready for a bed at this age, but most are not. He needs to learn boundaries for what is acceptable bedtime behaviour first.

He was going to sleep on his own perfectly well before, so I am not quite sure what bad 'bedtime behaviour' he had?

I would have much preferred to leave him in the cot for longer, but as he managed to bruise himself quite badly getting out when he inevitably fell, I could not see how I could leave him like that. How do you teach a toddler not to climb out of the cot anyway, short of standing over the cot and putting him back constantly, which is what I am doing anyway with the sideless cot?