A REAL CHALLENGE for anyone who knows a thing or two about sleeep training

[drosophila]

DD will be 2 in Jan. We did a spot of sleep training when she was younger which worked give or take the odd night. For the past week or so she has been a nightmare. She is put in cot (at the foot of our bed) and then when I leave the room she climbs out and we find her on the landing. She is not crying and you can tell she knows she shouldn't be doing it.

We put her back in and last night i stayed in the room and every time she lifted her head I said 'lie down'. She complied and fell asleep. At about 23.00 she started climbing out again and continued until about 02.30 by which time I am beside myself with tiredness. She is in good spirits although I think her molars may be coming through.

I would like to move her to a bed in her own room but DP is concerned that she will do something really dangerous if we are not there to keep an eye on her. She is a real monkey and finds danger in places I never imagined danger to lurk. DS was in our room until he was over two and he doesn't want to treat her any differently.

Anyone any ideas?

Anyone? I have spent a fortune on eye bag creams.

See I knew it was a challenge.

I'll reply seeing as no-one else has!
If you want my honest opinion, it's an attention/cheeky monkey thing at this age. If in good spirits then it can't really be pain of teething waking her. The more attention she gets for this behaviour, the more fun it becomes. Why on earth does DP insist cot stays in your room at 2? Have you considered you are actually waking her when you start going to bed and then she finds it difficult to get back to sleep? Every child is different and what works for the first one may not work for the second one. I don't mean to sound harsh as 2 is a blooming difficult age anyway, let alone when you're dog tired but my suggestion would be put her in a toddler bed, put in her room, make the room safe to put DP's mind at rest and put a babygate on and let her work it out herself. What have you got to lose? Whatever you're doing at the moment isn't working so you need to completely change your reaction to her behaviour. If it's been happening for a week or two it's become a habit so it will take at least 3 nights of hard training to sort it out, if not a week. Perhaps you should sleep downstairs and let him deal with her!

erm.. mine were in their own cots in their own rooms from birth....so i am probably not the right person.....

but...you need to be consistent and firm and continous in whatever you decide

put her in her own room. remove or deal with anything dangerous and put a gate on the door.

you will have a few nights of screaming and returning her constantly from the gate back to her bed...but it will be for long term gain.

if DP wants her to continue sleeping in your room , he needs to deal with her and put her back to bed..not you, especially if you want her in her own room.!

good luck!

See that's my thought as well. We are no twaking her though cos she starts this before we go to bed. DP is a softie with things like this.

All very well DH being a softie, but you are the one exhausted. I agree with others - tell her she's a big girl now, put her in a proper bed in her own room, with a gate at the door. Make the move an exciting adventure and let her 'help' you get it ready and chose some special 'big girl' bed linen.
If DH want's a happy wife who is dead tired all the time then he needs to grow up a bit - millions of children are in their own rooms and non the worse off for it. Sorry, sure your DH is lovely but!!!!

NOT dead tired...!

if she's 2. i would move her to her own room. make a big thing out of it though, decorate, new bedding etc, make her excited about the prospect and make it somewhere she will like to be. try a nice night light, maybe one that projects something onto the wall or ceiling that will catch her attention, or mobiles above the bed. if she's still getting up, go for a bed guard and/or a stairgate on the door.

tbh, we had a bed guard from the word go with dd, she was a bad sleeper so we started as we meant to go on when she moved from a cot to a bed so she wouldn't keep getting up.

She slepth with a peep last night. I agree with yo uall about her own room but what I find interesting is the idea of making a big thing of it. DD really wouldn't notice. Would yo expect a girl almost 2 to be interested in bed linen and stuff. I suspect she takes after my side of the family. We are all a bit uncouth I think.

DD is 20 months, and is already very aware of her own space and notices immediately if I do something different to her room.

Interesting. DD likes clothes but never seems to take much interest in other things.

DS (22 months) can get himself out of his cot and wander around his bedroom. We have secured all dressers, wardrobes etc to the wall, made sure electricity sockets are covered and the room is more or less safe, so if he climbs out he can wander around to his hearts content. Funnily though he never tries to get out at night time because we tend to ignore him waking at this stage. As children edge towards two I have heard ignoring undesirable (but not dangerous) behaviour is best and (when I have the patience) it does seem to work with my very determined ds! Good luck!