Just took the side of toddlers cot.....

[Emma2803]

So my ds is 2.4 and last week we decided to take the side of his cot as he was starting to climb out. So we put a bed rail on with space to get in and out himself.

He is getting in himself lying down and pulling blankets up etc. He will get out to get a toy and get back into bed and play a while and go to sleep.

He has always been an early riser but now he seems to get up even earlier to play with his toys. He usually stays in his room for half an hour or so playing but the noise still wakes us.
Aibu to want him to stay in bed and be quiet a bit longer? Is there any way I can encourage this? Gro clock maybe? I leave his door open a bit more for more light for when he does get out of bed, maybe I should close it again?

Our son did this, especially in the summer. We put up blackout blinds and shut his bedroom door. Seemed to work! He gets up about 7 now.

Impulse control can be very low with a toddler. So if he's awake and can get up to play with toys, he will.

So the best way to deal with this is to stop one or the other. The cot sides physically stopped the getting up and playing with toys, but now that aspect of impulse control has gone so you can only focus on the other. Black out out blinds and white noise stop light and sound from waking him.

The other option is to wait. Children do learn impulse control (ie, I can get up, but I'm not going to) with age. So he will get better with age. Under 3, possibly even under 4, you need to help with that because it won't come naturally to the child.

(As an aside, I remember Prof Robert Winston doing an experiment with the Child of Our Time children. They were early school age I think, 4 or 5. They were given a chocolate and told if they waited 5 mins without eating the chocolate they could have 5 more. If they are it before 5 minutes They would not get any more. They were then left alone to wait with a chocolate in front of them. Very few of them did not way the sweet, although 1 or 2 did, I recall.

This was testing impulse control. It is a similar psychology in the ops situation)

Thank you, I will try shutting his door tighter. We have blackout blinds in the room anyway and live out in the country so so noise waking him up. Will try get him into a routine of putting his toys away before bed, in the cupboard as opposed to the floor so not as easy to access.

Good luck!

Last night I put toys all away and made sure to close the door as tight as I could without actually shutting it (helped by a sticky door) and no baby awake til almost 7! And stayed in bed til I went in at 20 past singing to himself! Lol

Oh how adorable!! Singing to himself 😄

Lol he has a better singing voice than me anyway!! Lol. I think that is the answer, close the door!!