2 Year Old Can Open Doors Now! - Valparaiso,IN

Hi L.,

During the day and naps you could put one of the child safety knobs on the door, I doubt he would be able to open that. One of the big white plastic ones by safety first. I do close my daughter's door for naps as I am awake in the living room. I would not do this at night though, while everyone is asleep. You never know, and you don't want him to be locked in his room in case of fire, god forbid. I would just calmly take his hand, walk him back to bed, say good night and "you need to stay in your big boy bed, mommy will come get you when nap/bedtime is over." After the first couple times, don't even talk to him, just calmly put him back. You might have to do this a million times for a few days/nights until he gets the point. Just remember not to give him any attention, milk, etc... and reinforce that it is sleep time in his own bed. Make sure his room is dark, that helped my daughter too. Getting up at 6:30a you probably won't be able to help, I have never been able to break my daughter of the early rise time. She gets up at 6am and comes to us too. It's kind of nice actually, I can pull her into our bed for the last hour and don't have to get up just yet. We have been doing that for at least a year, and she still takes two hour naps in her own bed and sleeps the whole night in her own bed, so it hasn't changed that. I was never comfortable with co-sleeping, but I think just an hour in the mornings is more like snuggle time and am fine with. Hope this helps. BTW, now would be a good time to put the know covers on any room that is unsafe for him to go into, like the bathroom or front door =)

Hi, I would put the little door handle safety cover inside his door handle. It will not allow him to open the door unless the sides are squeezed very tightly, which the little guy shouldn't be able to do. That way, the door is not locked in the event of an emergency, but will keep him inside when needed. he's whine and cry that he can't get out, but hopefully he'll get used to it. You can buy them where other baby-proof items are sold, we got ours at Walmart in a 3 pack.

I had a similar problem but my 2 year old could open the door even with those baby proofing door knob things. Baby gates were a joke too. I ended up having to use an extra lock the secures the door at the very top to keep my son from running out of the house which you can get at Menard's, Home Depot, or Lowes. I let him crawl in bed with me because it was better than him roaming the house or get up at 6am after working until 4am. Letting him cuddle up and sleep with me at 6am allowed me to get at least 2 more hours of sleep enough to function. I set up a little special bed on the floor next to my bed when he got older and I didn't feel comfortable letting him sleep in my bed anymore.

L., We had to do several different things for our son and then our grandson. The older kids I put a baby gate across the doorway of their room. It worked out great. they were not happy with being trapped but they did stay in the room. sometimes we would get up and they would be asleep at the doorway lol. our younger son figured out quickly he could kick the bottom of the gate out and then go thru like a doggy door. so we had to put a hook and eye on his door as he could get out not only that door but then out of the house. a neighbor brought him home once when a sitter was here and didn't put his hook and eye on at nap time. very scary. our grandson was the same way. We got some little sensor things at cvs for his door. when they are turned on if the door opens it has an ear piercing shriek. worked wonders. you would definitely not sleep thru that. good luck
S.

I personally was never a fan of putting the handles on doors...as a kid it scared me to be in a room with the door closed and I didn't want our kids to be scared. For both of our girls we used baby gates. Our oldest hated the gate (very weird) so all we had to do was threaten to put it up and she would stay put. The gate allowed the girls to see and hear what was going on in the house but kept them safe in their rooms. Getting out of bed shouldn't be an issue if you have all the furniture secured to the walls, the room kid proofed and safe toys and books available to play with. So long as he is playing quietly and safely there should be no reason to confine him to his bed. Both our girls would get some books along a few stuffed animals and crawl back into bed or sit on the floor and read to their babies. Good luck!