21 Month Old Now in Toddler Bed, Won't Stay in Bed, Sleeps on the Floor

Hi J.-

Do you have the full bed put together for him to sleep in (mattress, box spring and frame)? If so, why don’t you try just the mattress on the floor for a few years? We have my 2.5 year old son’s mattress right on the floor and it really seems to work well. Another thing that worked well for a while was putting his beloved tent (pop-up play tent, $12 at walmart), on top of his mattress (which is on the floor, so no falling hazard). I just made up a little bed inside his tent and he loves it. I think it makes him feel secure.

I agree with what the others said too--- I would do a baby gate with door open instead of closing the door.

Good luck!

Ha! My daughter is about to be 10 years old & still sometimes sleeps on the trundle bed, sometimes sleeps upside down in the regular bed, sometimes sleeps on the floor, always tries to sleep in my bed if Daddy is working late, etc. Some kids just don't take to traditional beds right away. I wouldn't sweat it!

Both of my boys slept on the floor after we moved them from the baby bed to the toddler bed. I would just go in after they fell asleep and move them to their bed. They eventually started sleeping in the bed.

We have never shut the door to our small childrens room because I like to be able to hear them if the call out or check on them without the door squeaking or the knob clicking when we try to check. We instead have a accordion type gate at the door way. This keeps them in the room, but I can still hear them in the living room if they called and I can tiptoe down the hall to check on them if I need too. My boys did sleep at the gate on the floor when we first transitioned them from the baby bed to the toddler bed, but it was not a big deal to open the gate and transfer them to the toddler bed. My daughter never slept in the floor and transitioned straight to the toddler bed without any problems.

Oh Mine did that! He loved his "big boy bed" when he was 2 - played on it, napped on it, but sometime during the night he would get up and dragging his blanket with him, and wind up on the floor of his room. One morning I found him sleeping on the floor in the hallway between our rooms! What he was really doing was half waking up in the middle of the night and coming to sleep in my room. But, since he was never fully awake - he just collapsed on the way and went right back to sleep wherever he landed.

After I found him in the hallway and because we had hard wood floors (he already had a nice rug in his room) I started to put large cushions next to hid bed. This kept him from getting very far from bed and when he fell back asleep at least it was more comfy for him.

He finally just outgrew it.

You may want to try leaving his bedroom door open and putting up a "baby" gate (as long he doesn't climb them). That way in the morning you could easily just pick him up and move him. Try putting the bed against the wall and creating a pillow "barricade". He will outgrow it. Mine is now 14 and doesn't sleep on the floor anymore! LOL

Sleep tight....

I wouldn't worry about him sleeping on the floor. Eventually he'll find the bed is more comfortable, lol.
As for being behind the door, so that you can't open it without hitting him.... is he crying at the door and falling asleep there trying to get out? That just seems like an odd place to happily drop off to sleep. Would you consider removing the child locks from the doorknob? It would bother me that he COULDN'T get out (unless he is an escape artist that would be out the front door-- mine always just made a beeline for me/my bed). What if he got sick during the night or had a bad dream? I always wanted my kids to be able to come to me during the night if they needed me. I still do and they are 9 and 12. (I didn't let them get into bed with us... but walked them back to their rooms.)

Or maybe it is time to try putting him to bed with the door cracked a bit?

My son did that for a couple months and I couldn't help it. He seemed fine and grew out of it. :/

Sorry, not much help, but you aren't alone!

Our son slept on the floor for probably close to a year! He had a toddler bed that he had picked out and it had the mattress from his crib, but he decided he didn't like it. We put a sleeping bag down for him. Doesn't matter if they sleep in a bed or not...they don't get stiff/sore when they're that young. I wouldn't worry about it.

My daughter was the same way. We had a baby gate up in her room and we'd find her asleep on the floor or on her little tinkerbell chair. She eventually stopped and now only sleeps in her bed. She doesn't always stay there when we put her to bed, sometimes she gets out and cries, but she will only sleep in her bed. So just hang in there. He'll figure it out, but i would definitely put him in his bed when you find him asleep on the floor. When he wakes up in his bed, he'll get the idea that the bed is where he should sleep.

Haha! My son does that sometimes too! Just keep putting him back in bed. I have found my son in several places in his room sleeping instead of his bed.

This happened with my son for about the first week and a half or so. Each night he would fall asleep on the floor. At first it was right by the door, so we used a baby gate rather than closing the door so we could still get in. IF that will not work you could try turning the hinges for a time so that the door opens out rather than in. Each night I would pick him up and tuck him in so he would wake in the bed and get the idea that the bed is were he should be sleeping. As the week went on he still fell asleep on the floor, but he moved closer to the bed. Than one night he was under the bed! We just kept picking him up and putting hm in the bed. After that first week and a half or so he finally got it and has been sleeping in his bed ever since.

My son & both nephews did this with the bed transition for several months. One thing to make it easier to get into his room though to check on him, is we would put him to sleep in the bed, but also keep a pillow and blanket next to the wall right by the bed. He DID seem to choose that over being right up against the door. Then, we slowly moved that pallet closer to the bed then just got rid of it.