My daughter just got her big girl bed last week at 25 months old. She likes it and goes to bed real well. The problem is that she has started getting up real early (this morning it was4.30) I put her back to bed, but 5 minutes later she is in my room again. She goes to bed around 9, and always got at least 10 or eleven hours of sleep, last night she only got 7 ( make that 5 for me :>) What can I do to keep her in bed. I am sure she needs more than 7 or 8 hours at 2 years old. Did anybody have this issue, and how did they handle it, or might she just outgrow this when the excitement of her freedom wears off.
One sleepy Mom
I agree with giving her a little time to adjust to the new bed. She's enjoying the new freedom.
One thing we did with my daughter was put a baby gate in front of her door so that if she did get up she could just play in her room. Just make sure there is nothing in her room that could hurt her. We also told her she couldn't get up until it was daylight outside. That seemed to work for us.
Good Luck!
I had some problems with my first child and with the second one got a wonderful book from a friend "Called Healthy Sleep Habits, Happy Child" by Marc Weisenbluth, MD. He has a lot of wonderful advice. Sometimes you have to alter it to suit your needs, but you might find some great advice in there.
My second child is a wonderful sleeper even when he transfered to a "big boy" bed!
They have a bell curve of where most children should fall for total sleep and times. There is an old wives tale of putting them to bed later will make them sleep in. This is a tall tale! Actually if you put them to bed earlier they will tend to sleep later. I didn't believe it until I tried it - it does work! You might want to try putting her to bed between 7:30 and 8:00 several nights in a row and see what happens. Also I would get the book and check out what he has to say. There are also some special situations, such as, illness, allergies, large adnoids or tonsils, etc.
I hope this helps and you can get some sleep.
J. R.
She'll get used t the new bed and should start sleeping normally again. Just stay consistent when she does wake up so early. "It's still bed time sweetie. Mommy will tuck you back in and I'll see you when it's morning."
If she keeps popping out of bed once you take her back in there, you may have to shut her door or put a gate up. She'll likely stand on the other side of it throwing a fit, but if you can hold out and be firm for several days, she'll get the idea.
For the sake of a good night's sleep for both of you, you may need to give in and put her little bed in your room. We had to do this, and it worked out fine. Also, it did not "spoil" them, as they are very happy 8 and twelve year olds now, with their own beds. LOL! The deal was, if the bed was in our room, the child would sleep in it and not bother anybody unless she was sick or something. When it was in the other room, she would be crying or in our room wanting to sleep with us. This happened with both of my girls. Also, my own mother taught me that lack of a nap during the day causes problems with their sleep at night. That sounds crazy, but I found it to be very true. It doesn't even have to be a long nap, but without the nap, they would be so tired and irritable, that they wouldn't settle down to sleep, and would be more clingy to me and my husband.
My son did the same thing. It lasted about 4 days or so, then the novelty wore off. He started waking up early again after the time change, tho. What worked for us - first, we put a lock on the outside of his door (we just switched the doorknob with a bathroom doorknob that had a lock, and put it on the outside). His room is close to a staircase and I couldn't sleep at night, having visions of him falling down the stairs in the dark. Second - since his door was locked, we told him he COULD get out of bed when he woke up, but he needed to play in his room. We put all his books in there and several toys and made sure it was pretty kidproof. He now gets up at 6:45 but will play until I come and get him around 7:30-8:00. It's worked great.
Hi C.. My daughter did the same thing, not quite so early, but started waking up a couple of hours earlier than she was. Unfortunately she never went back to sleeping later. She now wakes up every morning between 6 and 7. Now, this isn't nearly as early as your daughter is doing, but it's still earlier than we would like her to get up. What we did (she was a little older than your daughter) was got her an alarm clock and covered up the minute numbers and told her she was not allowed to get out of bed until her alarm clock says 7. Your daughter may not be ready for this, but I have heard people who put a light on a timer and tell their kid that they need to stay in bed until the light turns on. The hope is that if they stay in bed they will fall back asleep. Anyway, I hope this helps and you get her sleeping better soon.
- P.
Give it a little time. I'm sure she's still excited about the new bed and freedom. My kids both did the same thing at first but adjusted after a couple of weeks.
Good luck!!
