How to NOT Make Getting Out of Bed a Game

I, too, would recommend staying in the room, not engaging with him and silently putting him back in his bed if he gets out. If he isn't used to light or soft music, I wouldn't start that, although in the hallway would work, too, if you wanted to read or something. The key is that you need to be as uninteresting as possible to him.

I would also say that it's important to talk to him about what is going to happen at bedtime before it actually comes up, like at supper time the first night or something.

Good luck! If you come up with a plan and stick with it, it should be resolved by the time the baby comes. Congrats!

Lots of people won't like my answer but I give a swat on the behind before returning my son to bed on the third offense. He too thinks that being taken back to bed or the timeout corner over and over is a fun game.
I settle for staying in the room and now that he's older he can go to the bathroom as long as he doesn't fool around or try to engage us in conversation. Remove any toys that have blinking lights and loud noises. Don't worry if he sleeps on the floor . You have a baby coming soon, so do this the quick and easy way. Everyone will be happier in the long run.

I would keep doing exactly what you are doing. It will work eventually.

I'll tell you what we did for my son, who was a cosleeper for quite a while. We moved him to his own bed and he was like a jack-in-the-box the first few nights. So here's what we did:

I decided to devote a week to the task of teaching him to stay in bed awake without us, and to sleep on his own. This meant that I wouldn't be planning anything else to do in the evenings other than be ready to take him back to bed when he hopped out. (and no, it didn't take a week, however, he was older than your son is)

In the hallway outside his door, I made a little 'bed' for myself to camp out there. I had a few books/crossword puzzles/silent entertainments handy for myself, so as to keep things light for *me*.

Every time my son popped out, it was straight back to bed, immediately. No talking, no explanations, no "I love you's". The first time he popped out, I just said "bed" and took him back in. The second time, no talking. The third time, no talking. I think we did four or five pop-outs that first night. I slept down there and there was one pop-out in the middle of the night. Right back to bed, no words, no hugs, no attention.

The second night, we had about two pop-outs. The third (my husband took over for the evening) we had two.

It's extremely important to stay Completely Emotionally Neutral during this time. I know it's hard. (this is why I loaded up on 'fun' stuff to do, as a matter of fact... so I wouldn't be p.o.ed every time he popped out. ) However, if *we* act like this is just a matter-of-fact part of life, and we keep doing returning them without talking or getting upset, our kids begin to get the message: this is the way it's always gonna be.

You will have a challenge with a newly-two year old, and that has more to with what you put in your SWH, his level of comprehension. This is why you may need to devote a week or more to being super-consistent in doing this. Put a comfortable chair in the hallway (because you are not wanting to sleep on the floor like I did while pregnant!) and keep taking him back in.

Also expect some regression when baby comes. Baby will be sleeping in your room, perhaps? There's going to be a desire for more connection, so you will have to continue to be consistent. To that end, chat with dad before bedtime so you know who's 'on return-to-bed' duty.

You are the captain of the ship.
There is nothing wrong with being firm to get your crew to mind.

A reward might work, or alternatively to take away a favorite toy for leaving the bed and let him earn it back by staying in bed....

Oh I know how frustrating that is..we had a runner! We even tried to start his toddler bed in our room and slowly move it down the hall into his room over the course of a couple weeks..we tried everything! Something that really did eventually help was having this little clock, like this one:
http://www.onestepahead.com/catalog/product.jsp?productId...
..that showed a glowing nighttime picture when he had to stay in bed and that let him know when it was okay to be awake, when the morning picture was glowing.
That said, it may just be something he has to get through, he may sense that a big change is coming to the household and he doesn't want to miss out!

If you keep doing what you're doing you have to turn around the second he hops out of bed, point to the bed and make sure he gets back in, as many times as it takes. You could also put a chair right next to his bed and sit there until he goes to sleep, then leave. Hard to get up when you''re there. I know you're concerned this will last until after the new baby arrives, but realistically you need to expect some acting out then from your 2 year old :-/

Don't worry about him playing if he can't come out his room, the novelty will wear off, my guy never did. You say you think he may play with curtains and let light in, what about a room darkening shade to keep the light out? I would try a "childproof" door knob cover to keep him in his room, I had to tape the one in my guys room with clear packing tape over the seams as he snapped it apart a couple of times to open the door, but when he found he couldn't he just decided to stay in bed and go to sleep. Another Mom posted on here a while back that her husband installed a half door they locked from the outside so her child couldn't come out, but if that will let light in his room, useless.

I'm so excited to hear about your new baby girl, plz let us know when she arrives! Is your son really tired at bedtime? Mine all gave up naps at two.
then they went to bed easily at bedtime. Did you take him out of the crib because you needed the crib or because he was climbing out ? If the former I would put him back in the crib and get a bassinette for the new baby. I promise you this is a stage that will pass, and looking back it will be a funny memory!

I'm going to make a wild assumption here, and guess that his bedroom door is left open when you tuck him in for the night, and maybe even a nightlight.....
If that is the case, this is what I did with our son. Threaten him. LOL

But seriously. Tell him (and follow through if he tests you, b/c he WILL test you at least once) that if he gets out of bed again (I'd do this on his 2nd time popping out of bed, not the first) that you will close his bedroom door and he will have to go to sleep with the door closed. Since he won't stay in bed, the door will be closed. (or you will turn off the nightlight--whatever his crutch is).
Matter of fact. No anger. You can even sound sad if you want, but no anger.
It worked like a charm for my son. I think I only had to do it one time. He never used a nightlight, but hated having his door closed.

I also used the "I'll come back to check on you in a few minutes, AS LONG as you stay in bed." He wanted me to come back, so he stayed in bed. And I would keep my promise. Almost like sleep training with a toddler... I'd come back after about 5 minutes, and stand in the doorway for a moment. If he was still awake, I'd walk over and kiss his forehead and say "I love you, now go to sleep. I'll come back and check on you again after you are asleep."
And I would. At first, he would still be awake every time, and so I'd just stand in the doorway for a moment, whisper "go to sleep. I'll check on you after you're asleep, too." and then softly walk away. This might happen a few times. At first 5 min. Then 10 min. Then 15 min. Usually by then, he was asleep. So I'd kiss his cheek or forehead and leave.

The next morning I would tell him that I HAD come back to check on him like I promised. After awhile, I wouldn't go back to check on him so quickly. I'd tell him I had to _____ (fold some laundry, empty the dishwasher, clean up in the kitchen, etc---anything he could hear me physically doing something, so it would feel like I was near even though he couldn't see me), and THEN I would come back and check on him. Very soon, he would be asleep the first time I came back to check on him.

He is making it a game, b/c he wants to avoid bed, and you aren't enforcing the bedtime in a way that makes it not fun for him. Figure out his "currency" at bedtime. For my son, it was leaving the door open vs. closing it for non-compliance. Maybe your son has a lovey that can't sleep with the constant up and down jostling when your son is getting in and out of bed? So maybe you need to put the lovey in YOUR room, or on the sofa, or in the closet, so that he can get a good night's rest..... (it sounds mean and harsh---but it only takes ONCE and he will understand that it is completely within his control to keep his lovey, or the door open, or ________). Don't give multiple warnings. Just tell him UP FRONT what will happen if he gets out of bed again. (warningS are when you tell him the consequences AGAIN, after he has repeated the offense, but you don't implement them THIS time).
"Billy, this isn't a game. If you get back out of bed again tonight, without going to sleep, BooBoo Bulldog is going to go to the guest room to sleep, because he can't fall asleep with all the commotion of you getting in and out of bed. Stay in bed and he can fall asleep with you. Get out of bed again, and you will stay here and he will go to the guest room."
Billy gets up again: (say nothing to him directly) "BooBooBulldog, come on, let's go get you settled in the guest bed, so you can get a good night's sleep. If Billy stays in bed, I will bring you back to sleep with him then." (then to Billy: "Sorry Billy, he isn't getting a good night's sleep in here. Now get back in bed and go to sleep. After you fall asleep, I'll bring BooBoo back and tuck him in with you") and leave.

He will cry and be upset, maybe. But he won't let it happen again tomorrow night.

ETA: oops... I took too long typing. I guess the door assumption was wrong, huh? lol Has he got a lovey?

Ugh. Out of the crib already, eh? Climber? lol

Just keep doing it. He'll "get it" eventually.

You can always put a gate at the door.

Well you can always put a gate up and then close the door. If he opens it he'll be welcomed by the gate. ;) BUT, I warn you we did that and it lasted all of about 2 hours before my daughter just climbed over it. If you do put a child door thing on the knob on his side, it may deter him from coming out but it will not deter the screaming and crying that will ensue when he figures out what is going on. I'm not saying that should persuade you in any one direction, just be prepared for it if that's the route you go.

My daughter did this when we moved her. We moved her at 22 months b/c her little brother was on his way and it was a serious nightmare. I totally get what you are saying about the putting back in bed "game", but to be honest, I'm not really sure what else you can do. We don't do spanking of any kind so that was not an option for us and this method did sort of work, it just took a LONG time! I think that no matter what route you go, it's the nature of the beast when dealing with a 2 year old. They think everything is a game and even if you yell, they think that's funny too! Not that I'm advocating yelling of course, but you know sometimes it happens.

I think that your mission should be to get him to stay in his room. The appeal of playing with his stuff will eventually wear off when he realizes he's tired and should go to bed. It may take a few weeks, but whatever. You can't control that he goes to sleep but you can control he stays in his room, and I think that's way more manageable than controlling that he stay in his bed. This is a hard time. My son will be 3 in September and we have no big plans to move him out of his crib until around then. I don't want to go through that drama again anytime in the near future!

Hang in there. I really do believe that you need to pick a method and stick to it. It's going to take a while.

We lived this same nightmare! We ended up locking him in his room (he can open and break off child door knob covers. I also took a lot of his toys out of the room. Anything that makes noise anyway. Each night when he goes to bed he gets to pick 2 trucks/cars (the only thing he plays with) to sleep with. This was our last resort solution, but it did work. He stopped running to the door b/c it wasn't fun anymore. At night we haven't really had a problem with wrecking his room. Nap time is sometimes a different story, but if he messes up his room he has to clean the whole thing up afterward so that lost its luster (but my son is 3, so he is able to do this) Anyway, I say child lock and remove some key toys. (It's so annoying cause I want the stuff put away, but, sitting in a toy-filled living room while my son sleeps is better than a clean one when he's running crazy!! :) Good luck!

My daughter was out of the crib at 14 months. What we did was lie down with her on her twin bed and read her bedtime story, then stay there until she was asleep. Her dad and I did alternate nights. She almost never woke up during the night, and if she did, she would call for us before getting up. This won't work for everyone, I understand, but it worked for us. We ended up staying with her until sleep for a long time, but they do grow up eventually! And now I miss the nightly cuddling...

Put a baby gate (or two) across is bedroom door so he can't get out. Then ignor anything he does/says. He will eventually fall asleep. It may be on the floor, but you can move him to his bed.