Bed Time Advice for Toddler... Help!!!!

This may seem mean, but what we did was put his "lovey" in time out. He sleeps with a stuffed pooh bear and I told him that pooh bear was very tiered and that he was keeping him awake, so if he could not stay in bed pooh bear was going to sleep in mommy's room. I only had to take the bear away once for about 2 minutes before he stopped getting out of bed.

My DD just turned 2 and has been pulling the same trick. :/

When she gets up and plays with a toy, I go in the room, DON'T TALK TO HER at all, and put her back in bed. When I leave I take the toy with me.

When she gets up and just 'hangs out' without playing with her toys, I put her back in bed (again without talking to her.)

When she is being seriously obnoxious about it, I will sit near the door where I can see her, but she can't see me. When I see/hear her start to get up I immediately put her back. If she tries to make THAT into a game then I firmly (but quietly) tell her 'NO' and leave the room.

I have found that in addition to our regular bedtime routine, giving her 10 minutes of 'quiet time' where she can look at her books, color, or any other calming activities really helps put her in the mood for bedtime. I know I like to unwind on the computer (like I'm doing now) or read a book right before bed.

Sometimes, my DD actually does need something though. There have been times I spent a lot of time trying to get her to fall asleep, only to end up letting her have a sip of water and she passes right out.

I DO believe in spanking when the situation calls for it... but I try to avoid it at bedtime. All it accomplishes is making her mad and uncomfortable... Not the best recipe for sleep. Same with threats.... I try to handle all nighttime discipline in as much of a calm, quiet manner as possible. Once she realizes that she won't get away with being out of bed, and that she won't get any extra attention, she gives up and goes to bed.

This happened with my daughter except she would come and sit on the stairs instead of playing in her room. I did the same thing Jenna M did. Before I left her room at night, I made sure she was okay and had everything she needed...some water, went potty, had her lovey's, etc. When I found her sitting on the steps, I would pick her up, carry her up to her room, kiss her cheek, lay her in bed and walk out. I would not talk to her at all. This took about 3 weeks before she finally quit. I would NEVER get mad at her even though I was ready to scream. I didn't want to get mad because I didn't want her to be scared to come to me if she ever really did need anything. A few months later, she started to do it again and I did the same thing and after a day or two she stopped. Even now, I hear her in her room walking around or talking and I just let it go because she will put herself back into bed and fall asleep. Hang in there and be consistent, it will pass. It is very frustrating, but imaging being a L. toddler with all your toys and fun stuff staring at you while you lay in bed. It is obviously very tempting. I just remembered something! For a while my daughter would get out of bed and go through her dresser drawers, so I took all her clothes out of her drawers so there would be nothing in there for her to play with. Is there any way you can remove some of the temptations in her room? Good luck!

Don't interact with her except to put her back in bed... no extra hugs, kisses, or cuddles. Just calmly pick her up if necessary, and put her back in. No yelling, threatening, or anything.

If necessary, take the toys she is playing with out of her room for the night.

AT 2 years old.... sleep tweaks and aberrations happens.
It is a phase.
You need to ride it out.
Keep to your same routines.
But don't battle.

Again, at 2 years old, sleeps tweaks happens. It is developmental.
They are changing SO much and their cognition/imaginations/physicality/emotions are all changing, a ton, all at the same time. Even they can't control it. And they do not even have fully developed impulse-control yet. They are not yet even fully developed either.

Yes it is hard.
Yes they get lack of sleep.
Yes, they get fussy.
But again, at 2 years old and during that year, sleep tweaks happens. It is hard for the child too. And then the parent.

When my kids were that age, they went through a phase of just wanting to sleep on the floor. Of their room. Fine. I knew it was an age-stage phase. No battles. They slept that way, they got sleep. I did too.
It is all temporary.
But at 2 years old, naps and sleeping get very tweak-y.
But it is a phase.

Or, put her to bed. She will play with her toys. Fine. Don't battle it. But, leave on ONLY 1 night light. Tell her she cannot leave on her room lights. Then leave. Tell her 10 minutes. Don't nag her to get back into bed. Just let her... do this. In the dark with only 1 dim night-light on. It is not letting her do it... but she is, to me, winding herself down. My son would do that. I had realized, that HE was winding himself down. And then he'd fall asleep.
You might find your daughter falling asleep herself, if you tell her to keep the room dark with only 1 dim night light on.

Or, let her keep a lovey in bed with her. Does she have a Lovey?

Either do what Jenna M. suggested, or put her toys up high in her closet where she can't reach them, or in a big bin in another area of your home so they're not in her room and she can access them during the day, just leave a lovey she can cuddle with in bed. Eventually she'll realize she needs to go to sleep when she's put to bed.

Ha! We have been having the same issue with our little 2.5yr old girl. She is in the same room with her 4yr old brother, and he will fall fast asleep and snore while she walks around playing. What I've been doing is 'tweeking' her nap in the afternoon.... she used to take a 3hr nap (I KNOW... it was wonderful!) and now she isn't as tired then. So I try to wake her at 1.5hrs or so, depending on how she was acting earlier. That has helped a lot.. and her bedtime is usually around 830pm. (She was playing for an hour or so before working with her nap). If yours doesn't take a nap then you may think of when she wakes in the morning and try getting her up 30min earlier, or just plan on putting her to bed a little later.
I didn't normally scold ours as she was playing somewhat quietly (we also have a 7mo old sleeping in the next room), but I would scold her if she opened/closed the door b/c she likes to slam it. Now I put a lot of those felt dots on her doorway so that the door doesn't slam much and we also put a baby gate on so that she doesn't roam. She's slowly been much better-- now I think last night she talked a little in her bed and went to sleep. Usually just opening her door and saying "get back in your bed!" would keep her quiet for a little while.

I would say to take the toys out of the room and slowly add them back but some can't do that for space/sanity reasons!
Good luck!

I never had this issue with my son who is now 5. He enjoyed going to sleep in his big boy bed. I would lay down with him in his bed and tell him how much I enjoy holding him and that he's growing up to be a big strong boy. He likes hearing that. I read him a story and I ask him to hold me. He just tucked his little arm under my neck and I would tell him how much I like when he holds momma. And then I let him know that he is always going to be my baby cause I carried him in my tummy. We just have a little heart to heart and when he just starts prolonging bedtime I let him know how tired momma is and before leaving I tell him how proud I am of him and how much I love him. Now when he wakes in the morning he walks into my room and says "good morning momma" and then asks if he can lay down with me and hold me. And when he does, he recites everything I told him, to me. So I guess my suggestion, use love, patience, and encouragement. :0) Good luck!

Why the hitting? I cringed when I read this? What are you teaching your child ? She has been given a whole room
Of freedom. Why wouldn't she get out of bed. At 2.5 many girls give up daytime naps. Are you still having her nap? If so, punishing her is not fair. You are the one that needs a talking to if she is just not tired. My two and a half year old son no longer naps and goes to bed 7-7. My four yr old still needs daytime naps if we have been busy playing or visiting the park.. We are all different.
I'd suggest no hitting first of all. I'd suggests making her room as boring as possible at bedtime, gently picking her up and placing her straight back in her bed over and over in silence...and patience. This may be just a phase/excitement of her new freedom.
Hitting solves nothing. I grew up with it. It helps no one. Please stop.

I'll keep it short and simple: put her back in the crib :) My daughter is also 2 1/2, and she won't be moved into a bed any time soon because I know we'll be in your situation. Luckily, she's good about bedtime and knowing that it's time to go to sleep (she nurses but not to sleep anymore). However, I know her personality well enough to know that she's going to be the up-down-up-down-Mom-can-I-have-some-water-Mom-Mom-Mom child!! LOL

I will say that she does still take a nap most days, but I make sure I get her up at least 5 hours before bedtime (i.e.: up by 3 for bed at 8), and because of our schedule, she never gets to sleep more than 1.5-2 hours. This has been SO helpful to us, as she'll sleep 11-12 hours at night.

Good luck, but keep the faith that it's a phase that you'll look back on and wonder when she stopped the behavior :)

At 2.5 they stop needing quite to much sleep. I would occasionally let her skip her nap to see if that makes her more tired at bedtime. Otherwise, consider moving her bedtime later. I had to do that with my 4 year old at this age and I can see that I will soon have to do this with my 2 year old since he's falling asleep later and later at night.

What we do with my son is we give him three chances. If he gets out of bed and leaves his room three times, we close the door. It has a kiddie lock on the inside, so once it's closed, we don't open it again until he's asleep and we go to bed (even if there's yelling--putting a potty inside their room assures you that you won't be "tricked" into opening it when they have to pee a million times in a row). I will often let him choose one or two small toys that he can play with quietly in bed until he falls asleep. If he gets out of bed, he loses the toy. I don't think it's a great idea to punish a kid for not being sleepy at night. Instead, try to teach her techniques to calm herself down and soothe herself to sleep at the end of the day. Try a sticker chart to motivate her. If she stays in bed and doesn't get her door closed, she gets a sticker. 5 days of stickers = a prize or going out to ice cream or whatever you think is reasonable. Good luck!

How long is her nap during the day time and what time are you putting her to sleep? Maybe she is out growing one or the other. Does she get out to run in play one last time before bed book and bed? Is anyone waking her right before bed?