My 20-mo-old son has been a great sleeper up until the last few months when he figured out how to crawl out of his crib. He began climbing out in the middle of the night and crawling in bed with us. We didn't fight the issue b/c of concern for safety, I hated to watch him battle this out by crawling out a ton of times in the middle of the night. We finally switched his bed to a toddler bed, but he continues to crawl out and come in our room. Any tips on the best way to break this habit and keep him in his own bed all night?
I do not have the heart for this! We battled it for an hour last night at bedtime. Each time he would get out, we would carry him back in, not talking or looking at him. He was sobbing and crying so hard that after an hour, I was crying with him! I gave in, held him, and rocked him to sleep. He slept in his bed until about 1:30 and came into our room. The battle started all over again, which led to him just sleeping the rest of the night with us b/c all he wants is to be with mommy and daddy and I feel so horrible breaking his little heart. I'm too weak!
by now you have taught him that he can get out of his bed and into yours and that's ok. You need to tell him before bed that he needs to stay in his own bed, that's where he sleeps, mommy and daddy sleep in their bed. Then if he gets out, put him right back in his own bed. Otherwise, he'll always come into yours. We have a gate in front of our dd's door, so even if she wanted, she'd have to stay in her room. good luck!
If you have been letting him stay and sleep in your bed you are gonna have a hard time I'm afraid. You need to start taking him back to his bed everytime he comes to get in yours. It may take a few days of no sleep but you will be better off in the long run. My friends 5 year old still comes to sleep in her bed in the middle of the night. When we moved our twins to toddler beds I put a gate up at the door of their room. They knew they could not come out of their room so they always got back into bed if they got up.
I don't have any advice for you....sorry. But I wanted to tell you that I have the same problem. Except my son is 3! When he started crawling out of his crib, we put him in a toddler bed so he wouldn't hurt himself. It has been nearly an everynight thing. We just got in the (bad) habit of reaching down to get him and putting him in the bed with us. Whether it was out of laziness or exhaustion, I'm not sure, but he always goes right back to sleep. Now that we have #2 on the way, I would like to break the habit. If you get any good resposes, please let me know!! A. (____@____.com)
my 3 year old used to do that. now i just let her fall asleep in my bed and move her to her's once asleep. she stays asleep all night. a heavier blanket and night light has helped alot also.
my daughter never climbed out she would pace back and forth screaming at the top of her lungs for hours. So when we switched the crib to the toddler bed we made sure to put a baby gate up. she would get up and play with her toys but eventually she would go back to bed and go to sleep. part of the time she would sleep on the floor with her toys. Now she doesn't give me to much trouble but she still cries once in awhile mostly when she just wants to stay up and see what we are doing.
We just went through this with our daughter. When she figured out how to climb out, we had to change to a toddler bed (safety issue).
She would still get out and try to climb in bed with us. My husband pretty well nipped it in the bud by bringing her back to bed every time. I, on the other hand, had no problem with snuggling with her :) but, realized it was best for all of us not to begin a hard-to-break habit.
