My daughter just turned two and has learned to climb out of her crib. We now have a toddler bed. When we put her to bed we lay in bed read, sing, and then try to leave. She races my husband and me to the door, then bangs on it screaming and crying when we shut it. She does eventually stop, but it takes a while. She will wake up most nights around 3am and bang on the door crying. She use to be such a good sleeper, we've never had any problems, I don't know what to do. We've been letting her 'cry it out' for two weeks now, but its not getting any better. Any suggestions??
Teacher trick - stickers! My friend used it to get her daughter out of the 11pm wander, and we've used it for naps. Followed up with a small treat the first few days. I had my daughter pick stickers at the store that were saved just for naps. Might work - good luck!
hang tough mom/dad... it will subside. if she knows she's got your attention, she will continue her behavior. maybe you could put an old fashion screen door on her door to where she could see out... i read years ago that a person installed an old fashion screen door on their child's bedroom door and kept it locked on the outside.
wow, what a nightmare! I wonder if she might feel better if you used a baby gate across her doorway in lieu of closing the door? Do you have one of those bars they make for the sides of the bed that prevent her from falling out? I would think it might be scary to go from sleeping all enclosed in a crib to being totally open. I would think she might feel vulnerable if that makes sense, after being secured. I went through this with my girls and spent many nights in their beds until they fell asleep, I would tell them that I would stay until they were asleep but that I would then go back to my own bed since that is what everyone does. It helped them to be soothed, it was hard but eventually they were ok with it. It's a very huge change in her life. We need to be taught to self soothe. Some have major difficulty with big changes also, this is a huge milestone in her life. Best of luck to you and your baby.
Do not lock her door after she has slept. Open it. If she comes in at night, just bring her back and put her in her own bed. She will stop waking up when she sees no benefits to it.
My 7 year old daughter just started doing the same. How annoying.
I'm a grandmother now, but your dilemna is one I experienced with my own children, and one that many of my friends experienced with their children. It reminded me of one friend who could not keep her young son in his room at night. Her kindergarten aged daughter came up with the idea to put Vaseline on the inside doorknob of his room. It worked like a charm! He slept on the floor of his room a couple of nights, but soon gave up and stayed in his bed! (He's 22 years old now and none the worse for it.)Hang in there and know that each challenging stage will soon pass!
C., I had the same problem with my son. We put up a baby gate in his door way so he could look out which really helped. He no longer would scream or cry. He would lay in his bed and watch his fish night light or play and then fall asleep.
don't shut the door if you don't have to. that scares my kid and also, try a night light if you don't have one. for a while we let our son sleep in our room in his bed so he could get used to it. right now he sleeps fine in his own room but we keep our door and his door open incase he wakes up...that happens at least once a week and he comes in our room. when he falls back asleep i leave his room or i let him fall asleep in our room and put him in his bed. good luck.
When my now 3 year old went to a toddler bed at 2 we had similar problems. It did take several weeks for him to make the adjustment. We did start with just naps for a week or so firt, which helped. Then we ended up putting a blow up mattress on the floor. He seemed to like the bigger sleep area. I let him pick out pillows and bedding to really make it his own. Then we made a deal, as long as he stayed in bed the door stayed open. If he got up the door got closed. I always went back and closed and locked the door before I went to bed though for fear he would get up and try to climb the gate at the top of the stairs. Just give it a bit of time. I don't really like to cry it out, so maybe you have to go to her room in the middle of the night and help her get back to sleep? I hope this helps some. Good luck!
One advice I heard was this: Put two or three nickels just outside her bedroom door. For every time she gets up you take one away. If she stays in bed then in the morning she can have all that are left there. You could use pennies or quarters or whatever.
Personally, I have used the Ferber method and it works for me. Basically, you leave the door cracked but if the child gets up then you have to close the door (stay by it) for one minute. ONce the child quits crying you say, "I will open this door when you have stopped crying and you're in bed." Then leave the door open unless she gets up again, and repeat the process. YOu can stick with one minute closings or increase the time to 2 or 3 minutes. YES the first few nights (maybe even a week or two) is a pain but the kids learn really quickly that if they stay in bed then the door stays open, but if they get up then the door gets closed.
Finally, you could pick a motivation in the morning that she likes, like "watch an extra 15 minutes of TV" or "Get a donut for breakfast" or "Mom will read you a story, just the two of us". Make sure, though, that the reward is for the MORNING because she probably won't remember a reward if it has to wait until later, then the desire for the reward will be gone.
Good luck!
Instead of shutting her door what about putting a gate across it? That's what we did when we transitioned our 2yo. She still cried a little but she didn't feel as isolated and it wasn't quite as scary. Also, for our first we did the mattress on the floor and it worked like a charm.
Well I would start a sticker chart. I would put it on the fridge. Every night that she does not run to the door and bang she gets a sticker. Just start with the going to bed ritual. Show her the chart, show her the stickers. Does she still nap? Add a sticker for nap time when she goes down happy. Get the sticker together when she gets up. "Did you go to nap a happy girl? Did you sleep well? Good! Let's go get a sticker!" Then each morning when you get up with her, ask the same questions. "Did you go to bed happy? No? Did you scream and cry? No sticker. We will try again at nap time to earn a sticker."
If she isn't sticker driven, make it an m&m or something along those lines.
VickiS
