to stay in bed after you took him/her out of the crib and into a big kid bed? My daughter will NOT stay in her bed!!! What do I do? I tried staying beside her until she falls asleep, but I really dont want to get into that habit w/ her. What else should I do? What did you do?

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We put a baby gate on the door. When my son figured out how to climb over the first one, we bought a 36" walk-through gate with vertical rails that he couldn't climb. By the time he figured out how to open the gate he was old enough to understand that he had to stay in his room.

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Stephanie
Mom to: Caleb (8/03), Ian (9/05), & Lucas (11/08)

It can be a tiring battle. I just kept taking her back to her room until she stayed. When they get older you can reward them for staying in bed.

I just went through this with my son. He is 2 and a 1/2. Everytime she gets out of a bed just say "get back in bed". The first day it took like 10 times to get him to stay in bed. That was a week ago. Last night we only had to say it twice. Good luck!

My oldest had this problem when she was younger. I just kept repeatedly putting her back in bed. It took about three nights of this and she finally stayed put. Yes I was exhausted.

A coworker lets her kids come in there room but they have to sleep on the floor. They soon got tired of that and now stay put in their beds.

You can also try a reward system.

My son is a little over 2-1/2 and he is finally understanding!!! It was very hard for us at first too! It takes a while........actually months in our case. We keep a baby gate on the door. He could climb over it if he really wanted too but he doesn't. We have a routine of reading 1-2 books before lights out. I also tell my son 20 minutes ahead of time that bed time is coming soon. Then, he is not surprised.

Lately, if he starts to argue, I try to change the subject. I then ask, do you want your door open or closed. Then, he thinks about it and answers me.

I tried going without his baby gate for a while....walking him back to his room each time he came out. Well, it became a huge game for my son!! We did it for hours. I tried that for about a week and gave up! Each kid is different though!!

Have you tried a night light?
I too went through the phase of laying down with him before he falls asleep. I did not like that routine either.

Good luck!!! You'll get through it. Like all things, it seems like it can be so hard then all of the sudden they just get it one day! Kids are amazing.

Not to sound mean but it amazes me how much parents put up with from their kids. My 2 oldest kids are totally different in personality and how we handle every situation with them.

DD#1 - did not get a big girl bed until she was 3. She started climbing out of the crib at 12 months. That was with it on the bottom rung. She was really tall and could hook her toe over the rail and launch herself over. My mother-in-law bought a crib tent - its exactly how it sounds. By the time she was 3 we knew she was ready and it was no big deal.

DD#2 - went to toddler bed at 18 months. We NEVER have problems with her staying in bed. She's such a sleeper that she falls asleep within 5-10 minutes after going to bed.

Like I said its the personality. My DD#1 is 10 years old and we STILL have problems with bed time. She lays there and thinks about her day and being the drama girl that she is comes up with all these little things that are ailing her and causing trouble. We just know it about her and know that thats the way life is. If she continues on and on at night then the next night she has to go to bed early. It really hits home when she has to go to bed earlier than her 5 year old sister!! It completely gets the point across though!!

We used the tent on my son too!!!!!
He soon figured out how to unzip the darn thing!!!
Though, it did keep him in the crib a bit longer before we trully had to make the switch.

It is so exausting doing the "back to bed" thing. It is really worth the effort though because you should only really have to do it for a few days.

I just came here to post the same thing! Ds is 22 months and we put him in a toddler bed on Valentine's Day because he was always climbing out of his crib. Well, he's not liking it and I don't want to get in the habit of laying next to him either. I did the putting him back a bunch of times but at 1 in the morning it's not working since he will wake his sister up. I put a door knob cover on the handle but he is getting that off so I don't know. I am so tired to day since he was up around 1 and then around 5! Good luck to you and let me know if something works for you!