2 year old newly in toddler bed

Katherine - posted on 02/12/2011

We went through the same thing with my son. I tried taking him back to bed over and over, night after night. He would cry as soon as I put him to bed and then, like your daughter, she would wake up a couple of times at night. In the end, we put up a (tall!) baby gate at his bedroom door, essentially making his room like a crib (and removing anything he could climb on, pull down, etc.). We then allowed him to cry it out for longer and longer periods of time. It took about 5 hard nights, but eventually he got it. Now he knows night time is for sleeping. We did the same thing with the middle of the night awakenings, went in once to make sure he was OK, then he cried it out. It definitely has taken a while to get back to that great sleeping schedule he had whilst in his crib, but things are much much better now. I fully appreciate your struggle, this worked for us. Good luck

Leah - posted on 02/05/2011

Hi,
You could try a rewards sticker chart, for every night she stays in bed she gets a sticker and once she has reached say five stickers she gets a reward, make sure it is something she would like. It can be as simple as a day at the park, library, going to grandmas and grandpas or a toy, sweet, walk, swim, anything.
But make sure there is nothing wrong first, like is she scared of the dark - get her a night light, does she feel all alone since she is out of her cot - go shopping and let her choose a special teddy/doll for her to take to bed (comforter), even let her choose her own big bed sheets etc something for her to look forward to every night as she choose them.
And say things to her like 'big girls sleep in big beds' and praise her alot even if she has stayed in bed for 4 hours straight, say 'I'm so proud of you staying in bed for 4 hours'.
The more positive experience for her the better for her and for you. Good luck and all the best.
Cheers Leah.

Nancy - posted on 02/01/2011

Does she like he toddler bed? What works with my son with other things is telling her that if she doesn't stay in bed, you can get her crib back. I know it sounds mean, but it works with my son. Supply and demand they understand.

Melissa - posted on 01/26/2011

You just have to keep taking her back to her bed as many times as it takes. If you stick around in her room, she knows it will be that much easier next time to keep you in there with her. I have 4 kids and I currently have a 26 month old. We encountered the same problem with her and believe me she tries to go backwards after having weeks of great sleep she will start getting up every night and crying but we just take her back consistently. One thing I have learned with my kids is that it may be inconvenient now to keep taking her back but it will payoff for huge conveniences later when she has a sleep pattern we can all live with.

Kelly - posted on 01/24/2011

We put my daughter in a toddler bed right after her 2nd b-day and the first couple nights were not good, she would cry a lot and get out of bed at night which is very irritating. We would try to ignore her the best we could and just let her cry it out and fall asleep, other times we would lay with her and finally she got used to the bed, she still gets up once in a while at night but other than that it is going pretty good and its been 3 months. I would say just keep bringing her back to bed telling her she needs to go to sleep, sometimes i tell my daughter something fun she might get to do the next day and tell her she needs to go to sleep so it will come faster and that actually works sometimes haha, I hope everything works out for you, good luck!