i'm desperate, i need help!!!! sos lol!

Brandis - posted on 03/24/2011

turn his door knob around and lock him in there. thats what we did with my son when he started coming out of his room when he didnt wanna nap or go to bed at night..he quickly got used to it and eventaully we didnt have to lock the door anymore...we always unlocked it tho once he was asleep just in case there was an emergency or something

Christi - posted on 03/24/2011

Karla that is a great idea. just wanted to let you know that they sell those now. they are not knitted but soft rubber. I saw it on Super Nanny...lol.. everyone with kids should watch that show, she really knows her stuff. :)

Audrey - posted on 03/23/2011

good idea karla! id never thought of that.
we put up a baby gate but after a few months my bulldozer of a son knocked it down so we had to lock the door. i felt kinda bad about that decision til i read all the previous posts about other moms doing it. i quit having to do it recently though cuz he got so used to it that he doesnt even try the knob anymore.

Karla - posted on 03/23/2011

my friend had the same problem with her little one. i don't know if you can crochet or not or know anyone that can. but just make a little cover that goes over the door knob. it need to be loose enough to get in over and around the knob but tight enough so your son can't pull it off. oh and loose enough to where if he tries to open the door the cover will just slide around the knob. don't that makes sense? i hope i didn't confuse you, cuz i kinda confused myself. hope that helped :)

Shauna - posted on 03/22/2011

my kids did the same thing. i always started by telling them to go back to bed and if they didn't then i would put them back in their beds. i would do the count to 3 thing, to give them the chance to make the right choice, and praised them when they did. i swear we wore a new trail in the carpet! but i stayed consistent with them and within a few days they learned there wasn't any point in getting up cuz mommy would just put them back to bed. stay firm with him. give him stuffies and a few little toys or books. let him know that he can play or read(look at pics) but that it's quiet time and he has to stay in his bed. remember that you have to stay firm and consistent!! if you let him get away with it once then it's like starting from scratch. also remember that you are the boss (for now at least) and you can't reason with a 2 year old. but your tough and this like all other times, is just a faze! you will get through it :)

Treasure - posted on 03/22/2011

As a mother of 6, most of the suggestions with the gates are good for awhile. The hook and eye lock has been used in our house before too, for one of the boys. With the youngest though, she is more determined than any of the others, and gets through every thing! I can't lock a door on her, the others unlock it!
By the time bedtime rolls around, we are so exhausted! We have a farm, construction business, and are all around constantly busy! I have started letting our youngest (who will be 3 in May) stay up during the day - no naps. By 7:00 she is so tired she can't take it any more! She gets dinner early now. By 7:30/8:00, she is asleep on the couch watching cartoons. Half of the time, she sleeps all night long in her bed (in our room still, but, hey, it is HER spot!). Other nights she will wake up, go potty, and crawl into bed with me. All in all, she now sleeps 12-14 hours a night!

Alicia - posted on 03/22/2011

we use a baby gate at her door. she wont sleep with the bedroom door open, so we close the door and put the gate up. we use a wood gate with the plexy glass stuff so that their arent holes she can climb over with. it seems though that since we put up the gate she doesnt try to come out of her room anymore. lol. i feel safe at night with the gate because then i know she is not roaming the house while im sleeping. good luck!!

Jenni - posted on 03/22/2011

My son actually escaped out our back door before I realized he could open doors. He was about 18 months. He ran across our busy road during lunch hour. It was a case of I thought his father was watching him and he thought I was watching him. I watched him walk into the kitchen where his father was and the next thing I knew there was a knock on my door and a man was standing on our front porch with my son in his arms. I cried for weeks and felt like a horrible parent. I still have nightmares about those damn doors. I think I'm turning OCD about checking locks but for good reason. We now have door knob covers (as a deterrent, he can break them off). I lock the doors and we moved the chain locks up higher where he can't reach them. It may sound a little extreme but after that experience, it helps me sleep better at night.



Anyways, just as an added safety precaution move your chain locks (or buy some) up high on your front and back door. That's probably the best advice I can give you. Maybe it will never happen but it's better to not risk it!

Jane - posted on 03/21/2011

We used a combination of baby gates, reversing the door knob, and placing bolts way up high. We required our kids to sleep in their own beds and developed a routine to help them settle. It included reading a book in fairly dim light, then rubbing their backs until they faded out.

Our biggest problem was actually with the doors to the outside. My son especially would fling a door open and take off. When we had to stay in motels we always had to put a piece of furniture in front of the door to keep him from heading out into the parking lot.

At home with our doors we placed a latch on the storm doors at adult eye level. We didn't have to deface the main doors and neither child could reach the latches until my son, at about age three, figured out how to drag a chair over to the door.

Jenni - posted on 03/21/2011

My son has difficulty staying in bed since we moved him into a toddler bed. If he gets up, I just lead him back to his room without saying a word. Lay him back down and walk out. Some weeks he gives us a hard time! Other weeks he doesn't get up at all or only once. Usually he gives me a harder time for his nap. When he does give a hard time I just stand at his door and the moment he puts his feet on the floor, I walk in. Usually that's enough for him to hop back into bed. A few times of doing that and he gives up and goes to sleep. But yes, there are times when he out right refuses to lay in bed. I either allow him to play quietly in his room for an hour or if I really feels he needs a nap that day (we're going some where later) I sit on the edge of his bed until he goes to sleep. It works and it usually only takes about 20 mins.
I did have the covers on his door for a few months after we moved him to a toddler bed but I removed them for a few reasons. His half-sister became PT (she's over every other weekend and shares his room), he is in the midst of PT and I never really felt safe about having them on in case of a fire. My husband still thinks it was a bad idea removing them. Everytime my son wakes up earlier than usual or gets up 30 times before finally falling asleep my husband insists on telling me I should have left the covers on and just take them off when my SD is over! I am still confident in my decision. It's really not that big of a deal to take him by the hand and lead him back to bed and I'm trying to encourage night time potty use.

Theresa - posted on 03/21/2011

When my 2nd child learned how to open doors we had issues with him as well. I used those child door knob covers as well. They worked for a bit, but then he learned how to tun the rubber grip part to the top and kind of put downward pressure on the handle as he turned it to open it. I popped the rubber things off the handle and that worked. He could no longer get the door open. The downside is whenever I wanted to open the door I had to take the handle cover off completely.

Andrea - posted on 03/21/2011

Ugh, can totally relate. Some things we have done are: reversing the doorknobs so that you can lock him in his room or put a sliding lock higher on the door frame. We had to put locks on our closet, since my boys loved playing in my makeup, and my husbands office door. The sleeping situation is one that I have recently gone through with my son weening off of naps which totally sucks. I've had to do the Supernanny trick of sitting on the floor in his room with my back to him and gradually inching myself out. When he got out of bed I just put him back in, no emotion and no talking. It does take awhile and will test your patience but he'll eventually get the point.

Alexis - posted on 03/21/2011

it takes a lot of time but keep putting him back in his bed everytime he leaves his room. It will be time consuming and take a couple days but it gets easier and eventually he realizes your not going to give in. Don't talk to him, just put him back in bed and leave, closing the door. When he comes out of the room, put him back in bed. This works for our son.

Christi - posted on 03/21/2011

Yep. I did the same thing. switch the door knob. but, if you are not comfortable with that, then put them in bed after reading them a story, kisses -I love u- and goodnight. and 'DO NOT GET UP, its time to go to sleep'. if he gets up, immediately take him and put him back in bed. do this over and over and over until he stays. This may take 30 mins or even 2 hours, but he will eventually give up. Be consistant and do this every night and before you know it, he will just not get out of bed anymore. DO NOT use flashy lights, they stimulate the baby. Only use soft music and soft lights that don't blink if you need a light. I used the little plug in walll night lites. I also used them all throughout the house so that if she did get up in the middle of the night and was sick or something, that she could see where she was going and so that she could see the stairs and even in the bathroom. Those night lites are wonderful and cost so little and use little power. But, it sure makes it safe in a dark house for a small child. best of luck. I know its hard.If you have one that just cries and cries, let them cry it out.

Fezeka - posted on 03/21/2011

We have triplets. Having them sleep in our bed was not an option. We switched the door knob. This is temporary and we only locked it if they did not do what we asked them to. I think this is important so that when you travel etc. and you don't have the option of switching the door knob he will still stay in bed.

Nikki - posted on 03/21/2011

Was in the same boat! Most people won't agree to this but for our situation it was the only thing that worked. We switched his door knob around so the lock was on the outside. He can't get out but we can get in very quickly if need be. Gates, door safety knobs, and whatever else just wouldn't work as our house has multiple stairs and the result of him falling down the stairs out weight him crying at the door a few nights :D

Katherine - posted on 03/21/2011

My daughter is 2 and I just have her in her crib still because she is so mischievous I know that if I put her in a toddler bed I'd be in big trouble lol.
I took the boxspring out so she can't climb out ;).

Jordan - posted on 03/21/2011

this may seem bad but when we put our son in a toddler bed we had to lock the door from the outside, and he would cry himself to sleep sometimes right in front of the door, but it didnt last long. once he knew we were serious he went down nicely. but we were lucky and the door locked on the outside. i also tried putting him back everytime he gets up. its exhausting at first because my son is stubborn so sometimes it takes quite a few times but eventually he falls asleep and as long as you stick to it it gets easier and easier everyday until eventually he goes down without a problem.

Michelle - posted on 03/21/2011

My son could use a door knob at 18 months, was climbing out of the crib at 13 months, climbing over regular size gates at 24 months. Put a gate in front of his door (we had to put the extra high ones for my son). Good luck. It'll make him mad but get the point across.

Renee - posted on 03/20/2011

Sounds like my son!! We put a gate across his doorway. We put it just high enough he couldn't reach over to undo the latch but low enough he couldn't crawl under it. Some nights he would stand at the gate and call down the hallway to us, I would just tell him to go back to bed without ever leaving our room. If he saw us it was all over with. Some nights he would sleep at the gate but at least he was still in his room.
Don't get in the habit of letting him sleep in your bed or you sleeping with him. Keep a regular sleep schedule and stick with it. (bath, book, soft music, night light, etc)You might have to let him cry a few nights in his room and keep putting him back in his room. I just let him sleep any where in his room as long as he was IN his room. He is now almost 3yrs old and I still have a heck of a time to get him to sleep in his bed most nights. He likes to sleep on the floor.
If all else fails you can always get a hook and eye latch on the outside of the door and latch his door shut until he is asleep. Good luck!!!

Mabel - posted on 03/20/2011

buy a baby gate and put it in the frame of his door to his room.He will still be able to hear you but won't be able to leave his room.You can use 2 gates ,just stack them one on the other and if he was a crawler then he wouldn't be able to get over or under that.I found a gate that actually bolts to the wall and has another lock on the side that I use in the kitchen and my son will never figure this one out.I had a hard time with it and I'm 32 yr old!!! Good luck...