any suggestions on putting a very energetic and independent 3 year old boy to bed at night?

Sara - posted on 11/16/2008

A good book always helps, a nice bath, or a glass of warm chocolate/milk.

Natalie - posted on 11/16/2008

Rountine definately seems the key it works for my 3 yr old, even when he doesn't seem tired he still goes to sleep at bedtime bar the odd exception. We do bath before tea, eat than he has an hour to do what he wants. We than go to bedroom he gets in bed we read couple short stories followed by alphabet song and a number song we have our special little goodnight mantra then I leave and he goes to sleep. We battled before routine but the 'Cry it out' method also worked was hard but so worth it

Cassie - posted on 11/14/2008

I haven't had one who laid awake that long, but my 2 year old daughter comes up with all sorts of excuses to get out of bed and come find us... potty, back hurts, nose hurts, lost binky... you get the idea. Well, we started using a small reward or treat for staying in bed and going to sleep. Something little like a sticker, stamp on her hand, chocolate chip, etc. It worked the first night! When she woke up she asked for her "special treat" right away and then she got to pick from a couple of choices. Maybe that will work?? Good luck! (also as others have mentioned, tire him out and get fresh air as much as possible.)

Leslie - posted on 11/14/2008

My kids are older, but both have ADHD and it used to be VERY difficult to get them to go to bed. A routine is very important, even at 11 and 15. Ours always included a bath, the warm water relaxes them a lot; sometimes I even included lotion which gave them a bit of a relaxing massage. The other thing we do is, anywhere from 30-60 minutes (depending on how wound they are) is "unplug" time. Nothing electronic - no TV, no Gameboy, no computer, no radio. They can do quiet things, read, talk with Mom and Dad, write in their journal (won't work for most three year olds), play a quiet game etc. Both my kids also started taking shorter naps, with some help from Mom, at about 3.

Keva - posted on 11/14/2008

Thank you to all that replied. He likes to read in bed, but can do that for a very long time and stay awake. Some nights we start at 7:15pm with bedtime and it might be 10pm before he is asleep.

Janelle - posted on 11/14/2008

Having a schedule helps my kids are past three but I do the same thing for all of them and have since they were really little. We start about 30 min before I actually want them in bed. I give a warning about it being almost bedtime about 15 min before that. Then I have mine take medicine and brush teeth (mine take allergy medicine at night) then I have them put PJ's on and pick out clothes for the next day for school (this helps with crazyness in the morning if you take your child to daycare or school) then we pick 2 books no more and read them. Then I tuck them in I let mine have a sippy cup of WATER, so they can't ask for a drink and then I turn out the lights. When mine were little I use to set on the bed for 10 min and then say goodnight. I don't do that anymore since they are big. I hope this helps. If he gets out of bed in the night or up before he sleeps just put him back in bed and he will stop getting out eventually. Don't talk or play with him when he gets up.

Patricia - posted on 11/14/2008

during the week or the weekend? lol..... during the week i make sure he plays hard and does everything possible to wear himself out before bed time... during the weekend i let him fall asleep on his own whenever he wants (prolly not the best thing to do) but since hubby and I tend to stay up much later then usual on the weekends we dont enforce a bed time for him...sorry if this doesn't really help much.

Michelle - posted on 11/14/2008

My daughter is 7 and my doctor suggested melatonin. It is a dietary supplement. I give her a half and it works wonders. She used to lay in bed for 3 hours before finally falling asleep. So maybe you could give a half of a half. It only takes about 1/2 hour to kick in. It is not addictive. Good luck.

Terri - posted on 11/14/2008

Mine is nearing 5 and can still be a challenge...I broke the bedtime routine up and start at least an hour before I hope to have him in his room. Jammies first, then snack/milk and he has about 30 minutes to drink it, then brush teeth, then 30 minutes of relaxing play (color, read books, watch video) and bedtime doesn't seem to be as big of an issue. That is only if he has NOT napped. If he even got a 15 minute nap during the day, he takes over an hour before he settles down after going to bed...I feel for you :)

Cori - posted on 11/14/2008

I can relate to this, my youngest is the "me do" girl hehe. Does everything herself, and doesn't need any help. What we did to make bedtime in our house easier to deal with was a routine, and a strict one at that. We would set a bedtime, it is 8pm now but it was 7pm when we started. We started our routine at 5pm and had it set in stone until things calmed down for us. I am not sure what the problem is for you, but will share what we did and hopefully it will help.

5pm - play time, running, tickling, anything active NO sitting.
5:30pm - we started slowing down, hide and seek, or eye spy game. Something with a bit of movement but not much
6pm - was snack time, crackers and milk, or whatever works for you NO moving
6:15pm - bath time, nothing exciting keep it relaxing and simple.
6:45pm (or sooner depending on bath) - was PJ's and reading of the bedtime story. We did one story and no more, this way we could choose a short story if we are running late, or a longer one if we have lots of time.
7pm - was lights out and in bed

It took about 3 days for her to stop fighting us at bedtime, we still had some issues with her but not many, the big fights were over by then. And as long as we stuck to the bed time routine she was fine and didn't fight us when it came time for lights out. If you try this, I would make sure that you don't have any plans for the week, or weekend, and no company coming over either. The hard part will be when you break the routine because company comes, you will find that he is cranky and such the first few times because his routine is messed up, but even that will settle with age.

I hope this helps :) ... if not, maybe something else?
Cori

Debbie - posted on 11/14/2008

Try having a routine. When it is about 15 minutes before time to get ready say "15 minutes before time to brush your teeth" , after getting ready for bed maybe have book time for a short amount of time whether you read to him or he can read to himself. He can do this in bed, then it's lights out. By having him read his body is relaxing slowly and it will make it easier to fall asleep. I work in childcare and we have booktime after lunch before nap,and it works well. Good Luck

Amy - posted on 11/14/2008

not sure i have 1 of those myself

Falena - posted on 11/14/2008

Start with Bath after dinner and spray a little lavender pillow mist on his pillow and give him a back rub right before bed. If you can take him to the park w/ soccar ball and run with him for a little while. If not do it in the garage then all of the above/he should be worn out and ready after that!

Tawnya - posted on 11/14/2008

i have a few kids and my bedtime routine with them is: talk about what they did good that day, what we are going to do tomorrow. and then i read a book that one of them picked out. this is all happening while they are laying in bed. i also try to have a "cool down" time before we go upstairs for bed. i hope this helps a little.