The first couple of nights consisted of thumps in the night as O fell out of her bed and one of us rushed in to comfort her and put her back in her bed. The real problem though was that during this time we began to brag to people about how good she was about staying in room and how she really understood that she couldn't come out at night. The lesson here? Never brag about your child because as soon as you do they will begin to do exactly the opposite because all she does now is come out of her room after bedtime.
She runs out of her room. She crawls out of her room. She sneaks out of her room. And the times that she actually stays in her room you can bet that she's not sleeping in here. Oh no! She's discovered all of the toys in her room and is having either a tea party or a dress up party every night which means that she's going to bed around ten and is waking up in the morning in the most foul mood known to human-kind. Seriously. I have seen the most amazing tantrums lately (and by amazing I mean "Dear God, make them go away!"). We have tried explaining. We have tried cajoling. We have tried bribing. We have tried threatening. And I'm now breaking out the silent treatment after bedtime, a la Super Nanny. So far nothing seems to be putting an end to the utter nighttime madness at our house. Oh and did I mention that there's also morning madness too? Because guess who got up at 5 a.m. this morning. That's right - my child!
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| And yet she look so sweet and innocent... |
We made the same mistake. We finally put a lock on my daughter's door and locked her in. It sounds horrible, but after just a couple nights of her realizing she couldn't just get out any old time, it worked. We had very few problems after that. The night time tantrums decreased to almost none.
ReplyDeleteWe gave up long, long ago. Our girls both fall asleep in their beds and come into our bed at some point in the night. We wake up all together, a big tangled mess of bed heads, arms and legs. We figure by college or so, they'll most likely be sleeping all night in their own beds.
ReplyDeleteOh man, you know how I feel about the curse of bragging! Thank you so much for the advice though. I tend to try to rush all these kinds of things, now I know it's crib until he's 13 years old :)
ReplyDeleteWhen my son was 3, he'd get out of his bed and play "Trouble" at 2am. Remember that game with the plastic dome you had to press to roll the dice? Let me tell you, it's LOUD at 2am!! Then he'd wander around the house and torment the dog. What fun that was...
ReplyDeleteWe are going through this stage as well...it has made things easier since we moved ALL her toys, books, and other distractions into her closet...and put a child lock on the outside of it :). Good luck, and know we feel your pain.
ReplyDeletegood thing she is cute huh!
ReplyDeleteTry a sticker chart. That was the only thing that kept our oldest in bed after we foolishly gave the crib to her little sister. Negative disipline had not effect what so ever. Our youngest is nearly 3 and will be sleeping in the crib until she's old enough to dismantle it herself!
ReplyDeleteI am not going to say this next thing to brag, but it will illustrate how clueless I am. Rocco slept with us till he was almost 5 so we never even worried about a crib. Luca arrived 17 months later and got a crib. Luca wanted and seemed ready for a bed on her second birthday so we bought her a fantabulous girly bed. Not a toddler bed. A twin bed with a little pink step to get into the bed. The first night she not only slept in it all night long, but in the morning when I finally got my lazy butt out of bed and went into her room she was sitting there waiting for me. I am not kidding when I say that I praised her for staying there and she took that to mean "never, ever leave your bed missy". My girlfriend once asked me when Luca was 4 if I had ever told her that she could get out of bed. Um, hell no. technically she could go to the bathroom but then back to bed until a grown-up came and got her. I am that dumb that I thought it was normal. I mean what is normal to a mom that still co-slept with her first born till the age of 5? I am sure I am doomed with Sir Terror (a.k.a. O's twin brother) because he sleeps in a mini crib and is almost as long as it is long. I'm screwed.
ReplyDeleteOh dear. It only gets slightly better. Maybe. My daughter is almost 2 1/2 and has been sleeping in a twin bed for eight months. She could get out of her crib so we didn't really have a choice. So many nights of stalling and screaming and crying it out and pleading and bribing and threatening. We would be up past midnight and she would get up at six. I seriously wanted a bed with a cage over it. In the end I couldn't tell you what really worked. We go through an elaborate ritual of bath, snack, brushing teeth, three books, drink of water, lights out, four songs sung in the same order, and finally snuggles and kisses. I think the predictability has really helped. But that's just mine, your milage may vary.
ReplyDeleteI agree, leave them in that cot for as long as possible. That way you know where they are and you are in control. Let them out......all hell breaks loose!!!
ReplyDeleteYep - Clem will be four in October and is still in his cot. He still fits and can't climb out so he's staying in there for a while yet! Mind you, we still get the early morning wakeup calls. I have no advice for that except strong coffee!
ReplyDeleteWe are leaving our two-year-old in her crib (despite the fact that, in a pinch, she can climb out), for precisely that reason. We used a baby gate with our son, but my daughter can knock the thing down (she's crazy strong).
ReplyDeleteA patient of mine came up with an awesome, albeit pricey, solution--they installed one of those Dutch doors (where the top and bottom open separately) in the doorway of their toddler's room. He says it works like a charm!