I have a 20 month old who sleeps in a toddler bed. We have a nighttime routine of a cup of milk, brush teeth, read a book, then go to bed. I always shut her door. I can hear her get up and cry, but she always puts herself back to bed and goes to sleep in about 10 min. Now I have a new problem.....she has figured out how to open the door. We had to turn her door handle around awhile back, because she kept locking herself in her room. Now she opens the door all of the time. I have tried putting a gate up to keep her in her room, but she still sees lights and hears the noises. What do you suggest would work to keep her in her room to go to sleep?
I just want to thank everybody for thier time and advice. You would think being a mother of three I would have it accomplished by now...HA!! We did the plastic door knob cover, and in 10 mins she was asleep. I will eventually use the other advice provided, but for now to get through her stubborness we are going to use the covers. THANK YOU ALL SO MUCH!!
~S.
having five children and 14 grandchildren i can only offer a slight suggestion, since she will go back to bed if left alone. If you put a dry washrag folded maybe once or whatever will let you shut the door on it up near the top of the door :it is too hard to open by the child but is not a lock or anything that would make it not safe to open by an adult. when she cannot open the door she will go back to bed, right?
How about a chart. If she stays in her room she gets to pick a sticker to place on the chart the next morning. You may want to do something other than a sticker if there is something she really enjoys getting. The Stickers are cheap and work for almost anything.
G.
At Babies R Us they sell plastic handles that go over door handles. Small children can't get them open from the inside. We have a monitor in the room to listen, but this way he doesn't get out of his room without us knowing he's awake.
If you always shut her door to keep all lite out and keep her in the room, try putting the doorknob covers on the knobs, you can find them at Babys R us. Its where I got mine, we have them on all the doors we dont want our son going.
Have you tried the childproof caps that you can place over the doorknob? Depending on what type of doorknob her door has these are available at Walmart or Target. You can find them in in the same area as the saftey locks,outlet covers, etc.They are very easy to use(you just snap them on the knob) and inexpensive.I hope this helps! Good Luck!!! -J.
In my opinion this is gonna take consistency. I have a 14 month old little girl and she is in a toddler bed also. When I lay her down in her bed she will lay there for a few minutes and then get up. I can usually catch her and tell her no and she lays right back down, if not I pick her up and tell her it's either "nap time" or "bed time" whichever it might be. After about 10 or 15 minutes she will be right to sleep with no problems. She has been sleeping in her toddler bed since Christmas. Your daughter is 7 months older than mine so I think with a little explaining and letting her know that when it's bed time we have to lay down and go to sleep and we can play again in the morning.
It will get easier with consistency on your part and just keep letting her know it is bed time when you lay her down, W.
hi S.,
my name is C. i do child care, i have been the business for over 28 yrs. go to your local wal mart store and pick up one of the door handle safty covers they are white and fit over the door handle and you have to put preasure on it to twist the door handle, try it and see what happens.
as far a potty training is she ready ? can she say potty ? does she show signs of wanting to go? if not table it until you have the bed time routine covered and taken care of.
C.
Too keep her in her room, get a safety cover to put over her door knob, so she can't open it. That's what we did. Maybe if her toys are put up out of reach, she will sleep since she won't have anything else to do. Another idea is maybe an earlier nap (if she still takes naps) or a later bed time. A warm bath with sleepy time bubbles will also help relax her. good luck!
Good morning...we have a plastic door knob cover that we keep on the door of the nursery in our church...so the little ones cant escape. It is build on the principal of the child proof caps...they cover the door knob and make it useless unless you know the "trick" to opening it. Do a google search for "door knob covers" and you will find lots of sources online...I am also sure you can buy them at Target, Walmart, any store that has an extensive baby dept.
Good luck!!!
R. Ann
I'm going through this right now with my 18 month old! We've had to put a radio on (barely audible) just for background noise. We also dim the living room lights until he falls asleep. We also do the baby gate at his door, but lately we've just had to prop it up in the door frame. He would just see it and crawl back in bed on his own. The first few times he stood screaming at the gate for 5-10 minutes. He quickly realized bed time meant actually going to sleep.
S.,
Does she have a night-light? Also, what about a night-time CD where she can go to sleep to some music. YOu can let her turn it on right before she jumps in the bed so that SHE is "helping" in getting ready for bed. ALso you could get one of those things that goes over the door knob that pretty much only adults with a good grip can turn. Just a few suggestions. Good luck!
D.
when she comes out put her back to bed,by now she is starting to know little bits of when you tell her no, maybe a little swat if she gets up or something to let her know that she needs to obey. I've never had a problem with this, both of my kids once ya put them in bed they were out like a light.
Have you ever thought about some soothing music that she may like? I had a small tape player, compact one with a headset for my little girl. She loved to listen to music and it seemed to always calm her. It is worth a try. I know we loved music and I would also listen to music often during the day, and sometimes it helps to model the behavior you are trying to encourage....so if Mom does it, perhaps she will too. I mean if she sometimes sees you lying down with a headset on listening and taking a nap, with her, maybe share the headset at first, then she will learn to use it to comfort her at bedtime. You could show her how, and do it together at naptime during the day, or at bedtime, then gradually eliminate yourself, and have her use it alone.
You know the safety covers for the front door? We put one of those on the inside of his door, worked great. He has been in bed since.
It may take a couple of days, but it usually works if, when she gets out of bed the first time, you pick her up, place her back in bed, and say "It's time to sleep" (or something to that effect). Then wait outside the door. If she gets up again, pick her up and place her back in bed without engaging in any conversation. Continue to wait for her to get up and then silently put her back in bed. The silence is important because when you initiate a verbal interaction you are unconciously reinforcing her behavior. She is getting out of bed because she wants to interact with you so by minimizing your interaction you fail to reinforce that behavior. Good luck.
Hi there,
We got these childproof covers for the doorknobs... you have to squeeze them before you turn the handle... if you have lever doors- those are trickier to childproof, but I believe they do make a cover for those too. Check out babies r us or google it and see what comes up. They work for us- our son's 2 1/2 and we still use them!
I totally understand your frustation. My 22 month old son is giving me the same problem. He has been in his big boy bed since ~15 months old and was doing good after some consistency of putting him back in bed. We have the door handles that he can easily open so I have always gated him. Except now he thinks that he does not have to go to bed at night or stay in bed when he wakes up at night. I have resorted to using the pack and play in his room. I tell him that is his baby bed and if he acts like a baby and doesn't listen to Mommy then he has to be in the baby bed. This of course does not go over well with him and it is a screaming fit. I battled him for 2 hours the other night. HE IS A VERY STRONG WILLED CHILD AND DOES NOT GIVE UP EASY. Luckily - his Mommy is very persistent as well. He eventually chose to stay in his big boy bed and go back to sleep. So there's my suggestion although I can't tell you if it really works since I'm trying it myself right now. Good Luck- I know sometimes I need a little myself.
I would suggest to you to play soft music as she goes to sleep. A constant noise should help over-shadow the sounds she may be hearing.
I played a movie for my daughter when she was younger which gave constant light and noise. I covered the screen so she couldn't stay up and watch the movie. Unfortunately she became addicted to having the TV going as she fell asleep and we had a tough time breaking that habit. Now she goes to sleep without any problems though. Just a night light. She is 4 now.
Good luck!
Just keep putting her back in her bed if she gets out of the room. Just pick her up and tell her it's time for bed. We did the same thing with our now 8 year old and belive me it was worth it.
