Thanks for all your help with the toddler bed decision; helped us alot. Next question is how should we keep her in the room at night. I would like to use a gate but our family room is right outside her door. Actually all our bedrooms open up to the family room. My husband says to shut the door and she'll be fine. Not a fan of the "doors closed" idea; we've never kept doors shut . I have a video monitor on in her room at night.. When she was in the crib, we left her door cracked open. I don't want her wandering in our room at night. How do you keep the little ones in their room during the night?
Just put her in and shut the door. A closed door is much safer especially if there is ever a fire.
If you think she's still going to wander, put a gate up - there is still room to put the gate there even if the door is closed.
We keep our two year old's door closed. We have been doing that since she was 6 months or so because our bedroom is right across from hers and the noise we made coming to bed at night and getting up in the morning always woke her up. Now that she is in a toddler bed, we do it to keep her contained.
Our son who is a little over 3 is in a toddler bed and has been in one for about a year now. We put him to bed around 8/8:30 (do the whole bedtime routine - potty, teeth, read, sing songs) then we tuck him in and remind him he is not allowed to get out of his bed b/c it's not safe. We tell him to yell for us if he needs something. We still use a monitor (I don't know when I will ever part without it, haha)!! He has a night light in his room and he has a musical turtle thing on his bed that lights up for a few minutes. We say goodnight and close his door completely. We live in a one story ranch so his door gets closed completely when he first goes to bed. My husband and I then relax for awhile (I will not go to bed until I know my son asleep) and then when we go to bed we check on him and that is when we leave his door open.
We have never had a problem with him getting out of his bed and wandering around. The few times he has gotten out of his bed have been in the morning and he comes straight to our room. When he does that we just remind him that he needs to stay in his bed until we come get him and he has been GREAT about it. Our son has always been a great sleeper!!
Good luck to you! :)
Hi,
My daughters' door is closed and has been since we brought them home. We like it that way. But if your child is used to the noise of the family room, and you are OK with the fire safety stuff, then put up the baby gate and keep the door cracked like you always have. The less that changes, the better.
Our son's bedroom has always been right next to our bedroom. When we looked for a new house I rejected house plans where all other bedrooms were on the other side of the house from the master bedroom. Once he was old enough to climb out of his crib, he would never wander the house at night, but would come straight to our room - he hated being alone. He had a nightlight in his room, cuddly stuffed animals - none of it mattered, he wanted to be with us. A few times we'd wake up in the morning and discover he had tucked himself in at the foot of our bed and fallen asleep there with out waking us up. When we moved, he had a hard time getting use to the sounds the new house made at night. We had a camp cot set up at the foot of our bed for awhile. Eventually he out grew it and he's fine in his own room all night now.
My FIL was a fire chief and he is adamant. All bedroom doors MUST be kept shut at night. In the case of a fire she is much much safer in a room with a shut door. This delays the movement of smoke or fire into her room and could save her life by keeping the fire away from her until you can get to her. We actually have the door closed (and have since day one) and a gate on the outside since our toddlers can open the door. Really with a vidoe monitor what do you have to worry about???
Hi. Try this get a digital clock 4 her room. Decide on a time in the morning and teach her to recognize that time. Explain that she must stay in her room until her clock has that time. Unless there is an emergency. My child would venture
in around 3:30 which was hard since I'm up @ 5. Since my child can tell time 2 the hour, she knows that @ 5 am she is invited in if she is awake. You clearly should explain what constitutes an emergency which requires her to wake up no matter the time. Provider her with things to do in her room if she happens to wake up before your wake up time to keep her occupied. Coloring pages and bendaroos. Produce fabulous "look what I did while u were sleep" designs.
With our kids we tried the close the door thing. It worked great for the boys, until they figured out how the doorknob worked. Then we put the kid proof cover on, so that they couldn't open the door, ROFLOL!! We even tried the gate in front of the closed door, with the doorknob guard on! What we ended up with , with all of the kids, was a hook and eye latch at the top of the door. We only needed to do it for about 4 nights, then we pretended to lock it, made the sound, and they didn't try. We unlocked it when WE went to bed at night. Every now and then they opened the door and came downstairs, we just took them back up to their rooms and pretended to "lock" the door again.
I have ALWAYS kept the bedroom doors closed. As a former FF/Paramedic, I can tell you that it is much SAFER to have the doors closed to prevent smoke from entering the room before you get there to get the child out of the house.
This may see a little silly or extreme to you. but it has always been my understanding that for fire safety reasons all doors should be kept closed! so smoke and fire cannot spread as fast throughout the house. we have always kept our tots bedroom door closed. that way when she makes a break for it early in the morning/or in the middle of the night we hear her hit the door knob first!
i read in a magazine that installing a screen door is one way to help parents who like the "open door" but still want their kids to not feel so closed in. you should be able to keep the other door there too.
Close the door if for nothing else for his safety. You can put a gate in the doorway but to be honest i feel that's teasing. They can see where they can't be, they can see you but not come to you. I wouldn't do it. What i did to keep my daughter in bed is go in and put her down and kiss good night. Leave the room. Stand outside the door and wait. When you hear her get up go in and say "Time for bed and now stay in your bed" and leave than after that stay outside the door and wait again. When she gets up again just walk in and put her back in the bed not saying anything. Repeat this every time from than on. It will happen quite a few times but after a while she will stop. Good luck
