Wednesday, September 30, 2009

Any help?

We are having a time of it with Riley and bedtime. We have tried every method except for duct taping her to the bed (which we are considering). She gets up constantly, plays with everything, and pretty much does everything she's not suppose to. We've tried putting her to bed later so she's more tired, nope...we've tried sitting with her until she falls asleep (which is what Adam is doing right now)...that kind of works, but takes an hour of crying and correcting her to stay on her bed. I don't know what to do! I don't want to put her back in her crib...regressing just doesn't seem like the answer, but this is not working at all! Any ideas? I am open to anything...(and duct tape is still an option).

5 comments:

IASoupMama said...

When we transitioned Milo to a toddler bed, we took everything interesting out of the room, childproofed like crazy, and installed a hook & eye on the door. He couldn't get out, got bored quickly, and fell asleep a couple of times on the floor. It didn't take too long for him to learn that it was more comfy to sleep in the bed. Good luck!

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theamaros said...

Oops - I commented but didn't realize Fernando was signed in with his work account. Let's try this again... We still use a baby gate to keep Daniel in his room. He doesn't even test it now, just stays in bed. I think the key is saying goodnight, and that's the end of her seeing you guys... no more play time. Even if she plays by herself, she'll put herself to bed after a while. (As soon as he potty trains overnight, we'll take the gate away...)

Kathryn said...

We used a gate too. And our high octane girl would SCREAM and SCREAM at the gate. Just had to stick it through. If I recall correctly, she was around Riley's age. Just DON'T backdown. The very minute she thinks she's got a hand up...she wins! :) So set a bedtime and stick with it, no matter how much screaming it involves! It WILL get better! We now have a 4 1/2 year old that sleeps fantastically!!!

danielle said...

well, i dont think going back to a crib would exactly be regressing, she just might need the security and confinement of the crib still. that was a mistake i made with aidan. what did eventually work for him was putting him to bed, saying good night, and then sitting down outside the door. he would get up, i would tell him ONE TIME that it was time for bed, goodnight and kiss again. for each subsequent time he got out of bed, i simply picked him up and put him back in bed without saying/doing anything else. mommy robot, just going through the same motions, no emotion or talking. yes, the first night i did it about 100 times, and it was an hour and a half before he was asleep. night #2 was about 20 times of getting out of bed, and about45_50 minutes. night #3 was out of bed 10 times, and asleep in 30 minutes. it got better and better each night. good luck with whatever you decide. just make sure you pick something you can deal with, and stick with it. if you keep changing the rules, she wont know what game she's playin, kwim?