Sleep training in a bed

S

southside852

Registered User
Our 22 month year old son has been sleeping in a bed w/a rail for over a month now. We found out at 19 months that he could climb out of his crib and open the door so we transitioned on the floor for two weeks then into a bed (not a toddler one either).

Now, he gets up 2-4 times a night NOW and will come into our room ast least twice!!! I basically ferberized him in a crib, but am wondering what others experiences are with sleep training their toddler to stay in their beds and not come out??? Did you put a gate up? Someone told me to just lock the door for 3 nights and he should get the picture, but that seems scary to me. Help!
 
Sorry I haven't been through this yet but a friend of mine says that repetition is the key. You just keep putting him back in bed until he eventually gets the idea. She said with her oldest daughter she had to do it 80 times in one night! But with her youngest son who is in the exact same situation as yours right now, she is only up to about 10 times a night. Good luck! I may be going through this in about 6 months.
 
Friends of mine tried shutting the door for just one night and their toddler just ended up falling asleep behind the door rather than going back to bed. As Cyberfish88 mentions you just have to keep putting him back to bed....repitition is the key.

I'm not looking forward to this stage either!
 
We tried locking our door, but our son was so determined that he hammered on the door and kept rattling the door handle. He was so loud that we had to let him in because he would definitely have been waking both our upstairs and downstairs neighbours.

Repetition is easier said than done. I know we are supposed to do the silent return to bed method as many times as it takes, but it is definitely easier said than done, especially when he can creep into our bed without really waking us!
 
Agreed Portia! I also think, that our son would be one to fall asleep at the door instead of returning to his bed like Karmah1 mentioned.

Portia, what did you land up doing? As of now, I am just doing repetition with him.
 
It's true, locking the door method takes about 3 days to work. I basically told my daughter all thru the day that she cannot wake up and get out of bed and if she does it then mummy would have to lock the door. Of course the 1st night she did not do as she was told and I went in put her into her bed and told her that I would then lock the door. 5 sec after I walked out, she was rattling the door, crying to be let out. I told her sternly thru the door that she was warned before and this was what happens if she got out of bed. So she was having a crying fit behind the door and I repeated telling her that mummy would not open the door until she got back into bed to sleep. THink after 1/2 hour or so she got the idea and went back to bed, when I heard her leave the door side, I went in and tucked her into bed and told her that she was a good girl for getting back to bed. She was so tired, she went to sleep straight away. Same thing the 2nd night, but took shorter time for her to get back to bed and by the 3rd, she realised that mummy was not going to give in and she stopped getting out.
 
Andrea that gives me hope! BUT, my son at 22 months doesn't really understand what "not locking the door" means as his communication is still quite basic.
 
yes, my advice to all is to keep the little one in the crib for AS LONG AS POSSIBLE! I feel like he's a newborn all over with the sleep I am clocking in at night :(
 
Southside
I am embarrassed to say that at the moment I am doing nothing with my son. I tell myself that I am catching up on sleep and gathering reserves to do battle with him, but I am actually just spoiling him as I let him stay once he climbs into our bed as he can creep in without really waking us and will then sleep until morning. It's going to be a huge battle, especially as he is now in the habit of climbing into our bed, but I will have to do it in the next few months before the arrival of the new baby. I wish we could have left him in his crib for longer, but he started climbing out by himself. One of my sleep books says to leave them in the crib until they are three if possible. I only wish we could have safely done so!
 
yes, as soon as the child learns how to climb out, he/she should be transitioned into a bed for their own safety. since our son learned quite early how to do this, we;ve have to speed up the process. for now, i am bringing him back to his bed at least 2-3 times a night.....it's not ideal, but i am hoping that as his vocabulary expands in the next 6 months, he will eventually understand not to get of bed and stay in his own.....thanks everyone for the feedback. if anyone has a breakthrough, let me know!
 
BTW, my daughter was 2 when I did this and she understands perfectly what locking/unlocking the door is. Even my younger one at 22 months understands what locking and unlocking the door means, cos I have seen her imitating me. I have come to realise that it's just a case of adults not understanding their speech, they have perfect understanding of ours.
 
We only had this problem for one night and with a 20 month old. We told him we'd get 'the wire' out and tie his door up. We showed him 'the wire', it was actually just a phone cable. He got the message and was just so scared of being locked in his room with no escape he stayed in bed. Occasionally we had to threaten the wire again and it always worked.

That said it didn't work as well with our second youngest. He didn't care! Anyway, turned out he was just 'too young' to transition even though he was a bit older than his brother was when we tried. We tried when he was 22 months but it was only recently, when he was 2 plus that we were able to put him in a normal bed and know he would stay. It sounds like your child is just not ready but you don't have much of a choice because he climbs out of the cot. Hmm, good luck.
 
yep, i would have loved to have kept him in his cot until
24+ months, but it was just not safe. guess i will just keep plugging at it. last night was good though - only 1 wake up out of bed - perhaps a turning pt!

thanks everyone!
 
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