Sunday, October 25, 2009
How to get a toddler to sleep in a bed.
Rebekah has been struggling with naps because she has learned how to climb out of her crib and wouldn't stay in her bed. Although she stays in her bed just fine at night, probably because it's dark. Finally on Monday after not napping she was so tired that she had a hard time sleeping (don't ask why, but when my kids get over-tired they don't sleep.) She kept me up half the night on Monday night. So, Tuesday I decided she had to take a nap. After she played for an hour I prayed about what to because nothing was working and I was getting frustrated. I didn't want another sleepless night because she wouldn't nap again. After praying, I felt like I should go in there and sit with her, ignore her, but put her back in bed each time she sat up. I did that and she was out in 20 minutes. I felt bad ignoring Hyrum while I did it, though. Wednesday, she wouldn't stay in bed at naps again and I couldn't stay in there because Hyrum was fussy and needed me. I tried, but he kept screaming. So, I decided that each time she got out of her bed I would take something away. (One of her sleeping items: baby, water cup, extra pillow, favorite blanket, etc.) Finally I was down to her last item, and I wasn't sure what to do. Then it came to me- I warned her that if she got out of bed again I would have to buckle her in her car seat for a nap. I closed her door and went to get her car seat. Sure enough in a minute or two she was out of bed again. So, I buckled her in her car seat gave her a blanket that she doesn't necessarily like and left. She screamed for about 5 minutes and fell asleep. I wasn't sure I liked restraining her to get her to sleep, but something had to be done for my sanity as well as hers. The next day, Thursday, I took down her crib in the morning because it wasn't doing any good anyway. Then, at naps I told her the same story. If you get out of bed I'll have to take your things away, when everything's gone you're going to have to be buckled in your car seat. So, that day I ended up taking her water cup, baby, favorite blanket, and extra pillow. But, that was it. She stayed in her bed after that and fell asleep. On Friday I told her the same story, and -she proved to be a pretty smart two year old.- she didn't get out of bed once! She realized she got to keep her stuff if she stayed in bed. Saturday and today I didn't have to take anything away either. I'm glad I didn't have to use the car seat method again. And I'm glad she's back to her normal sleeping patterns.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
Wow! What a struggle! Glad to hear that it worked though and now she's back to her normal sleeping pattern. Good job mommy!
ReplyDeleteThat is great that she is staying in bed now! It always seems to be a struggle to keep kids in bed when you transition out the crib (or when they learn to climb out of the crib!)
ReplyDeleteConsistency is the key, and it sounds like that is exactly what you did!
Wow, way to go! I never thought of the car seat...genius!!!! This is such a hard stage when they are kind of ready to move on, but not really. Sounds like you handled it like a pro and I'll copy you next time I have this problem :) Thanks for sharing!
ReplyDeleteSounds like you came up with some really good ideas and that they worked great! I wouldn't feel bad about restraining her. It's the kids who never experience restraint in their lives that turn out badly. It's not like you tied her up somewhere! I used to lock Tabitha in her room at night so she wouldn't get up and wander or come in my room at night. Once she was potty trained I had to take it off, but now she really knows that she has to stay in there unless it's a potty trip.
ReplyDelete