Tips for getting my toddler to sleep in his own bed?
My son is 20 months old. He has a toddler bed, but refuses to sleep in it! We have already tried several things and nothing seems to be working as yet. Does anyone have any tips that worked well for their children? His father and I would really like to break him of wanting to sleep in our bed! LOL We have a queen size bed and our son LOVES to sleep sideways, so it leave very little room for the 2 of us! Thanks in advance for the advice!
Put your son in his bed at night and explain that he needs to sleep in his bed tonight and shut the light off and sit on the floor of his room in the dark. When he gets up, quietly without saying a word get up and place him back into his bed and sit back down. Every time he gets up continue putting him back into his bed without saying anything to him.You can quietly get up and leave when he is tired of getting no where and falls asleep. We used this technique on our son and it worked great, the first night I think I sat in his room for 45 mins and the time got shorter and shorter every night, and after 5 days he was sleeping in his bed fine, and we haven’t had a problem since (he has been in a big boy bed for a year now).
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let him sleep as he always sleeps. Then once he’s asleep, slowly (without waking him) move him to his toddler bed. Be consistent and don’t give up. It works.
You can also bribe him… tell him that every day he sleeps in his bed you’ll reward him (and make it happen, don’t just promise)
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In the end we had to shut the door. We told him that he had to stay in bed or we would have to shut the door, when he got out we did it, we shut the door for about 30 seconds and he was so upset that after that we just have to threaten to shut the door and he hops straight into bed. It was really horrible, hated doing it but it was the only thing that worked. It even works now when we are out – if he’s playing up in the shops I just have to say ‘shut the door’ and he starts behaving! use it as a last resort. We were in the same situation as you but now he’s only in our bed under certain circumstances and every other night he’s in his own bed all night (until morning cuddle in mum’s bed time!)
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Put your son in his bed at night and explain that he needs to sleep in his bed tonight and shut the light off and sit on the floor of his room in the dark. When he gets up, quietly without saying a word get up and place him back into his bed and sit back down. Every time he gets up continue putting him back into his bed without saying anything to him.You can quietly get up and leave when he is tired of getting no where and falls asleep. We used this technique on our son and it worked great, the first night I think I sat in his room for 45 mins and the time got shorter and shorter every night, and after 5 days he was sleeping in his bed fine, and we haven’t had a problem since (he has been in a big boy bed for a year now).
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We saw this technique used on the show Super Nanny.
A night light may help
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http://www.childrens-bedding-direct.co.uk/index.php?cPath=44
got this idea from my cousin. Go to a craft store and let your son choose some of those cheep stickers you can buy, with rockets, or disney things etc. When you get home allow your son to decorate his cot, and put all his favourite toys into it, etc. Basically let him decorate it make it his special project. This will give him something to do throughout the day, and will encourage him to use the bed after all his effort. To cut a long story short make it an exciting and happy place. My Cousin had a similar problem with her son. Her tactics worked really well and he was asking to go to his bed all day, he was that excited.
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