How do you get them to stay in bed/in room at night?

We switched to toddler beds last August and after a rocky few weeks, got them used to sleeping in their beds, but we always shut their bedroom doors. Then we had a phase of being afraid of the dark and decided to let them keep doors open with a baby gate. After a few attempts to climb OVER the babygates, we went with just one tall walk through gate on DD's door just to help keep things calm at bedtime (if both doors are open they want to run from room to room instead of getting ready for bed). She can open the gate, but typically will stay in her room.

Lately we've had a LOT of mischief after hours. Luckily we have a gate at the top of the stairs so they can't get down to the kitchen or anything, but I've caught them in the bathroom, in my bedroom, and now IN THE BABY'S CRIB!! I heard music coming from her crib way after she'd been asleep, looked in the video monitor and saaw DS sitting in the crib playing with her musical mirror :wacko: Luckily she was still fast asleep through it (and it honestly cracked me up once I got over being afraid that he'd squashed her!), but I've had about enough of the late night sneaking around (and they're not even teenagers, ugh!).

So tonight I shut their doors after they quietly raided my room again (no major damage, just rifling through my drawers again). They both screamed because they hate having their doors shut. I held my ground for a while, and then when they calmed down went in, talked to them both about why the door had to be shut, and offered them a chance to be good. They both said yes and actually stayed in bed and went to sleep, but I'm sure it'll be the same game again tomorrow or soon. So do I just keep doing it until it sticks? Back to baby gates with cabinet locks on them to keep them confined without shutting the door? They have night lights so it's not like I'm trapping them in the dark or anything. What worked for you?

 

For me, because I still don't want my kids wandering around at night (and they are 3), I still shut the doors and DH put little latch locks on the outside of the doors. We don't have to worry about DD because she is not a wanderer, she'll just hang out in her room. DS is our wanderer, so I do put the latch lock on at night. They both are potty trained, so they have their little potties in their rooms for overnight.

 

Ive been having the same problem.

I think this is in the wrong age group? Maybe 2-4 would be better.

 

I'll move this to the older age group for you

We also keep their door closed at night. I think my older kids were about 4 I think before I trusted them enough to leave their door cracked open at night. I would either leave the doors closed, or go back to baby gates with locks on them.

 

Doors closed here as well, with door knob on the inside. Or my kids would be destroying the house every morning at 7am. No thanks. Of course my kids have always slept with the door closed so it's not a problem for them.

 

I don't have any advice on the door because mine prefer to have their door shut so they can play in their room without me telling them to get back in bed

But I do have my 3 year old rooming with his 2 year old brother that is still in a crib and we put a crib tent on his crib when he was an infant because the kids always wanted in his crib. Once they started throwing things into the crib for the baby to play with :blink: I put the tent up. It's worked wonders!

 

Do they have something they like sleeping with? My son used to constantly get out of bed. We told him we would take away one stuffed animal for every time he got out of bed (after a few warnings). After a night of loosing two or three of his favorites, he is now much better about staying in bed.

 

This is what I was going to suggest too. We threaten to put stuffies in time out if the girls get up to play after bedtime.

 

Here are some other options I have read about - havent tried either myself - good luck!

http://bit.ly/b8rTrh

http://www.prudentbaby.com/2010/12/tape-trick.html

 

Ditto. We have a tall gate on their door so they can't get out, but when we first transitioned out of cribs they liked to get in and out of bed and run around and play or just talk. We started taking stuffed animals away one by one and it stopped all together.

 

Same here. Mine are used to having the door closed and locked and have never really protested.

 

No fan of the door closed here. The boys problem really isn't getting up and wondering around at night. It's staying in bed when it's time to go to bed. When I close the door and they know I can't see them, the get up and run around the room playing, screaming, hollering, and eventually fighting. For whatever reason, when the door is closed, they go gladiator on me. :headbang:

That said, having the door open isn't that much of an improvement. When it's open, they are curious about what's going on.

I can't work on it too much right now, since we are moving soon, but once the move is done, I'll have to do some kind of sleep reeducation program. I think that they are almost ready to give up naps, and that is part of the problem.

 

Wooops :blush: Guess I should stop posting late at night...thanks!!

I have taken away a few toys, but tonight I tried giving a special toy as a reward. I told DS he could hold his special airplane that I usually take away at bedtime. I said I wouldn't take the airplane if he stayed right in his bed...and he did! But it won't always be special...he'll get used to having it and then it probably won't seem like such a reward. Well, maybe it'll stay special long enough that he gets back into the habit of staying in bed!! Wish me luck ;P

 

I had issues keeping my 3.5 yr old in his room at night. He hates having his door closed at night, so that wasnt an option for me. A friend of mine suggested stacking 2 pressure mounted gates in his door way. If I used only 1 he would climb it. Have to say since I started doubling up the gates, there have been peaceful night here! He is back to sleeping 12 hrs at night. Took 2-3 nights of him calling for me from his room whenever he got up, but now that he knows he cant go anywhere he doenst even bother calling me anymore unless he has to pee.

 

I would. Seeing as they really don't want to have their doors shut I think it's a great bargaining tool. They are old enough that they should be able to grasp such simple cause and effect pretty quickly; if you stay in bed your door can be open, if you get up and mess around the door will be shut.

Good luck with the toy bribes! :lazy:

 

I would keep sticking to it. They might be a little young so eventually it will sink in. I JUST moved my girls into their big-girl-beds AND into the same room (I separated them at 5mo because I had one 12hr sleeper and one midnight talker/singer). The first couple of nights were a learning curb for me--take out toys....duh! But the door is shut, i have kids who try and shut the door on me all day so at night it's no problem. However, we have installed higher locks on the main doors of the house just in case they one day decide to take a midnight walk.

 

My two like their door open, too. They are not wanderers in the night or in the morning & I don't actually have a problem with them getting out of bed at bedtime, either, but I do have a problem with them settling down & going to sleep (they share a room). I have taken away stuffies, as pp suggested & that works fairly well. My two also like the hall light left on until they fall asleep & I tell them it is a privilege that is allowed only if they stay in bed & settle down. I didn't have to turn it off more than once or twice before they learned that I mean business. Occasionally, one thing will stop working for us & I will have to come up with another idea, but generally I always can think of something to take away or something to reward them with the next day, just like any other discipline issue.