My children's bedroom that is. We are TRYING to transition my 21/2 year old out of our room and into his big boy bed with his 4 year old brother. My husbands is beginning to work 4/10's so he will be waking much earlier and we don't want my 2 year old to be woken up, also my 4 month old will be needing the crib soon. ANYWAYS, we are having a hard time getting my 21/2 year old asleep. He stays (for the most part) in his bed, (to avoid swats) but still jumps around, talks, laughs, bounces, and plays around keeping my 4 year old up. Any suggestions? In the past, we tried a sticker chart, candy, treats, Mc Donalds etc and not much works. (I must say, swats do work at times but I hate doing this) HELP!
When we transitioned our boys we used stories and prayers to wind down, soft nightlights (even while still up and moving around near bedtime), and a cassette player (yes, my boys are that old! lol) with quiet music or stories on tape. Curious George or some story caused them to settle and listen; music played softly while they dropped off. My boys were 5 and 3 when we needed the crib and nursery for #3. By then my 5 yr old could start the music tape again if 3 yr old was still keeping him awake. MT3
I don't have much for advice, since I'm kind of in the same boat. But I feel for you! Here's what we're doing: dd2 started climbing out of the crib and quit taking naps altogether, so we decided it was time for a big girl bed. We brought up the toddler bed and tried it. Went great! Night #3 she realized she could get up. And she did, repeatedly, for 2 hrs at bedtime and was coming out most of the night too. With ds on the way, we decided we could try going ahead and moving her to dd4's room. They could share her bed since a warm body seemed to be what they've both wanted lately. They were both thrilled! Until we said goodnight and then came the tears. They're total opposite sleepers. 4 sleeps with light on and reads for an hour b4 falling asleep, always has. 2 sleeps in pitch dark and goes straight to sleep. This wasn't going to work. We brought up a twin mattress and put it in dd2's room on the floor. I laid with her, she went to sleep, I sneaked out, she slept all night. Hasn't come out at bedtime since, however! Thrum the night she cries her way to impure room. Some nights I pulled her in our bed. Sometimes went to her bed & slept with her. And toward the end kept doing that for a week. Then realized, another baby will be here very soon who will need me to sleep with him (not to mention my hubby would like to sleep with me here and there.) SO! This past week Ive been going into her room when she wakes in the night and putting her back in her bed (she begs me to lay with her, and id love to so I could get right back to sleep!) but ive held firm and simply sit in the rocking chair watching her until she goes back to sleep (usually about 5-10 mins.) Its working!!!! Fingers crossed!!!! (It'll probably be jinxed now though that I told the whole story!) Sorry for the novel!!!!
And we've always done wind down for routine, but that night we were going to put them together, they were bouncing off the walls with excitement! I'm sure that would have dwindled eventually had it remained though.
My kids are opposites. The oldest obeys all rules (to an extreme at times). My youngest does his best to bend every rule (without bending them hard enough to get in trouble). :lol: Here's what has worked for us... threaten the "friends" rather than the kid. He likes to feel like he's in control, so we let him sleep with one "friend" (stuffed animal), and he has to teach that friend how to be still and quiet. He helps the friend say its bedtime prayer, tucks it in, etc. If *the friend* talks (or roars or quacks or whatever it does), the friend gets taken away. Since he doesn't want the friend to get taken away, he makes sure the friend stays quiet. Same applies to him. If he can't behave, the friend can't sleep with him. If the kid talks, the friend goes away. If the kid gets up, he gets a spanking. It only takes once or twice on a bad night to keep him in bed. Usually he's fine. At 2.5, he was a bear, though! By 3, after incorporating the "friend" stuff, he was doing well.
Have you tried putting the 2yo to bed first, then when he falls asleep you can put the 4yo to bed. Just a thought.
Patryk turned 3 a couple months ago, and we were in the same boat. He would jump and scream, and yell and try to play with 4 year old brother Beau. Not cool. So we spend a good 2 hours after lay down time walking up and down the stairs telling them to quiet down and behave (also using swats which don't always work). I came across an article (wish I could find it again) that says when kids get too much sleep they can act like that. Adults like us over sleep and we're still tired, but kids just get WOUND!! Weird, huh? Well, we stopped giving the 2 older boys naps. Only the baby slept for nap. Turns out, it works! They aren't NEARLY as loud, we don't need to go up and down the stairs, and their usually asleep in 30 minutes! It is truely a miracle for us!! I know your DS is 2 1/2 but maybe you could Shorten his nap? Letting him not sleep might make you nuts (pat drove us nuts for a day or so until he got used to it) but it might work in the long run! Just a thought. It's worked WONDERS around here!
This is our plan for today, to skip naps. It took 2 1/2 hours last night to get him to sleep, and he didn't even sleep in this morning!!! It's going to be hard because my 2 year old is a rough one to handle, but maybe a few days of this will get him on track. great advice, thank you.
