Crib to bed transition...how to keep him in the bed/room?

[NewmomLauren]

We moved our 2.5 year old son from his crib (convertible) to a toddler bed over 2 weeks ago. He has always been a great sleeper and was still taking a 2-3 hour nap in the afternoons and BT by 8pm - until we moved him. In the afternoon he will not stay in his bed and either plays with the door handle/lock, turns the lights on, and/or comes out of the room....for.three.hours. At night, he will do the same for sometimes an hour or more, or wakes during the night with the same behavior. (Shoot me now!!!

This is what we have tried:
going back in and putting him back in bed (100 times in 3 hours)
sitting in his room ignoring him but making sure he stays in his bed (45min to 2.5 hour stints)
giving him timeouts when he comes out of his room (every 10 minutes for 3 hours)
giving him books or music to entertain himself as long as he stays in his room (works for about 10 minutes)

What should I do?
We are considering changing his bed back to a crib. He had been crawling out, but we could possibly put the mattress directly on the floor inside the crib, so it's impossible for him to climb out. Though, safety-wise, I'm not sure it would work as there would probably be a gap btwn the mattress and bottom of the crib sides.

Or should we hold our ground and hope that he will settle back into his regular sleeping routine after the novelty of his new found freedom wears off? How long could/should that take?

Thanks for any advice!
Lauren

[Buttonbobs]

It does sound like he may be a bit UT. A nap of that length wouldn't be unheard of at this age, but it is on the longer side. What time is WU and BT?

Could you try capping nap at 1.5 hours?

Have a read here if you want some ideas:

The 1-0 transition...Advice and Tips to help you through.

It may be just coincidental that he is starting to muck around more with sleeping generally, but if you get him mor tired you have a much better chance of keeping him in bed and getting all those techniques you been trying to make a difference.

[NewmomLauren]

Thanks Naomi. Sorry for the late response. We were out of town until yesterday.

Anyway, he usually wakes up around 5.30-6am and bedtime is about 7.45am though he may not go to sleep until 8.30-9.00. The only difference now is that he isn't napping anymore, so many times he is only getting 9 hours of sleep in a 24 hour period, which is not enough. We can go for a 2-3 hour walk/play outside in the morning; preschool in the morning; indoor soft play....he still won't nap. He constantly has black bags under his eyes and his behavior is terrible - worse than a "normal" toddler.

Thank you for the link. It was helpful to just think outside the box when it comes to naps. I've tried giving him "quiet time" as suggested but he still comes out of his room and it's still 2+ hours of battling with him/time outs/etc. I think for now he needs to be back in his crib. I just don't know what else to do and I can't handle his behavior during the day because he so tired all the time. Please let me know if I'm missing something or if there is something else I should try.

~Lauren

[Buttonbobs]

Have you tried ignoring the nap but trying for a BT no later than 12 hours after WU. He is probably now realy OT and needs some better night sleep.

[jessmum46]

Just wondering what time you're trying for a nap after the 5.30/6am WU? 

[NewmomLauren]

He has always napped from about 1-4'ish, so I've kept that as the nap time. I've tried getting him to bed earlier, like 6:30-7:00 if he didn't nap, but he would still stay awake until 8:00 or so.

[jessmum46]

Probably with a 5.30/6am WU I'd be going for no later than a 6pm BT.  My guess would be by the time it's a 13h day or more he is too OT to settle well.  How would you feel about trying a super early BT?  Or failing that, offering a much earlier than usual nap?  I do find sometimes after several NNDs DD will go down (at nursery) about 5h after WU and then the long A to BT means she'll still usually settle ok.