new bed - aaaaaah!

[Sarah and JT]

Hi folks,

We have just put JT (2 years) into his own single sized bed with a duvet (before he had a sleeping bag).  This was after a bit of a build up of buying his bed & bedding & talking about it over about 4-5 weeks.  Am regretting all the changes with bed & bedding but it feels like we can't go back now.

He is getting very excited about his bed at bedtime  and naptime and won't settle.  He is repeatedly getting out of bed.  It is still early days (tonight will be his fourth night).  I've read the advice on the FAQ board about not cuddling and taking them straight back to bed but this becomes a huge game and he gets increasingly wound up and excited and we have to chase him to catch him to put him back to bed with him laughing hysterically.

He has always been wonderful at going to bed apart from at understandable times like when he is teething or massively over-tired & we have always used BW methods.

Has anyone had a similar experience?  any advice?  should we keep going despite the excitement until we get through it?  is there anything else we can try?

best wishes

Sarah

[momofclaire]

So the main problem is that he sees the new bed as a toy right?
I would try my best to not make it a game.
Maybe he needs a little more running around before bed and naps for a few days so that he's extra worn out.     I am going to lurk and hope someone has some great advice because we are about to go to a toddler bed. 
Hang in there. Sorry I am not full of advice.
Myia

[andibig]

we were lucky when we transitioned Sasha to a big bed as she was 18 mths at the time and hadn't worked out she could get out of bed.... until now

we also did the straight back to bed which didn;t work as she frequently got out.so its you either have to stick at it and hopefully he runs out of steam eventually (they do!!).

we decided to put a bed guard on originally which made it a little more difficult for her to get out and made her bed a little more cosy.once she figured that out we put the stair gate in front of her bedroom door (which is still on).she still got out of bed but was unable to get out of her room (so could shout out to us if needed).
HTH
Andrea

[Sarah and JT]

Thanks!  we have put a bed guard on, but JT can wriggle out the bottom of the bed.  We were in our lounge yesterday after we had put him to bed and thought he had gone off to sleep, only to discover him cuddling the dog!  He crawled towards us with the cutest expression - a mix of being very pleased with himself and knowing that he shouldn't be there.  It was such a struggle not to laugh at him, scoop him up and give him a big cuddle.  It was quite a struggle to get him back to sleep.

Tonight I've been reading him stories, trying to contain him in bed and going over the events of the day until he is really, really calm before I left the room.  He kept getting up at first & wouldn't lie down, so I ignored him when he stood up and continued reading when he lay back down.

It seems to be working at the moment......

[andibig]

It was such a struggle not to laugh at him, scoop him up and give him a big cuddle.  It was quite a struggle to get him back to sleep.

LOL-so cute though.I've got a story like that before we had the stair gate in front of her door.We put DD to bed as normal and usually hear her moving about in her room.I'mm sitting there on puter thinking "those footsteps are getting louder".
So i decided to go upstairs and see what she was doing only to be greeted by Sasha on the stairs halfway down.to top it off she then waved at me and said hello!!!!!!!
how i didn't laugh i do not know!!!!

Hope things continue to improve for you

[Sarah and JT]

they are so cute arent they...especially when they know they are doing something they know they are not supposed to!

we had an unbroken night last night - phew!  I think being so consistent with his bedtime routine has really paid off.

Sarah