2 1/2 yr old getting out of toddler bed.....what to do?

[JulieNG]

This is the 2nd night of my son being in his toddler bed. After 2 weeks of him jumping out of the crib we decided to put him in a toddler bed. This is not going very smooth...last night it took him 2 hours to go to bed and tonight it's going on 2. Every time he gets out I'm just putting him back in and it's happened about 40 times. How can I make this work?

[babybarr]

Can you post your routine - maybe he's not quite tired enough for bed and that's why he's playing up

[JulieNG]

Hi,
He usually wakes between 7-7:30. I lay him down at 1 for his nap. When he naps, it's from 1-3:30 ish and bed is 8. When he doesn't nap (which is most of the time these days) I usually put him to bed 7-7:30 at the latest. He would fall right asleep in his crib a few weeks ago until he learned to climb out. Thanks for the help.

[babybarr]

Is it happening every day or only "nap days"? 

Can you put a gate on the door?

[LucySol]

if he is waking from his nap at 3.30 then i think that would explain the messing about at bedtime.The A time after nap isnt long enough IMO.
would he nap earlier,say 12.30? then i would cap  his nap at 2 hrs and aim for an 8pm bedtime.

[Jann]

I was in the same situation, when he naps, he has curtain calls for just about anything, milk, pee, look outside etc.  I am very strict and bring him back to his room, no conversation and I point to his bed.  He climbs in on his own and covers himself up and it usually stops after the second time.  He is 31 months and he naps on and off, on nap days he also wakes up early.  I try to keep him up and put him to bed by 6:45ish and he usually is up by 6:30.  I would either move his nap earlier or cut it short.  I can't even let my lo nap 30min or he will be up all night.

HTH
Jan

[anna*]

We had this and put a baby gate up at the door. There was a couple of nights of crying about it, but now he goes to sleep without a murmur every night. It solved the problem completely for us, plus he can still have his 2.5-3 hr nap and go to bed easily!

[JulieNG]

Thanks for all the help. Last night he went to bed perfect at 7:30 with no nap. I've only had him in the toddler bed since Monday, so we've had only one nap day and it was hard to put him to bed Monday with no nap, Tuesday with a nap, and last night was no problem. So we'll see what happens tonight!