2.5 Y.O keeps calling us in

[Giorgina]

Hi there,
I remember a time when my son 2.5 years old, would talk and sing himself to sleep.  Now all he does is call us back to his room for "potty, another book, to see mr moon," etc.  I have no problem that he may not be completely tired when he goes to bed but why can't he entertain himself until he falls asleep?  I have tried leaving a light on in his room, and leaving a book or a toy within easy reach (in addition to the toys he actually sleeps with).  He still calls us in for some bogus reason.  Thankfully he is still in a crib! 

[nona]

we were having sleep problems with our 2.5 yo (now is resolved at the moment, knock on wood). we always give him a drink of water before bed and the cup is in his room where he can access it. we also have a 3 book rule. when it is the last book we say "this is the last book. no more books, etc, etc". sometimes there are tears and then i say, you can go to bed or we can read this last book, etc.  now, it is rarely an issue. we also have a 2 tuck in rule so he gets one add'l tuck in after we tuck him in initially.  (this is no longer necessary but it worked pretty well when we were having issues). we were very firm in the sleep rules. every night we would say "3 books, 2 tuck-ins". we were very consistent. if he got up, after the 2 tuck-ins we would return him to bed and not say anything (however, this is due to the sleep issues we were having - long story.). he also has this twilight turtle than shows the constellations/moon on his ceiling and is like a night light. he does want another small night line on though.  we don't have the potty issue b/c DS is not potty trained so not sure what to do about that.

[NewMomVA]

We are in a similar situation - I just wrote another posting.  DD is usually not yet in her crib when she has more requests - more milk, more potty, talk to mommy, etc.  I sympathize with you!  It's been driving me crazy for about 2 months now, not sure what to do at this point either.  I guess it comes with the territory of having a toddler?  I have found that going out in the evening hours too close to bedtime makes her more wound up and harder to get to sleep.

[buttonbaby]

Like PP said we make it really clear and say this is the last book....and once we say that we never read another book...at first DD (25 months)would cry and try to have another read and we would stay calm and say “remember that was the last one its time for bed”...and now dD accepts it every time. If she does try to grab a book after I said last one I sued to say you can look at it in bed yourself and she did for a while but then stopped. I would also try to do all the things she calls you in before leaving and maybe say just one time for books, talking about mr moon etc(I do the last one/just one time with everything, through out the day and always stick to it so it can be used for lots of things and eases taking something away from her.) But like PP said I'd give your DS water, make sure he has gone to the toliet(I haven’t toilet trained DD though so can't help on this matter) and then when she does call out...maybe first time be very matter of fact and if your LO ask for something explain its bedtime, time to sleep(Have done this with DD..at first a few tears but not for long, during the tears I'd just calmly explain its bedtime/time to sleep). Next  times I would just say its bedtime and no more. Along side doing things like this I do leave a few books at DD's bedside and now we don’t hear a peep, she just reads her books then lies there for awhile before she falls asleep but it did take a while of doing as I described. Having said that she is just gone into a bed this week...so far so good but she might start to discover her new found freedom and I may have to do something similar again. Anyway best of luck.