DD Won't stay in bed

[Jorja's mum]

Hi everyone, am really hoping for some help please  :cry:    My dd is 25 months old and has been a great sleeper, she moved into a "big girl" bed just over a month ago and she did great, no problems at all.  She got out of bed the first day twice and since she's been great.

Three days ago our dd won't stay in bed, for either her nap or bedtime.  She keeps getting up and coming to the door.  We have followed the suggestions and after the first couple of times telling her it's time for bed we then don't communicate with her or show her any emotion.  We just help her climb back into bed, cover her up and leave.   At first we thought maybe she was scared of something but when she first starts getting out of bed she smiling and acting like it is maybe a game.  She eventually starts to cry and get very upset when she realizes she's not getting a reaction out of us.   It is taking us an hour to an hour and a half to get her to go to sleep and last night she woke up at 11:30 (she goes to bed usually at 7:30) and it took us 40 minutes of the same thing and she went to sleep and then she was up at 6:00 and came to her door and tried to start all over again.   

Today I put her down for a nap (she's so overtired) and it took about 30 minutes and she finally went to sleep but only slept for 45 minutes and then was up again at the door.   Before this all started she was sleeping for 1 1/2 hours in the day and 11 at night.  The last few days she's been getting maybe 9 or 8 hours  :shock: and obviously she's quite grumpy. 

The only thing she does say to us is "I don't want the bed", even in the middle of the night.   We are really stumped at what could be going on.   Nothing in our daily routine is different and it seemed to have happened all of a sudden.   Any advice or ideas would be soooo welcome  !!   We are all getting super tired and are really hoping our dd gets back to sleeping again soon.   Thanks so much everyone    !!

Louise (Jorja's mum - October 24, 2003)

[elfin]

I have yet to make the transition to a big bed for my ds, so I don't know if I have any real words of advice for you.  But to me it sounds like you are doing the right thing, with simply returning her to bed over and over.  I would say to just stay consistent with what you are doing now and she will get used to it.

Sorry, not alot of help!  Hopefully someone who has experienced this will chime in.

[cora n henry's mom]

What worked with our little one was to make up a rule.  She has to stay in her bed until we say she can get up.  If she gets out of bed, she gets a time out. -Which basically means she lays in bed while we sit on the edge of her bed not looking at her or talking to her.  When the time is up, we say "Stay in bed until Mommy and Daddy say it's time to get up."  And then we leave.  It took a few time outs, but it works really great!