difficulty getting her to bed

[pizzy]

My 29 month daughter  has always found it difficult to go to bed  she does not like the idea of being left on her own.I gave her  a few  cuddly toys  to keep her company during the night  ;but this worked for a while.Now  she wants me to stay with her in her room until she falls asleep,but while i am there, she keeps talking :so after a while i try to leave the room with an excuse ,sometimes she jumps out of bed & comes to my room crying that she wants to stay with me.At the end ,between  the toilet and the time she falls asleep i spend one & a halfhours  with her, plus i have a second 11 month daughter:this means a have no time at all  for me & my husband.

[elfin]

Have you tried putting a gate up at her doorway?  Does she get upset when you leave her room?

[sacmommy]

Spending 1 1/2 hours putting them to bed is not fair to you, and not teaching them how to get a good night's sleep! I would establish a set routine, repeat it to her verbally several times a day, and stick with it at night. Ours is:

6- dinner
6:30 - a little play time (unless dinner goes late)
6:45 - bath
7 - books
7:15/7:30 - bedtime (1-2 minutes of talking with my 4-yo then out the door; sippy cup of mily for 2-yo then lay her down in her crib and out the door)

We also have "sleep rules" with our 4-yo, which means he can't get out of bed at bedtime or during the night. We are lenient for 1 rising at bedtime and 1 in the middle of the night. We make sure he gets a sip of water and final potty before bed. If he follows the rules, he gets a treat sometime during the next day, otherwise he doesn't. Also, the gate at the door is a great idea if your lo is getting out of bed a lot. HTH

[TaylorsDad]

A gat is great to stop them walking around etc but it doesn't stop the wailing...

SACMOMMY you said you give your 4 yr old a treat. Can you start this at 2.5 yrs?

[sacmommy]

We started the treat probably by age 3, if not earlier~ I don't love it, but that's what finally worked for us. I tried the silent return to sleep and it just didn't work for our son. It was a game for him and made us crazy. I didn't have the gate idea in my toolbox (!) at the time, so we were scrambling for whatever would work. We STILL use treats for him as an incentive, and it definitely works. There have been days when he was younger when he was just beside himself for not getting the reward. I wish we had been successful with other methods, but one thing I learned very well in this process is that EACH CHILS IS DIFFERENT (I learn this ever day or so now with my two kids!), so you have to keep trying with different methods until you figure out what works for your child. My son is so sprited and lively, he just needs a lot to calm him down and get him into sleep mode!