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Our son used to be soooo easy to put to bed. Until now! He will be 3 next month and it takes us 2 hours every night to put him to bed. We are very consistent with our routine and have always stuck to a firm bedtime. He just constantly gets up out of bed. He will not stay in the bed!! How do we get him to settle down and not get out of the bed??? This is just killing my husband and I! HELP with any advice!!!
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I tell my boys when I put them to bed that they have to stay in unless they have to go potty. If they come out, they will lose one of their favorite things for the next day and have to go to bed earlier.
My girlfriend tells her daughter that if she doesn't stay in her bed that she will close the door. Her daughter is afraid of the dark, so it works.
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How much of a nap does he take? (assuming he still naps) A few months ago, DS got to the point where he was getting up several times as well with all kinds of excuses. His naps dwindled to about an hour and a half, and as much as I hated the idea of no naps, I tried taking the naps away, and now he goes down with no problem. My son is a little older than yours (three and a half), but maybe he is just in that transitional stage where if you would trim off a little of his nap, it would help at bedtime. Just a thought...
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The only thing that works for my spirited dd is to lay with her a few minutes and scratch her back. It settles her right down. Perhaps you can find something he likes that willhelp calm him and make him more sleepy. I do agree that shortening or eliminating naptime will help too! My dd stopped napping at age 3.
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I get my turkey birds to bed pretty easy now. They both know when they are expected to go to bed...8! So, we all go upstairs and they each pick out a book that I will read to them seperately. The youngest who is 3 first...tuck in...favorite blankets....fairy blessings...and then we read. Once the book is done, yes..she will put up a fight, but I sternly tell her that it is her turn to get some sleepy time so the grumpy bugs don't come! Then my oldest son reads his book to me..tuck in and off go the lights. This usually takes about 20 minutes, but it has gotten easier then fighting for 2 hours and them disappearing in the basement! Take this time to tell them how much you love them and how important they are! Even if they did turn your hair gray that day!!!
:D
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Originally Posted by oneandonly
How much of a nap does he take? (assuming he still naps) A few months ago, DS got to the point where he was getting up several times as well with all kinds of excuses. His naps dwindled to about an hour and a half, and as much as I hated the idea of no naps, I tried taking the naps away, and now he goes down with no problem. My son is a little older than yours (three and a half), but maybe he is just in that transitional stage where if you would trim off a little of his nap, it would help at bedtime. Just a thought...
Just went through this too. My son at 3 1/2 no longer naps either and no goes down pretty easy. I do stay in there and lay with him till he falls asleep. The 10-15 min I spend now is nothing compared to the two hour nightmare I was going through before. Good Luck.
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My boys are very wild at night too. They sleep in the same room so when one gets up, the other does too. They're 8 and 6, by the way. But when I started making their bedtime routine longer and spent more time with them closer to bedtime, things started working better. After their showers we would do a puzzle together, play Twister, cards, some kind of a calm game (not that Twister's all that calm, but it didn't hurt). Then they had to brush their teeth 10 minutes before bed (which is at 8 because they still don't go right to sleep). They get water for next to the bed, go to the bathroom, etc. Then they get into bed, and I lay with each of them for however long feels right, we talk, or I'll tell them some story about them when they were littler, and I leave. When I do this, it eliminates like 90% of the problems with them getting out of bed to tell me something, think of something that hurts, etc. But lately, I've been really stressed out and have been limiting my interactions with them because I feel bad for being in such a crappy mood and being snappy, and it really shows in their bedtime behavior. They're back to getting out of bed for everything. So I know that extra attention dedicated to them at night is a real necessity for us.
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We are just firm. We say a prayer with them..and put them to bed. End of it. If they get up, it better be for a darn good reason. We have never beat them or anything..but we also have just never allowed them to win the power struggle. You might just try making a list of new rules and then giving him the list of consequences...a toy taken away, a fun thing planned if he DOES stay in, etc. Good luck.
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Have you tried Duct Tape? It'll fix any problem ya might have!!! It works for my little rebel!! Only joking!!! The big thing with my 3 year old is routine. His bed time is at 8PM and it's laydown time at 8PM, he knows there are no deals to be made when it comes to bedtime and believe me he spends the rest of the day trying to play lets make a deal (I know you are all way too young to remember that show!)
Tonya
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A shot of brandy and a good book for you to read to him.lol