anscje
10-09-2007, 13:47
Ever since my DS was about 15 months old and learned to climbed out of his cot, we have had a baby gate over his bedroom door frame.
He would always get out and rummage through the house destroying everything in his path but being sneaky enough not to wake us.
When he turned 2 he learnt to climb over the gate so we got a taller one.
It has worked well for us until about 2 weeks ago. DS would always go to bed around 8pm and wake between 8-9am in the morning.
However in the last 2 weeks he has learnt to unscrew the gate off the hinges (it's a pressure system so it's not actually screwed into the wall, just the pressure pads are pushed against the wall) and he is always getting out.
So DH and I made the decision to remove it completely as he's almost 3 and big enough to not need one anymore.
What a HUGE mistake that was. For the last week he is in and out of his bedroom all night wanting to sleep in the bed with us. To be honest I wouldn't mind if he actually came and slept with us, but he doesn't, he likes to sing and play instead.
It's at the stage now where he's waking up and coming into us at anytime between 2am and 4am, then I have to take him back to his room and sit with him for about 1/2 to 1 hour until he falls back asleep.
If I try and let him cry himself back to sleep it doesn't work anymore because he just gets up and gets out of his room by opening the door.
If he does go back to sleep then he wakes at 5.30am or 6am.
I am soooooooo tired!!
He is sleeping during the day as well but the long days are not taking it's toll on everyone's sleep and I'm not sure what to do.
DH says to get my Dad to drill the gate into the walls so it can't be undone and once he is old enough to understand and talk properly and we can tell him it's not good to wander about the house in the middle of the night, then it can come off again.
I don't like the idea of having to constantly have the gate closed, but it's the only way he will sleep. For some reason when the gates up he doesn't get up out of bed and try to get out, he's happy to sleep all night until about 8am when he calls for us.
I'm not sure what to do.
Any advise would be great :hugs:
He would always get out and rummage through the house destroying everything in his path but being sneaky enough not to wake us.
When he turned 2 he learnt to climb over the gate so we got a taller one.
It has worked well for us until about 2 weeks ago. DS would always go to bed around 8pm and wake between 8-9am in the morning.
However in the last 2 weeks he has learnt to unscrew the gate off the hinges (it's a pressure system so it's not actually screwed into the wall, just the pressure pads are pushed against the wall) and he is always getting out.
So DH and I made the decision to remove it completely as he's almost 3 and big enough to not need one anymore.
What a HUGE mistake that was. For the last week he is in and out of his bedroom all night wanting to sleep in the bed with us. To be honest I wouldn't mind if he actually came and slept with us, but he doesn't, he likes to sing and play instead.
It's at the stage now where he's waking up and coming into us at anytime between 2am and 4am, then I have to take him back to his room and sit with him for about 1/2 to 1 hour until he falls back asleep.
If I try and let him cry himself back to sleep it doesn't work anymore because he just gets up and gets out of his room by opening the door.
If he does go back to sleep then he wakes at 5.30am or 6am.
I am soooooooo tired!!
He is sleeping during the day as well but the long days are not taking it's toll on everyone's sleep and I'm not sure what to do.
DH says to get my Dad to drill the gate into the walls so it can't be undone and once he is old enough to understand and talk properly and we can tell him it's not good to wander about the house in the middle of the night, then it can come off again.
I don't like the idea of having to constantly have the gate closed, but it's the only way he will sleep. For some reason when the gates up he doesn't get up out of bed and try to get out, he's happy to sleep all night until about 8am when he calls for us.
I'm not sure what to do.
Any advise would be great :hugs: