Moving to big bed

[angieo]

Hi
i have just moved our 2yr old into a big bed from cot (he was escaping from cot in middle of night and i want to get him used to bed by end april as am due again then).
he will not stay in his bed unless i sit onthe end and then he falls asleep within 15 minutes. (if i dont he just crys and crys and gets out and bangs onthe door - so i go in a put him back in bed -and do this about 8 times till igive in and sit wthi him.
the thing is i dont watn to have to sit with him EVERY time he goes to bed.
I would love to hear from others who had similar problems and how they solved them, or how long it took till their child went to bed without crying and continually getting up and banging onthe door crying.

i know some people have no problems (i wish) buti just cant see an end to this - its only been 4 nights so far but i dont want to get Tom used to me being there just to fall asleep

HELP! thank you
angie :)

[xkwzit]

Hi Angie
I'm not sure where I read this, maybe "the baby whisperer". So it is totally theoretical (I didn't need to use it with my DD1), but maybe you could give it a try and let us know if it works ;) .

The problem was a toddler who didn't like to go to sleep by themselves. The technique was to get Mum to sit in the room by the bed and read (or quietly do something else that was not interacting with the toddler) while the toddler dropped off to sleep. The deal was that if toddler got up, Mummy would have to leave the room. So as long as they are good and stay quietly in bed (which is what YOU want), they get what THEY want, which is your presence. Mummy sits there until he falls asleep. Once they are used to this with Mummy sitting right next to them, gradually move the chair closer and closer to the door until Mummy is outside. Should he need you, you are still close by. But by this stage, he *should* be pretty confident in the knowledge that you are nearby and happy to go to sleep knowing you would be available if he needs you.

Anyway, it might help. Best of luck.

[minniemouse]

The little steps approached worked for us with our toddler (now 2) when he went through an unsettled phase after becoming afraid after some big thunderstorms. He went from going off to sleep fine (with a bottle though - my problem for posting later...) every night to being afraid to go to bed. I started reading him a bed time story until he fell asleep - sometimes it took a couple of reads... and then starting moving further away from the bed until I was reading the story from outside his door. It sounds silly - but it did work. Maybe a variation on this theme would work for you?