Quick Help Please!

[spud912]

So my dd (2 years old) discovered how to climb out of her crib a few nights ago and is becoming so bad about leaving her bedroom. We already have a big girl bed so I figured we could transition her into that instead.

It has gotten to the point where bed time is a total disaster! The first night (Tues) it took 30 minutes to get her to sleep. Yesterday nap time it took 30 minutes also (she got up 9 times). Last night it took 2 HOURS (she got up 29 times . . . yes, we counted). Then she woke up this morning 2 hours early and never went back to sleep. Today at nap time she did not sleep at all (for the entire 2 hours she either screamed and cried or kept coming out). Just from yesterday alone, she is lacking 6 hours of sleep. I completely dread sleep time now!

We have a normal bed time ritual and when she gets out of bed, we don't talk to her or make eye contact and we just put her back to sleep. It's becoming very disruptive because she gets out of bed the second we leave the room. She is waking up the other kids during nap time, she keeps us up at night, and I physically cannot keep putting her back to sleep every minute because I have an infant that I have to get ready for bed too. Plus she is super cranky from the lack of sleep.

Does anyone have advice, or at least some reassurance that it does get better? I hate to admit it, but I actually locked her in her bedroom today during nap time so I could have time to feed the baby (and then I unlocked it as soon as I was done).

[WImom]

when my kids were this age I had a gate on their bedroom doorway so they couldn't come out. I also removed most of their toys from their room for a while. They fought it a little but eventually started staying in their room.

I've done the door knob lock on the inside before when my 2nd DD - she was the worst. But I always took it off once I knew she was a sleep. I wanted her to be able to get out if there was an emergency. We mostly did the gate thing though(which I also would open once she was asleep)

[Zoe]

My son did this too. We did the gate thing at the doorway. This may sound mean but we gave him three chances, each time telling him that he needs to stay in bed or we'd take his blanket away. We had to take it away a couple times before he finally got the hint that he had to stay in bed.

On the nights that we did take the blanket away we wouldn't give it back until he was in his bed quietly for quite a while.

[SimpleMom]

sit in the room at first. Don't say anything at all. Have your little one lay in thier bed. If they get out, put them back--don't talk to them. sit back down. Repeat.
Do this until they stay in bed for reasonable amount of time. Then move out a little closer to the door in a few days. Next, move out to the hallway. Repeat the process of no talk and place into bed.

Might take a few weeks, but it'll work.

The gate idea is good as well