Putting 2 Year Old In Big Boy Bed

[lovemykidstoo]

One of my dcm's asked me a question about her son today and thought I would put it out there for advice. We never had this problem with our own 2 children.

Her son is 2 and they have another son who is 8 months old. They each have their own room. They just moved the 2 year old to a twin/toddler bed. They are having a terrible time with it. He wants to be up playing with toys, wants them to sleep with him, screams, cries etc. So, they decided that one of them would lay with him until he gets to sleep and then they leave. Well, he wakes up in the middle of the night screaming for them. They go in and comfort him and then sometimes the dad or mom will lay on the floor by his bed or on the other side of the gate that they put in the door. They have tried putting one of those tent things up on the bed and he freaks. This all wakes the baby up. They have gone by his room to get the baby who is crying and when he figures out that they're not coming in, he freaks even more. I know that I would just go in, not say a word and put him back I bed and be consisitant with that, but it's hard because he's waking the baby. I told her I would put the message out here for you guys to see if anyone has had this issue. Oh, she has considered putting him back in his crib, but he escapes out of that too.

[daycarediva]

escaping out of a crib can be dangerous, (falling) so I wouldn't go back to that.

I would get him in on it, depending upon how verbal he is. Give him words to express what he feels and what is happening. "Do you miss your crib?" "What did you miss?" (or scared of bed? explain how bed is safe...) Acknowledge that his feelings are NOT being dismissed and attempt to talk to him about it when he is calm (puppets or using dolls would work, too) . I would get a GREAT routine down and an earlier than normal bedtime to accommodate for time being upset. I would NOT deviate from the routine. Dinner, bath, cuddles and quiet play, stories and bed. Allow HIM to chose a special blanket, stuffed animal to go to sleep with.

Then Nanny 911 time. The first tuck in is the 'real one'. If they have to go in again, no words, straight to bed.

As far as baby goes, yes this stinks but this comes with the territory when you have more than one child. I would move baby to the farthest space in the house (temporarily) and use background noise (white noise, ideally).