Advice on keeping my 2yr. old in big boy bed...driving me crazy!!??!??!?

[bee]

We moved our son to a big boy bed last week. He did great for the first week. Only need a few reminders to stay in the bed. Now this week..he's been out playing at nap time and bed time...getting up early and playing in the floor. He has rails but we remind him OFTEN to stay in the bed until mommy or daddy come to get him. This am he was up at 6 playing and wouldn't go back to sleep. Yesterday he was up at 5, 6 , fell back asleep and finally got up at 7.

We have baby #2 due in 6 weeks or I would say put him back in the crib. OH, he was such a sound sleeper in the crib and never tried to crawl out. What have I done?

[nfowife]

Honestly, sounds like he is not ready to be in a big boy bed. I'd move him back to the crib for the time being. Will baby be in your room at the beginning to give you some more time? At that point you can decide if he is still not ready and get a cheaper/secondhand crib for him to use (giving the new baby the better one if you want). My 2 will be 21 months apart and I fell that the $200 I'm spending on a second crib is well worth it's weight in gold for the amount of sleep it will save me!

[C99]

I bought a 2nd crib when I was expecting my 2nd child. However, because I was put on bedrest in my 3rd trimester, I had to take a rail off the crib and convert it to a toddler bed. Nate's sleep deteriorated in the same manner of your son's - he didn't want to stay in bed, he would get up to play, etc. I put the rails back on the crib about a month after my daughter was born and he went back to sleeping. We bought an inexpensive second crib at IKEA and it really was the best $90 I spent in preparation for #2!

[SnuggleBuggles]

We just let our son play in his room. Naptime was often a mix of 1-2 hours of play/ 2 hours of sleep. I think so long as he is getting enough total sleep you should just roll with it.

We had a rule that he had to be in his room and he couldn't wake us up too early. (He really didn't have issues with waking up too early though).

I would put him back in his crib. Do you need the crib right away for baby?

Beth

[kboyle]

we did the same thing. pretty much during nap time charlie played till he fell asleep, about 1 hr of play:2 hrs of sleep.

but at bedtime we had NO problems, probably because he has no nightlight and the room is pitch black so he really can't see. he does get up early sometimes (not often, my kids sleep in genereally till about 8:30a on non-preschool days) but plays in his room till i come in and get him...if he does get out he'll hop into bed with me and lay or play on my floor...sometimes i'll put the tv on in my room so i can get a few xtra minutes of sleep :)

if you can put him back in the crib, go for it...but honestly if it seems like he's gettng enough sleep, let him play :) just babyproof anything that needs to be without your supervision.

[lizajane]

well, schuyler is 3.5 and we still haven't found a way to get him to stay in bed.