Getting toddler to go to bed

When we got Ali her bed a couple of months ago, she would tell us, time for bed and head up the stairs.

Now, we say to her ok time for bed, all we get is NO. Sometimes she will go up, but other nights it is a struggle and a half.

We go up, we read, read, read, read and read. I can't even tell you how many books we read in a night (I can't tell you how many I know know by heart). We tell her, ok this is the last one.

Occasionally she will go right to sleep other nights, it is like pulling teeth. Light on, light off. In the bed, out of the bed, crying and screaming, kicking the walls while laying in the bed.

DH says it is a stage, but I am done.

Any advice?

Thanks!

Re: Getting toddler to go to bed

Hmmm... well, we have a set routine that we abide to, and if Alex tries to sway from it, we threaten her with (1) no books before bedtime, (2) no cuddle time before bed, or (3) the dreaded, no TV when you wake up. Either of those threats usually works - the key being, however, that you follow through. A couple of nights without storytime fixed her little no bedtime attitude really quick

Re: Getting toddler to go to bed

Posted by Bxgell2

Hmmm... well, we have a set routine that we abide to, and if Alex tries to sway from it, we threaten her with (1) no books before bedtime, (2) no cuddle time before bed, or (3) the dreaded, no TV when you wake up. Either of those threats usually works - the key being, however, that you follow through. A couple of nights without storytime fixed her little no bedtime attitude really quick

Re: Getting toddler to go to bed

We don't have DD in a bed yet, but we went through a stage similar to what you described just in a crib. Banging the rails, jumping up and down, you get the point.

We decided to limit the number of books. SHE gets to pick 3 and ONLY 3 books. NO exceptions. If she starts up giving us more books or fighting us we just say no books. Lights out and walk out and let her cry. It lasted 2 nights and we've been going strong with the 3 books rule for a few months now.

Maybe try that in addition to Beth's recommendation.

Re: Getting toddler to go to bed

Strict bedtime routine. That's the answer in our house. At this age, I honestly believe that they need to know what to expect and by having a strict bedtime routine, Ava always knows what to expect. She knows when I turn the lights off and put on her pjs, it's just a little while until bedtime. She knows when the tv goes off and we go upstairs, it's time for storytime. She knows she gets to choose three books and when three books are read, it's lights out and good night. With JT being home the last few weeks, it's thrown a wrench into our routine, and I've seen first hand how that routine is key to her successfully going to sleep at bedtime because he thinks you can just slap her into bed and that's that, and guess what? It doesn't work. So my suggestion is that if you think you have a routine, write it down and see if you actually do it all in the same order every, single night. If you're not doing it all the same way, or skipping things some nights, or whatever, then it's not really a routine, know what I mean? It was a pain at first to start to enforce a routine, but eventually you go on auto pilot and it makes life a lot easier. HTH!