How do I get him to stay in his big boy bed?

We gave DS his big boy bed last week. At bed time, he gets up, roams the room, roams the halls. This goes on for up to an hour. We've tried

-gate at the door. He lifted the handle right up.
-putting him right back into bed. He gets right back up.
-talking about incentives for tomorrow.
-drew pictures of ice cream cones for tomorrow if he stays in bed, and taping them to his bed.
-today we cut out his nap. Didn't work.

Im at my wits end. Any tips???

Re: How do I get him to stay in his big boy bed?

We used a gate that had a foot release and my son didn't have the weight to push the release all the way down. That worked for several months until he finally figured out how to get over the gate without opening it! That was the beginning of the end of naps, but by that time he did stay in bed at night. Good luck, I know it is so frustrating!

Re: How do I get him to stay in his big boy bed?

we have the door knob cover inside her room so she cant open it so if she doesnt stay in bed she cant get out of her room

How do I get him to stay in his big boy bed?

Does he sleep with toys? My nephews do and my older nephew (3) sometimes gets out of bed. My sister gives him one warning and then, without saying anything, takes one "friend" from him every time she has to put him back in his room. It works! Even the first time she has to go in he is usually crying that he doesn't want her to take his friends. Even if he has bad nights, he doesn't get up much once his friends are taken away, lol.

Re: How do I get him to stay in his big boy bed?

I did not have a gate at his door. It made him feel trapped which made him feel like he needed to cry and scream. I just sat there reading to him, rubbing his back, singing to him, humming and had his little aquarium thingy going until he calmed down. I HATE HATE HATE CIO. I just couldn't do it. So that's what I did and it worked for me.

It was time consuming but after a week it was much easier and quicker to put him to bed. And honestly...I really enjoyed that calm, affectionate down time with him. It's time you'll never get back, I didn't want to spend it listening to him cry.

Message edited 7/8/2013 9:43:27 PM.

Re: How do I get him to stay in his big boy bed?

Thanks for the replies.

I took him to TRU the first night, and he chose Despicable Me Minions to sleep with. He could care less about them now.

And hes not crying. hes not scared or upset. Its a game. He dances around and sings.

Tonight, we are printing a picture of a Despicable Me Happy Meal that he wants.

We shall see...

How do I get him to stay in his big boy bed?

How old is he? We put our DS in a toddler bed at 2 yrs 4 months because he was climbing out of his crib. He basically did everything your DS is doing, and we pretty much did everything you did except putting a gate at his door. It took him a good 2.5 months to not get out of bed ALL the time. We let him sleep with toys as well.

Now, we do bath, brush teeth, books, bed. He doesn't give us a problem with getting out at all now. Only sometimes, but usually for a legit reason.