How do I get my 3 year old to stay in bed after we tuck her in for the night?

Question

My 3 year old daughter keeps making excuses to get up after being tucked in. I have tried everything. Do any experienced parents have any tricks?

Answer 1

Once you find the answer to that one, I would love to know what it is. I think I have tried everything except tying him down...gl and email when me when you find something that works:)

Answer 2

Option 1- keep taking her back to bed until she falls asleep.

Option 2- This is a 5 night plan. Night 1, take her to bed and sit on the edge of her bed till she falls asleep. Night 2, sit on the floor beside the bed. Night 3, sit about 3 feet away. Night 4, sit near the door, Night 5, sit outside the door. This may help her feel safer staying in her own bed if she thinks you are nearby.

Option 3- Try getting her excited about her bed. Take her shopping for her own sheets, blanket and pillow. Have her help you make the bed, and make a HUGE deal out of how COOL her bed is. Soon she will think its like cats pyjamas and want to hang out there.

Option 4- Make sure she has gone potty, had a small drink, brushed teeth. Check closet and under bed for monsters, make sure her room is at a comfy temperature and lighting. Then tell her you have made everything perfect for her to have a good night sleep, and you don't want excuses to get out of bed because everything has been taken care of already.

Option 5- Try pplaying soft classical music in the background as you spend some nice parent child time before you tuck her in. Leave the music playing. Or try rainforest sound cds. My son loved those when he was little, he would just lay there and listen until he drifted off to sleep.

There are tons of tricks, good luck!

Answer 3

My son was the same! And still is from time to time.

He became a big brother in August and just turned 3 in December. We have the baby in our room and needed to cut down on the bedtime battles and midnight visits to our room, so we could not only get SOME sleep but have some private adult time as well.

We have a bedtime routine that we have found to work quite well.
We keep it the same each night although there is room for changes if we have company or a night out.

We start our routine an hour before lights out:
We start in the bathroom with a bath, brush teeth, wash face, use toilet.
We then move into his bedroom where he puts on his pj's and his goodnight diaper. We have a brief chat about what we did today/we'll do tomorrow while he's changing, make sure he has 1/2 cup of water on his night table, then we read 2-3 stories. Afterwards we choose a cd (music or stories - we get new ones at the library every couple of weeks), turn on his nightlight, give hugs and kisses and leave him to fall asleep/listen to his music/story.
Sometimes he gives me a hassle wanting me to lay down with him but I aim to have all this done by 9 which is when his brother gets his last bottle for the night. I tell him I need to feed his brother and will come in to see him when I am done.
He is usually happy with this and is asleep by the time I get back to him.
When it's daddy's turn, he does the same but on fussy nights will sometimes lay with him, reading for a little while.

I hope this helps.

Each child is different and doesn't respond to the same things but at 3 years old, you can sit down with your daughter and discuss bedtime routines and ask her what are some things she would find comforting and see if they can be worked into a routine. Ie: cuddle/story time, snack (milk and cookie/crackers).

Warn her 1/2 an hour before that it's almost time to start getting ready for bed - Is there anything you (she) wants to do? etc...so she can't use these excuses at bedtime. Last chance!

The best thing though is patience and consistency.
Kids always do better on a routine than not.

Good luck!!

Answer 4

I had this problem with both of my children. We had a week long reward program. If both girls stayed in bed after being tucked in each night from Saturday night to the next Saturday Morning we would plan a special thing to do together on Saturday. Whether it be the park and a picnic, Chuck-E-Cheese, or a movie. It worked like a charm because they were encouraging each-other to stay in bed so they could have their special day.

Answer 5

I have the same problem. The consistency that joepony suggests worked with my son, but not currently with my daughter. I just read a few tricks in this month's Family Fun magazine that I'm going to try. One of them was to give the child a "pass" that she can use once (drink of water, extra hug, etc). Once she's used it, she's not allowed out of her bed for any reason. Another trick (and a better idea, I think) is to leave 3 pennies on her nightstand. Each time she gets up, you take a penny. Any pennies still there in the morning are hers to keepl

Otherwise, there's always duct tape!

Answer 6

based on the format of the domicile in line with danger she would be able to submit gates purely previous the washing room door. That way she would be able to get to the washing room yet no longer previous it. purely tell her to be careful with the aid of fact there's no longer something worse then a drained mommy tripping over the gate on a prior due night trip to the kitchen! If that may no longer an option in line with danger she would be able to place an alarm on the mattress room door. while the door opens it breaks touch and sounds an alert to with a bit of luck awaken mom. i might additionally go away out some issues interior the mattress room that are ok for her to apply (crayons,coloring books). those of direction are basically fixing the secondary issues. the actual situation that should be addressed is why she is waking up lots. Has she suggested this to her dr.?

Answer 7

My soon to be 4 year old daughter is the same way. I tuck her in once and if she gets up after that I won't get up to tuck her in again, she eventually falls asleep.

Answer 8

Some things that may help.
Create a reward system. Find something your child really likes and place it where they can see it but unable to reach it. Explain to them that if they stay in bed as told they can have it in the morning. Be consistent, and do not reward unless they stay in bed.

Answer 9

Set your limits and stick to them. If she gets up, put her back-- every single time. Eventually she'll get it. She's hoping you'll take the bait of her stalling or getting up out of bed and give up.

If she uses the ploy of a drink, bathroom, whatever- don't fall for it.

It can be exhausting- especially if they do it over and over and over again at night, but you need to put her back every time and eventually she'll stay there.

Been there, done that...my 4 year gave up her bag of tricks on that one!

Answer 10

If she gets up, just put her in, do not talk to her or anything. Just put her back. Keep doing it, she will eventually stay.