Stair Gate on LO's bedroom door?

daveyjp

Stairgate across a door is imprisonment.

Chidren change, they learn new tricks. We are the parents and have to play the game. Nothing with children of that age is forever. So what if she comes into your room a few times?

Change to a proper bed, make a fuss of her going in to a big bed, if she gets up talk calmly and put her back. It may take a few nights, but so what? Its a few nights of hundreds in a childhood.

theoretica

If you are feeling under the weather is she getting as much activity during the day? Might she just not be quite worn out enough?

You say dad is currently ending up sleeping on her floor so is she happy with him rather than you? Could he take this on? Is she happy when he is in the room sleeping on the floor? If he started out there would she get up at all? What about if he made up a bed just outside her door?

sweetilemon

If she can climb the cot sides she will be able to climb a stair gate. I know a child who broke their arm after a gate was put over their bedroom door, landed badly when climbing over. I think the suggestion of making a fuss over a big girls bed is the best plan.

Newly_retired

This takes me back many years to when my oldest had night terrors and woke up crying and would not be comforted. It lasted several weeks, when she was three. Actually she hardly slept for the first four years of her life. All settled once she started nursery full time, and I went back to work. I guess she was worn out.
Lucky her, now she is a mum, her kids have always slept well.

rhino_horn

How about this. Will take some willpower but worth a shot.

When she wakes up, go to her and take her back to her own bed. Only say to her "It's night time, go back to sleep".

When she gets out of bed again, take her back to bed and say again "It's night time, go back to sleep"

Now this is likely to keep going on for a LONG time but eventually she'll get the message that you're there, but not going to engage with her or let her come into your bed.

Perhaps get a Gro Clock so she can see how many stars are left on it before morning time, you could incorporate that saying "It's night time, there are x many stars left on the clock. Go back to sleep"

It's not an easy thing to do, you have to remain calm and you may well have a few disrupted night sleeps before it works.

pigpen

rhino_horn wrote: »

Perhaps get a Gro Clock so she can see how many stars are left on it before morning time, you could incorporate that saying "It's night time, there are x many stars left on the clock. Go back to sleep"

Mine (5, 4 and 2) get up and play.. when we wake up they proudly tell us how many stars were left on the clock when they got up.. like we are the lazy ones!

wendz86

My daughter learned how to open the gate on her door at 3. We had it on more for safety as we didn't have one top of stairs.

pmlindyloo

This could be a combination of things. She has been poorly and got a lot of attention because she was ill and obviously wants this to continue!

Add into the mix that the 'interloper' (the new baby') is still in mum and dad's bedroom and you have a young lady who wants some attention.

So, suggestions.

A bed of her own (choosing duvet sounds a lovely idea), baby move into their own room, (we all have our own special place type thing) and lots of special time with her on her own (difficult I know but can work wonders)

It may be that none of these will work and you will then have to do what is best for you and your OH's sanity.

There are no 'rules', just what you want to achieve. How you go about it is entirely up to you.

Good luck!

cookiecrumbs

Thanks all for your input, have ordered an extra tall stair gate (who knew such things existed?!) and it arrived today. She has been eyeing it warily in the box and said "that's mine" earlier!

Of course typically she slept through without a peep from 8.30 to 8.30 last night but this could well have been down to the fact she was outside in the garden and the paddling pool all day yesterday.

Let's see what tonight brings...

Kaye1

It's time for a toddler bed if she is nearly 3.

We have had both situations- in our old house, we had a gate across the stairs at night as the stairs were really steep.

We made a big fuss about new bed, she chose her own bedding and was allowed to put some peelable stickers on the bed. Never looked back. She was so thrilled at having a 'big girls bed,' she just stayed in it.