My daughter is 2.5 years old and refuses to sleep in her toddler bed. We transitioned her to it when she was around 20 months, and she did fantastic for months, but something scared her, and she would keep getting out of bed. It started with her sleeping in the rocking chair, but then she’d fall out of that, so we took it out. We tried putting our dog in there with her to help her feel safe, but she would just sleep on the dog’s bed. We tried co-sleeping, but there’s no room in our bed for all of us. For the past several months, she’s been sleeping against the closed door of her room. I don’t feel like it’s safe because we can’t get into her room with her there, and she wakes up cold even though she wears warm PJs and a wearable blanket. We’ve even tried three different beds, different mattresses, you name it. Any ideas?
Maybe sensory lights. Or a glow teddy. Or door open
We had to put a nightlight in for my daughter. I bought a smart lightbulb so I can turn it off once she’s asleep.
Do you have a camera in there? Maybe you could see what’s bothering her…noises, a dark closet, a toy that turns creepy in the dark. Maybe you could see her react to whatever it is.
Does she sleep in the dark? Cartoons helps mine and sometimes I lay in the room with him until he falls asleep.
Please don’t put your dog in a room alone with a child!!
Have you tried putting her mattress right on the floor? Is something about it uncomfortable?
Ask what scared her and explore that
I would put camera to see what’s causing the scare. And talk with her when it happen and see if she will tell you.
My daughter is 8 and has a night light but I lay down on the floor in her room until she falls asleep. Also, our dog sleeps in the room with her. If she wakes up in the middle of the night she grabs a blanket and pillow and lays beside my bed on the floor.
My sister did weird stuff like that. She slept on the floor for years even though she had a giant queen sized bed. She had a big doll house bed thing with a cubby in it and she would sleep in the cubby.
Have daddy put her back in the bed once she wakes up. Works for us. I’m too much of a softy.
Try putting smallest bed in your room. And another in her room . If she comes to your room she still has a bed . Or just put in bed with you . Yes I did it with 5 year old and baby, self and husband full size bed.
I miss those days
I told my son to get in the bed constantly and stay in bed and he finally sleeps in his bed. He’s just turned 3. If he sleeps on the floor I’ll wake him up and tell to get into his bed.
My son was like this we ended up getting him a regular full size bed ( we let him pick out the bed) he was so exciting to sleep in a bed he picked out and we added a tv in the room so he can watch cartoons to get comfortable in the room we set the timer and it shut itself off over time. He also has a lamp that we left on for him
Maybe she doesn’t like her bed? Maybe just try putting her mattress on the floor?
Maybe try and put the mattress on the floor? Or put the toddler bed in your room for awhile?
My daughter has I swear 5-6 night lights in her room. I call her room the night club when she goes to bed. Lol. But it makes her feels more comfortable and she likes being able to see in her room somewhat. Whatever works!
Put her bed in your room to see if she will sleep in it. If not maybe switch her room
Monster spray before she goes to bed???
my son did this in the toddler bed turns out he hated the mattress. Ended up getting him a twin size bed with a regular mattress and no problems since.
We had to change rooms to get our daughter to sleep in jer room/bed again. Even with the curtains drawn tight the view from her window scared her and nothing but changing rooms worked for her. If your able to change rooms I would recommend that
We have a bedtime schedule and she knows exactly what to do I dont even get kisses before she jumps in lol. She is 18 months we switched from a crib around almost 15 months. She has night lights and lullabies playing. Once you’ve slept it’s a lot harder we did with my second and he still gets up sometimes to try to climb in at 7
Does she wet the bed ? Maybe shes afraid she will so she doesnt wanna sleep in it. Obviously it’s nothing in the room that’s scaring her … it’s the bed, any bed . She is 2.5 yrs old , I’m thinking she doesnt wanna wet the bed . That’s all I can think of
Or maybe she rolled off the bed or is afraid she will ? Have u tried just putting the mattress on the floor ? Be the same as the dog bed …on the floor
My kids did the same thing until I put a cd player in their room, and put it on repeat so they had soft music all night long, sounds outside kept scaring them.
My son has a full size bed. I lay with him till he falls asleep. He has a night light with stars that twinkle i told him they are angles in heaven watching over him.
Maybe putting in a baby night cam and watch how she reacts to sleeping in the bed - or possibly put up half rails might make her feel comfortable - Try putting her bed in your bedroom for a week if she’ll sleep in her bed at all.
Stop shutting her door first off … maybe give her a night light of sorts like a light up stuffed animal that she can cuddle with … or snuggle with her in her bed until she falls asleep
They sell a camera that connects to your wifi and you can check it with an app on your phone. There’s sound through the app and you can even talk back through a speaker on the camera too. They’re around $25, but it might let you be able to see what’s bothering her, or even knowing she can talk to you through it might help. You can set it to send you an alert if it picks up movement on the camera too. It’s called a Blink 2…we have them in our house so that we can check on our older kids when we’re gone and they work great.
Try a Nightlight & Noise Machine with Lullabies
Get her a new “safe” bed. A twin size will last until she leaves home
My daughters six and sneaks into my bed every night
Might be scared of monsters under the bed. Try “sparying” the monsters under the bed each night so they can’t come out.
Weighted blanket - apparently they help them feel secure and not as anxious
What about a mattress on the floor? Maybe she had a dream something was under her bed and it scared her.
Nightlight maybe? And try using a noise machine. Also, give her a stuffed animal and tell her itll protect her at night from.any bad dreams
My 2 and half year old does the same thing. Sometimes he sleeps in his bed but I find him on the floor more times then not. I figured it was just another difficult toddler stage lmao like wearing clothes and eating lmao
Have you tried moving the bed? Maybe move it into your room for a night move it back into her room the next night?
Put her in a proper single bed my kids never had toddler beds because they they like moving around
Try to find something that acts as a safety blanket like a toy, stuffed animal, or buy a lamp. And try to get to the bottom of what’s really bothering her. Sometimes it’s just being alone in a room and unfortunately she’ll have to get used to it. But also they sell bed gates to prevent from falling out of bed if that’s happened before. It’s a difficult stage but with time it will get better
Maybe monster spray? When I had foster kids they’d often complain about the mosters coming to get them so I gave them a small spray bottle from the dollar store with stickers on it and told them it was monster repellent. Seemed to help them
Edited to add: I just put a small amount of water in the spray bottle and would have them spray around the room like you would air freshener to keep the monsters at Bay.
My parents always made me a bed on the floor next to mom! I had a really difficult time sleeping due to anxiety and guilt over sexual abuse I had experienced and sleeping in the room with them helped me tremendously. My mom wasn’t aware of it at the time but I was always so grateful she didn’t try to force me to stay in my room❤️ I’m a mom to a five year old girl now so I know how frustrating this can be I just wanted to offer a new perspective. Good luck mama you’ll get it worked out!
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I took an old pump spray bottle, filled it with water and added lavender or rose scent. I told my little ones it was "monster"spray and would spray under any furniture, in the closet around the windows and door. Then told them it keeps monsters out. It worked. I also had a night light, as dim as possible for a bit of light. This may help you. They always had a favorite stuffed animal too.
My 2.5 year old granddaughter didn’t like her toddler bed so I got her a single bed …box spring and mattress and put it on the floor. She has been sleep so much better.
So you mentioned shes slept on the doggie bed or on the floor instead…maybe cause she’s not so high up…maybe for some reason she feels safer when low to the ground or on it. Try putting her mattress on the floor…keep it as close to the door as possible but leave her door open at night. Maybe gets some cute lights she can keep on at night…like the string lights etc.
Yes mines the same way don’t know what changed.
Advice please! This is my little one as well.
Try taking her to the store and letting her pick out her bedding for her bed. That’s how I got my daughter to sleep in her bed
Have you tried a night light
Get the light show for her ceiling
Have you tried staying in there until she’s asleep?
I’ve got no advice. My son did the same and he’s now almost 3. We put his toddler bed at the foot of our bed but he’s always back in our bed in the morning
My son was the same way make sure the night light on and we would lay in there next to his bed and let him home our hand till he fell asleep if he woke up and came in our room we took him back to his bed and eventually slowly stopped doing the holding hands and just putting him too bed
Try a light show for her ceiling and a noise machine!
When our 3 year old son stared getting scared we let him sleep with his big lamp on and whatever stuffed animal he wanted for the night.
Our 15 month is also is also in a toddler bed and he comforts by background music on until he falls asleep.
My son is 2 1/2 as well and has this problem too. I found the only way I get him to sleep in his bed is by putting him to sleep in my bed or on the couch in the living room, then moving him to his bed. If he stays asleep he’s good for the night but if he wakes up through the night he has to come to my bed or the couch in my room
Sage your child’s room…
Have you tried putting the mattress on the floor
Try swapping her bed.
We’d make room in our bed for all of us and let them sleep with us while their little. no reason to make our child sleep in their own room when they want to be with mom an dad snuggled up and as long as their little they can sleep with us as long and as much as they want and when daddy goes to work they can sleep with mom even when their a teenager. as a child they’ll be in our room with us regardless because of them being little.
Put her bed next to you?
Invest in a play yard and put it around it … that’s what I did with my son and it helped so much they have a little freedom and can stand up and stuff but it keeps them close to their beds … I think it made him feel secure that he wasn’t going to fall out of bed
Do you have one of those baby monitors hooked up to your computer? Get rid of it…a friend had one and had problems like you describe…she got up to go potty and walked by the babies room and heard a man saying…wake up baby…! Ask yourself how you’re dressed when you go check on the baby.
Go to target and get some battery operated Christmas lights (the real tiny ones for like 5$) we taped those to the wall around our kids beds and it helped sooo much and they work amazing as night lights
I feel your pain. My daughter slept in my bed until she was like 10
Does she give any reason why she won’t sleep in her own bed such as monster under the bed etc. If that’s the case you can give her monster spray(water and peppermint oil or something like lavender vanilla etc) and let them spray their room with it.
A pillow maybe she’s uncomfortable and a blanket she can cover up with
My almost two year old has a queen sized mattress in her room that I wind up sleeping on with her EVERY NIGHT. She doesn’t sleep through the night yet which is rough but this shall pass right?!? Someone please say yes
My daughter is 3.5yrs old and still sleeps w us so i have no advice besides try putting her bed in your room and see if she’ll sleep on it in there for awhile until she gets use to it
Keep putting her back in until she stays. Consistency is what’s gonna help you. My daughter did this shes 2 and if she fell asleep against the door I’d just go in and wake her up and take her back to her bed. It’s gonna take a while to get her used to staying in there. My rule of thumb is that mommy’s and daddy’s room is our room and your room is your room so we don’t allow co sleeping unless she is sick and needs to be monitored. You can do it!
Try a night light that projects on the roof and plays music
my 6 year old still sleeps with us
Our kiddo used to wake up and groggily walk to our room or to her door with her blanket. She would be so sleepy though that she would fall asleep in her own doorway or right next to our bed but not in it. Maybe find something to prop the door open, and possibly put her mattress on the floor which might help orient her if she is groggy like my kid was.
We had the same problem with our daughter. She was 4 at the time and had done great but got scared one night and that was it. We started playing classical music on her tv with youtube and she sleeps with a lamp. It helped a lot and a year later we haven’t had any issues.
I gave my son a little surprise every morning (like a little action figure) for 1 week and at the end of 1 week after sleeping alone he got a bigger surprise. Slept on his own since
Just put her bed by yours and adjust from there
We got my bonus daughter light strands off amazon and strung them up at the top of her wall, it goes all the way around and she loves her twinkle lights.
My daughter is 3 1/2 and stillllll does this. I’d like to tell you there’s an easy fix but the reality is it’s a constant battle until they truly are old enough. My 8-9 year old niece still climbs into bed with her parents. Every kid is different with how long that lasts. We tried extending the bed time, if we put her to sleep late like 10-11 then she will usually sleep all the way through instead of haunting us at 3am at the foot of our bed. Can u leave the door open? This helped a bit. And a hall light on, well lit room, some good night lights help. Cry baby dolls are good too, there’s one that glows if u press it’s belly.
I put my daughter in her bed when she was just a little over two, I woke up every night to find her standing next to my bed with her Blankey. Of course I just pulled her into my bed with me as her dad worked nights. She eventually slept in her own bed by the time she was 3 1/2 or so.
I’ve seen many solutions but it depends what the problem is. If its separation anxiety, fear of dark, maybe there was a bug or something (that happened with my son), he’s also 2.5 and doesn’t want to miss out on stuff. I just stay until he falls asleep. He can come get us in our room if he needs us and I think that is a HUGE reason why the transition was easier than expected.
get a regular twin size bed, have her pick bed sheets nlankets pillows ect out. make it fun
She 2 1/2 it’s pretty normal
Buy a king sized bed and let them sleep with you. They are only little for such a short time.
Made my son an “emergency bed” - blankets and pillow on the floor right next to my bed. He could come in when he felt he needed to but wouldn’t disturb our sleep and was still sleeping independently. At some point in time they stop coming in.
Mattress on the floor worked for my daughter who wouldn’t sleep in her own bed for the longest time, she was 5.5 before she slept in the actual bed alone. From about 3-4 she would sneak into her brothers room, or my room. From about 4.5-5.5 she slept on the mattress on the floor about half the time, still sneaking into other rooms half the time.
Put her bed in your room.
If u Christian u can start telling her stories n asure her that God is with her n a special good angel to watch over her sleep
Teddy or blanket that makes her feel safe, a night light, lie with her in her bed untill she falls asleep x
My son is 4. And this is what i did with him. Started with his bed right beside my side. Then after a while moved it to the foot of my bed then after a couple of months moved ot in his room. I will say he gets up once a week to come sleep with me but this is what works for us. He got his bed at 2 and after everything he loves being in his room
Maybe one of those star projector lights? They light up the room way more than a regular night light but it’s still dark enough to sleep.
Sound machine, night light that lights up the ceiling but not too bright. We use these and our son is awesome at staying in his bed. I lay him in bed with a couple books and a teddy and he reads himself to sleep. Could try that
I have a 5 year old that wont sleep in his bed
If it’s feasible, you could try laying down with her in her bed until she falls asleep, then get up and go to your own.
My daughter did this, I didn’t have the heart to force her to sleep in her own bed when she clearly wanted to be with us so we bought a king size bed and she sleeps with us whenever she feels she needs too she’s 3 now and sleeps with us most night, on the off night she will sleep in her own bed she always comes through around 3am, if you cant afford a bigger bed try putting her mattress on the floor next to your bed so she can sleep there? Or just try make room in your bed, we dont like sleeping on our own so why should we force our babies to sleep on their own? Could be worth a try
My oldest always started in his bed and would move to the floor, his closet, the hallway … I’d just cover him up when I went to bed and he always slept through the night in his chosen spot. Some children are a little more wild and that’s okay. I say let her sleep where she’s content to fall asleep.
It didn’t have room in our bed so my husband slept in another room and I sleep with my daughter, because she would also get scared at nights and I didn’t want her to be alone, whenever I see her moving around showing signs of distress in her sleep I wrap my hands around her añd whisper that mom is here and she goes back asleep. I love having her sleep with me and her dad loves his quiet nights
This might sound crazy but try an air bed on the floor with her pillow and blankets to see if that helps
Sleep in her room with her