[Question] Getting Jet out of the Crib

LittleSin · Mar 21, 2012

Just what the title says. Jet is a kid that become very attached to thing. Almost obsessed. One of these thing is the crib. We've been trying for a little while now to prep him for the move over to his big boy bed. We let him choose the sheets (Batman sheets) and choose what to put on his walls.

He seemed really excited about it.

However we're having a lot of trouble getting him to STAY in there. I basically ended up putting him in the crib around 10pm, waiting a half hour then lifting him up and putting him in the big bed when he fell asleep.

He woke up 5 times during the night then came in the room looking for me and Daddy, asking if it was time for cartoons/play/breakfast.

I ended up putting him back in the crib at 2:30.

Any tips would be nice.

HCGLNS · Mar 21, 2012

Establish a solid routine that he enjoys for going to bed.

Ours is:

Bath
Jammies
Teef
Storwies

Shegokigo · Mar 21, 2012

Barb Wire fence around his bedroom door that only opens from the outside? I dunno?

If you want something less painful maybe just spray him with a water bottle everytime he tries to bother you at night? *shrug* works on my cats.

"No Jet, *spritz*, go to bed Jet"

LittleSin · Mar 21, 2012

The water bottle never did work on my cat. He liked it. Like a little shower.

Speaking of showers, Jets routine is as follows:

Shower with Daddy
Toast/Cookies
Teeth
Stories
Song
Lights out.

Dave · Mar 21, 2012

DO not cave in any way. Make sure he knows that it's bedtime and no matter what the reason he's coming out is, he's going to get marched right back in there. If he persists, let him know that the next night no cookies/toast. Or no song. And then follow through. He'll pitch a fit. Ignore it.

Of course, what worked for me may not work for you. Kids are not like machinery. I can only tell you what worked for me.

sixpackshaker · Mar 21, 2012

My outsider's advice...

Put the crib away sometime Friday after he gets up. That way there will be no fall-back to the crib. Doing it Friday will give you the weekend to work on the sleep schedule and hopefully you will be fresh by Monday.

Dei · Mar 21, 2012

That march back to bed thing only works to a point. My daughter got smart and would just sneak into my bed after I was already dead to the world asleep and didn't notice she was there until morning. Not to be scary about it, but it took until she was 5 to get her to stop doing that.

But to be less scary about it, we managed to get my first child (my son) to stop wandering out of bed by slowly cutting him off from parental contact. We started by staying with him in his bed until he fell asleep, then we'd stay next to his bed, then we sat in the hall where he could see us, then he just stopped needing us there at all.

I do agree that you need to just get rid of the crib and try to suck up the getting woken up a lot thing until you break him of it. It's HARD, I know, but if you don't want to put him in the crib, then you need to get it out of there.

LittleSin · Mar 21, 2012

Ah, my worst fear. Getting rid of that crib.

I guess I shall have to do it Friday.

On the bright side, he will be with his grandparents on Saturday. I have told them they had to start putting him in the bed tey got him. His grandmother seems reluctant. I'm hoping that him seeing that he has to sleep in a bed EVERYWHERE now will be a good start for him.

strawman · Mar 21, 2012

Have him help take the crib apart. Don't make it just disappear while he's not around.

I sit outside the door where I can hear if my 3 year old gets up, and tell him to go back to bed, or put him back in bed if he makes it to the hallway before I notice. He can't see me, but he knows I'm there. Eventually he'll take it for granted that I'm there, and not get up, even on the nights when I'm not there. I don't respond to him, unless he gets up, though.

It's going to take time, but if you're consistent it will take less time than if you do it only on the nights where he gets up.

Hailey Knight · Mar 21, 2012

Throw him on the ground.

Shegokigo · Mar 21, 2012

Quotemander Prime said:
Throw him on the ground.

/

LittleSin · Mar 21, 2012

I sometimes feel like doing that.

Especially when breaks my glasses...as he did tonight.

I look like someone punched me in the face.

Mathias · Mar 21, 2012

Frankly with so many ways to get a kid to sleep, I don't know why parents are so dumbfounded by a routine nighttime process...

Decisions, decisions...

North_Ranger · Mar 22, 2012

Purchase a metric crap ton of fireworks, take the crib to the yard and stuff it with said fireworks.

Then look at Jet with a wide, Cheshire Cat grin and go "Wanna blow this s*it up?".

LittleSin · Mar 22, 2012

That would be awesome..but the crib is a large, bulky heir loom. I used it, my sister used it, five cousins used it.

And now him .

It;s due for a paint job, actually.

Sitting outside his door right now, as suggested by steinman. I silently march him back to bed every time he gets out, as per Dave.

Seven times running now in the past twenty minutes. This last time he opened the door just wide enough to throw and octopus at me.

fade · Mar 22, 2012

I agree with Dave. I think when it comes to bedtime, parents get bent out of shape for a little crying. The best thing you can do, especially when they're still infants, is suck it up and let them cry it out for a while. They're not crying because they need something, they're crying because they're tired and don't know what else to do but cry. American Pediatric Assn says up to 20min at bedtime is okay, and they get over it in less than a week. Some parents think that's cruel, but I did it with both of my kids. Slept through the night by 6 and 8 weeks respectively. This plan is recommended by quite a few people. With Jet, you obviously have to adapt, but I think the trick is to steel yourself against the puppy dog eyes and make as little to-do about his getting out of bed as possible.

Hailey Knight · Mar 22, 2012

fade said:
I agree with Dave. I think when it comes to bedtime, parents get bent out of shape for a little crying. The best thing you can do, especially when they're still infants, is suck it up and let them cry it out for a while. They're not crying because they need something, they're crying because they're tired and don't know what else to do but cry.

This.

LittleSin · Mar 22, 2012

He doesn't cry though. He just can't sit still even on the best of day...let alone at night.

fade · Mar 22, 2012

Oh. Then go with Mathias's plan.

North_Ranger · Mar 23, 2012

LittleSin said:
He doesn't cry though. He just can't sit still even on the best of day...let alone at night.

Duct tape.

ThatNickGuy · Mar 23, 2012

He threw an octopus at you? What does he think this is, a hockey game?

LittleSin · Mar 23, 2012

I'm just glad he didn't throw his Cthulu at me. That would have been more threatening.

Plus, turns out it is a squid, not an octopus.

Bowielee · Mar 24, 2012

fade said:
I agree with Dave. I think when it comes to bedtime, parents get bent out of shape for a little crying. The best thing you can do, especially when they're still infants, is suck it up and let them cry it out for a while. They're not crying because they need something, they're crying because they're tired and don't know what else to do but cry. American Pediatric Assn says up to 20min at bedtime is okay, and they get over it in less than a week. Some parents think that's cruel, but I did it with both of my kids. Slept through the night by 6 and 8 weeks respectively. This plan is recommended by quite a few people. With Jet, you obviously have to adapt, but I think the trick is to steel yourself against the puppy dog eyes and make as little to-do about his getting out of bed as possible.

This is pretty much what we did with my little sister. The only time she'd wander into my room or my mom's room was during thunderstorms (which was legal, because they scared the crap out of her). My sister is 10 years my junior, so I was very much part of her raising, seeing as my mom had to work all the time.