Simple Tips for Helping Your Toddler Stay in Bed At Night

*This is a collaborative post

Bedtime isn’t always as relaxing and restful as we’d like it to be, and when you have a toddler who isn’t a fan of bedtime, getting them to just stay in their bed – let alone fall asleep – can feel like an uphill struggle. When your little one leaves the confines of their crib and successfully transitions to a toddler bed, they’ll want to take full advantage of their freedom and may get out of bed, roam around, wake up their siblings or simply come and find you, no matter what time it is.

Keeping your toddler in their bed at night isn’t always something that happens straight away, you may find that they go through periods where they’re happy to stay in their bed and other periods where they simply refuse to settle down. It’s in these moments that you need to call upon some simple and effective tips that will help your toddler settle and give you the freedom you need to relax after your own busy day working and being a parent.

In this post, we’ll take a closer look at some of these tips, read on to find out more.

Update Their Bed

When choosing beds for toddlers, it’s always best to let them have some say in the final decision. By keeping them involved in the purchasing process and choosing their own bed, it may make them feel more inclined to stay tucked up at night, or at least content enough to stay in their bedroom to play. Choosing a bed that reflects their likes and personality like cosy day beds, tepee styles, or even house-framed toddler beds are all exciting and fun additions to their bedroom that could make bedtime a little easier for everyone.

Create a Strong and Consistent Bedtime Routine

Little ones thrive on good routines and the same applies to bedtime. It’s always best to let your child know when their bedtime routine is about to commence, and it can begin with a bath, brushing teeth, reading a story together and then finally, lights out. This simple and effective approach will help them get used to their bedtime and understand what you expect from them, which is to settle down and go to sleep. You may also want to consider an audio player such as yoto cards on the Yoto Player or tonies characters on a toniebox, They have a range of audio content for kids including stories, sleep sounds and meditations.

Try Not to Give Them Attention

Giving your child attention for completing positive achievements such as saying please and thank you, going to the potty etc is great, it helps to reinforce those behaviours. However, the same applies to negative behaviours, therefore if your child is getting in and out of bed and won’t do as you ask, the more you react – even negatively – the more they’ll repeat that behaviour. When your little one gets out of bed, return them without any emotion. You may have to repeat this several times, but eventually, they’ll get the message and stay in their bed.

Final Thoughts…

Getting your little one to stay in their bed can feel like an uphill struggle, but with time and persistence, you’ll all get a good night’s sleep!