Last night NikkiZ woke up crying while I was up feeding AndyZ, so I brought him into her room still attached to the boob (Ah…such a useful talent…) and we ended up laying down on the floor next to her bed for a few minutes until she fell back to sleep. When I went back to bed I found myself thinking, “What would happen if I just turned the monitor off?” Now – I didn’t. I do find it useful to know if NikkiZ needs me throughout the night, I’m not completely evil. However, I did consider it for a moment where I pondered the fact that having one kid waking up repeatedly through the night is about all I can handle.
NikkiZ is one of those kids who won’t get out of her toddler bed when she wakes up. She just calls for me to come in there. When I get in her room, then she’ll get out of bed. It’s very weird. There is nothing holding her there but the magical force of MOM. When she wakes up in the morning she yells, “Mom! Mom! Mom!” until I come in there. Some mornings it takes longer and she’ll just keep hollering. “Mom! Moooom! Mooooooooooom! Come in here! I want some oatmeal!” But still? She stays in her bed.
When she wakes up in the middle of the night, it’s mostly while still technically sleeping and it only takes a few minutes before she’s back asleep enough to leave her alone. But she wakes up crying those times. And it’s that awful cry that pulls at a Mother’s heart because it says, “I need you, Mommy! I’m scared!” Unless, of course, you’re up with an infant that it says to you, “Mom! I’m trying to kill you by taking away what little chance for sleep my brother gives you!”
Either way – while she’s always had pretty decent sleeping habits – her waking habits are a little unusual. We don’t encourage her to just get out of bed by pointing out there’s nothing holding her in. Mainly because we like that we don’t have to worry about her waking up and getting into something she shouldn’t. But still – will she still be laying in her bed when she’s 9 yelling at me to come get her up? At what point will she realize, “Hey. There’s nothing keeping me in this damn bed. Why am I screaming for Mom? I’m going to get up and color on the walls instead!”
What about your kids? How do they wake up – either nightly or in the morning? Do their beds have invisible barriers holding them in as well? If not – do they color on the walls? Because NikkiZ would. I’m positive.
the boys I watch? The four year old gets out of bed. He is up and out and trying to get him to stay in the bed is a challenge. I thought his one year old brother was going to crawl out of the crib the other night, he was NOT wanting to go to bed either. I feel so bad for their mom, she has to deal with this EVERY night. Of course they could just be trying to take advantage of the babysitter…hmmmm. Sometimes the oldest one will get up and just play quietly in his room and do the run and jump in bed when he hears you coming….
My almost 5 year old still calls for us in the morning to get out of bed no matter how many times we have told her to just get up. My two year old? Will sneak up on us and scare the living crap out of us in the morning.
I do not have kids, but I babysit a 2 and a half year old. He’s not gotten out of bed while I’ve been there – once I put him in, he seems to think that’s that. However, after hearing loud thump after loud thump a couple of weeks ago, and thinking it was coming from the neighbors, I finally went up to check on him to make sure he wasn’t woken up by it.
I stealthily opened the door to his room only to find his entire bed moved five feet from where I had left it, and him. He lifted his head and said, “Hi!” I said, “…. okay…” and shut the door again.
When his parents came home, I said “Ok, I may sound insane, but have you ever put Noah to bed and then found later that the bed was not where you left it?”
“Happens all the time.”
“Oh, good. I thought there was a ghost.”
Meghan (3) gets up and out of bed all the time. Always has. She will play in her room. Flip her lights on and off. Open and close her door and come out many times with varying requests. Sometimes I wish she would just STAY IN BED!. Recently though she has been waking up crying in the middle of the night. We figure dout this usually means she has to go potty. But, for some reason she won’t go there by herself. She has no problems other times of the day and used to do this on her own at night. Not sure what changed. I was actually mentally writing the blog post this morning.
Personally I don’t care if she gets out of bed (to a point). It keeps her occupied in her room until she is ready to climb back into bed. I’m sure once your daughter realizes she can do it there will be no stopiing her. For now, I would just enjoy the fact that you know where she is. I rarely can find my own children in our house
My son (now 6) started to climb out of his crib when he was barely over 1. I have always had a hard time keeping him in bed. When he would wake, he would just get up and come in our room. Now, he gets up, heads downstairs, plops on the couch and turns on the tv – without waking us up. My almost 4 year old daughter did what NikkiZ does, she would just stay in her bed and yell “Mom..i’m up” and wait for someone to come get her. This came to an end about a year ago when she started sleeping on her brothers lower bunkbed and noticed that he could cross that “invisible barrier” without Mom. Now, she just gets up by herself.
I think it is because she was never a climber and would call for me from her crib – it just made sense to her that she would have to do the same thing from her bed…
My boys are very much like Dorene’s girl, getting out of bed for a multitude of reasons. The worst thing they’ve done at night, though, was take out and leave all their books all over the floor.
No invisible barriers at my house. And consequently, no crayons stored in kids’ rooms either. My son is a good sleeper, always has been. My daughter, well, she’s a staller. And once in bed will get up at least twice. I try to ignore it so she’s not being rewarded with mommy time when she should be in bed.
As for the monitor? One day I decided I needed some good, sound sleep and that if they were really upset I would hear them regardless. It was turned off. I never looked back.
My son (almost 6) did that up until he was about 4. I think it was because I kept him in the crib so long, it just didn’t occur to him that he could get out on his own! Then one day it dawned on him, I guess, and some nights we have a hard time keeping him in.
Tyler [2yrs 4mnths] is in a twin sized bed and should he wake up in the middle of the night he climbs down and knocks on the door until we come and get him. I sometimes hate having him stuck in the room unable to get out [he hasn't quite mastered opening doors yet], but it keeps him safer in our eyes.
When he wakes screaming in the middle of the night when I’m sleeping, or trying to feed a crying Hayden, I wish he would stay in his bed because he can bang the crap out of his door until I get there. But, on the rare mornings I get to sleep in a bit later, I LOVE the fact that he’s able to climb down and occupy himself playing in his room.
He doesn’t color on the walls with crayons since we don’t let him keep crayons in his room [his room is a Color Wonder ONLY room, hehe] – but he has colored his carpet with chalk, so I’m not sure that’s much better!
My mom often tells the story of when she brought my sister home from the hospital. I was 18 months old and they put me down for a nap in my crib on the third floor. She started feeding the baby and suddenly looked down and there I was! I’d crawled out of my crib, down three flights of stairs, and completely surprised her.
Both of my kids will stay in bed and call until I come. I truly don’t know if it is better or worse that way. If they got out of bed all the time I think it would drive me equally crazy. Luckily they are both almost through that stage. Thank God for that! http://elliotts.eachday.com
I’m so glad i’m not the only one with a child like this. Of course my son is 8 yrs old and still calls and will not get out of bed until i am in his room. he’s afraid of the dark, but that doesn’t explain why he won’t get up once the sun’s up. but i think i prefer this than not knowing he was up and running around the house.
My kids get up. All of them.
Right now my youngest still wanders into our room about two nights out of five (it’s random) and sleeps on a stuffed chair we have. The boys (seven and ten) have seemed to outgrow that, but they did it, too.
And at 6:00 AM one of them is usually standing next to my bed, asking if they can watch TV in the family room.
This is especially likely if it’s Sunday.
My 4 year old used to do what NikkiZ does for awhile too. She finally started to get out of bed when I had her sister and just couldn’t get to her as fast as before. On the rare occasion she does wake up in the middle of the night she won’t get out of bed though she just yell for me or my husband, but in the mornings she’ll stand at our bedroom door and knock very softly then louder and louder until we hear her. I’ll take the knocking though becuase she used to just stand at the bed and stare until we woke up.
My 3 1/2 daughter absolutely will not get out of bed at night ever. She will yell for me or for her dad, but no way will she get out of bed. However, once the sun comes up? All bets are off. And often at 6 or 7 am I will be awakened by a voice in my ear saying “Mommy, I woke up in the morning!” The days she sleeps until after 9, I’m usually already awake by the time she gets up. But the invisible force field only seems to work when it’s dark and even though that means that one of us (usually my husband because I’m mean that way) has to get up in the middle of the night if she wakes up, I’m really okay with that because I know she’s not wandering the house when I’m fast asleep! (Which in turn allows me to actually sleep instead of wake up at every little sound thinking it’s her wandering.)
My four year old gets up at the crack of dawn. He used to burst into our room yelling “time to wake up!” We put a timer on the lamp in his room. He knows he can’t come in our room until the lamp comes on. Now he runs in yelling “my lamp came on!” It’s still too early for me but at least it isn’t 5:15/5:30 anymore.
I have a three and a half year old who wont stay in her room, unless the door is closed. We have a little plastic cover on the door so she cant get it open. She knocks on the door when she wakes up and wants me. If we didnt have the cover on the knob she would be squished in bed with us every night.
My two year old usually ends up sleeping on the floor. We have one of those childproof things on her doorknob so basically her room is her bed. Sometimes she makes it into her toddler bed before crashing. In the mornings she plays happily until she decides it is time for her to get out and then she bangs on the door yelling, “Mommy, Ellie wake up! Open the door!”
Do NOT tell NikkiZ she can get out of her bed….just enjoy it while it lasts
Lil’bug still sleeps in our room because I don’t want her waking up in the middle of the night and wandering around the house. My bedroom is at the other end of the house and so, I’d be oblivious. I also don’t like getting out of bed and walking all the way to her room while I’m half-asleep. If I’m not in bed and she wakes up she gets up and comes looking for me. She’s scared me more than once by sneaking up on me (not on purpose).
I think it’s great NikkiZ stays in her bed. I wouldn’t mind her waking up if you’re up with AndyZ already. Hey, as long as you’re up you might as well make it a party, right?!
When my girl was 3 or 4 she got up in the middle of the night, found a green sharpie permanant marker and wrote her name (all 7 letters) in about 4 inch high letters on the play room wall. (Thank goodness it was in the playroom).
At first she was very proud of herself until she saw I was upset then tried to tell me she didn’t do it. Today? Funny. Then? Not so much.
Long story short? Nothing kept that girl in her bed.
My first two boys, as toddlers, didn’t seem to realize they were physically able to get out of bed. The twins (still toddlers) DO, but Edward I could train not to, and now he doesn’t. Elizabeth gets RIGHT OUT OF BED. Like she’s the only one who’s noticed the emperor is not wearing clothes.
Elizabeth is also the only one who has colored on the wall: the other three never thought of it.
Am I allowed to beg for some new baby pictures?
The worst sound ever is hearing your young toddler (20-24 monthsish) padding around out of bed and then hearing the (thudthudthudthudthud) as he slides down the stairs to go play. Because now you’re in a whole different ball game. My kid NEVER stayed in bed. For this reason, number two is STAYING in her crib.
My daughter has been in a “big girl bed” since she was a 2 1/2. She just started getting out of her bed on her own about 3 months ago — and she’s 5 1/2 now.
My kids are in the bed with us but..they rarely wake in the middle of the night…very very rarely. Like…once in the last 6 months….watch tonight, they’ll wear me out waking up just because I said that
I had forgotten about that until your brought it up in this post . When I think about it, both of the girls stayed in their beds until we came. Just like NikkiZ they called us. I’m not sure when it ended but it must have been at a good age because I don’t remember it so it must have been fine. Of course, that might just be the lack of brain cells talking.
My future grandbaby (in one month, exactly- due to my son marrying his mom) is four and he has the invisible barrier. I’ve never heard of this before, but sure enough when he spends the night here, he will NOT get out of bed until someone comes to get him unless it’s to go to the bathroom (which I appreciate!).
My DIL tells me that she trained him to do that. He’s an unusually well behaved child, in that he’ll even put himself into time out when he thinks he’s done something wrong.
I have a feeling that their next child is going to be a hellion, just to balance things out.
My son, who is a little younger than NikkiZ, realized from day one that he could get out of his bed, even though he never once tried to escape his crib. It kind of sucks. We thoroughly toddler-proofed his room and put a gate in front of his door when he goes to bed. Before the gate, he would sneak into the baby’s room and wake her up.
Good luck!
My 7 year old yells for her daddy in the morning and will not get out of bed. I predict she’ll be 16 and still lay in bed and call daddy. She’s never been a child to get out of bed on her own ambition. Honestly, who can blame them with all these awsome bed linens and build a bears. Last night took the cake, she was ignored so she plopped her big 7 year old body inbetween her father and I. Ugh.
It’s been too long for me to remember that stuff, girl! I’m just now getting the point where I can sleep in and I’m reveling in it.
Bring me that baby so I can cuddle, though. It’ll give you time to sleep.
This reminds me of boy-child, we converted his cot to a junior bed when he was 14 months old. For more than a year, he would sit quietly in his bed when he woke, reading or talking to his toys. Eventually he would start asking for breakfast. We did have one interesting encounter of him with a blue texta, that aside, he was fantastic. By the time he was 2 1/2 he knew what a 7 looked like on a digital clock was and that when the clock said 7 he could come downstairs. If he woke early he would sit and play quietly. Boy-child is now 6 and the 7 o’clock rule still applies – it is fantastic.
Girl-child was much harder to contain when she went to a big-bed, but it was no different to her climbing in and out of the cot whenever she wanted too at around 18 months. Eventually she stayed in bed at bed-time and she learnt the 7 o’clock rule, now mornings are almost pleasant.
Don’t get me wrong, we have had our share or early morning dramas and wake ups, but if there is no blood and no monsters then it is straight back to bed. The persistence was well worth it!
Thanks for inspiring me to reminisce about the blue texta on my blog!
Alliclaus doesn’t stay in bed. She did in the beginning, but now she gets up and plays. It kind of rules, because she doesn’t immediately need me, so if I’m feeding the baby or *cough* napping, I can squeeze a few more minutes in before I have to go open her door. We don’t leave crayons in her room because she would most certainly color on the walls, but she still manages to make a mess. Her current favorite things to do are pull all the clothes out of her dresser and attempt to diaper her bunny with every diaper she can find.
I remember I used to be exactly the same, especially after a nightmare…I would be too scared to move, kinda like paralysed with fear. Either that or I’d attempt to scream out for help in my dream to try and make myself wake up at the same time.