Question
My 2 1/2 year old recently transitioned out of his crib. When in his crib, we could easily put him to bed with the bedtime routine, and while he might lay awake for awhile (sometimes kicking the wall, but rarely yelling), he would fall asleep on his own. Since transitioning to his mattress (on the floor to reduce jumping / injuries) it's a battle to put him to bed. One of us often ends up having to lay with him. He is very active and it seems like it's very hard for him to wind down. Even sitting reading books doesn't seem to help, but in the crib he was closed in and that seemed to contain him. We are at a loss of how to get him to wind down now without laying with him. We used to threaten putting him back in the crib (which had still been in his room) and that often worked, but since moving the crib out we now threaten him with shutting the door (which he can't open). If we do shut it he lays there crying and yelling and saying "me listen", and then often one of us will go in there or he may then stay in his bed. Is this just a sleep regression where we need to just shut the door and do the 5 / 10 / 15 minute approach going back in there, or is there a better way to handle this? And any ideas on how to get him to wind down?
