I've shared before about some of our bedtime battles with our youngest (who just turned 5 a couple days ago). We've always had a pretty good bedtime routine, but after he's been in bed he would frequently sneak down with some need masking his ploy for attention. It may be a bad thought (we told him he couldn't have had bad dreams if he hadn't been asleep yet) or an itch or "thirsting to his death."
Upon the advice from Dr. Kevin Leman's book Have a New Kid by Friday we began ignoring him. We would inform him at the end of his bedtime routine that we were done with bed, that mom and dad had work to do and needed time together. So when he got out of bed and came down, we would ignore him. This was supposed to get him to go back to bed. It wasn't working the best.
But recently we began shutting the door completely when we finished the bedtime routine. We had been keeping it open just a little so it wasn't completely dark in their room. But now we've been shutting it and turning on a night light. And this seems to be working--we've had several nights of him staying in bed now. And for this, we're thankful.
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