For the past couple of days my 21 month old son has refused to take a nap and I even have trouble putting him to bed at night. He was doing well before so I don't know what the problem is. He sleeps in a playpen because I sold his crib when I moved recently and I don't want to put him in a toddler bed yet for fear that he won't stay in it. In the past couple of days everytime I put him down for a nap or for bed at night, he will just stand in there playing or talking even though he has no toys. He even gets to the point where he rocks the playpen back and forth hard enough for it to topple over. It really scares me because I don't want him to get hurt. Recently he did this and his hand got caught and we were lucky he didn't break his wrist. I don't know what I can do to get him to realize that when he is in there, it is bedtime and not playtime.
In the daytime, does he play in his playpen? If he does, he probably does think it is playtime. He is to young to distinguish between playtime and sleeptime if he is being put into his play area to sleep! If you have sold the crib, maybe you are going to have to transfer him to a bed... with a bed guard (and maybe a stairgate on the door of his room so he can't get out of his room. The transfer might be hard for a couple of weeks but he will soon get used to it.
no he doesn't play in the playpen, I make sure to keep toys out of it so he knows that it isn't to play in. My only fear is with a bed that he won't stay in it and will have easier access to things in his room to play with
90% of the world parents sleep with their children and have no sleep difficulties. Only in the west, in the last 200 years, parents started putting their babies in cribs. This makes good money for the industry, and harms the children.
Take your child to your bed at the same time you go to sleep and you will not have these problems. In addition, he will grow up with higher self-esteem, better sleep habits, and higher intelligence. No mammal sleeps away from a warm body. Search this site for more information on babies and toddlers' sleep: http://www.nd.edu/~jmckenn1/lab/faq.html
