A few hours after my two-year-old falls asleep, he wakes and wants to sleep with us. So we put a gate in his bedroom. He cried at the gate and we'd put him back in bed. Now, he wakes and asks for juice. Sometimes we give it to him; other times we don't.

Sometimes he climbs over the gate. Our home is two-story and I worry he may fall down the stairs walking to our room.

He shares a room with his four-year-old brother, and in the next room is his four-month-old sister. I'd like to solve this soon because he wakes up everyone.

Considering your household arrangement and your toddler's persistence about climbing out of bed and over the gate, your best bet might be to allow him to sleep in a sleeping bag on the floor of your room. You could even pull out a mattress from under your bed if you don't like him sleeping on the cold, hard floor. There's nothing wrong with letting him crawl in bed with you either, if you have a bed large enough to accommodate all three of you.

Another idea: When you hear him climb out of bed and wander into your room, get up and put him back in his bed. Then, either lie down with him or sit in a chair next to him until he falls back to sleep.

CONSISTENCY VS. CONFUSION
Remember that whatever you decide to do will create a habit, and sleep habits are hard to break. Develop a plan and stick with it. Keep at it for at least three weeks, until the plan is securely in place. If one night you offer juice, the next night you sing him to sleep with a lullaby and the night after that you let him cry it out, your sporadic attempts only confuse your toddler.

Most people wake during the middle of the night, but they can put themselves back to sleep. As toddlers develop memory, they start dreaming, and these dreams wake them up. In time he'll learn to put himself back to sleep, and you simply must allow him the opportunity to learn this skill. He won't learn it as long as he's dependent on you to ease him back to sleep.

For more ideas, read THE SLEEP BOOK FOR TIRED PARENTS by Rebecca Huntley or YOUR CHILD'S HEALTH by Barton Schmitt, M.D. (Bantam Books, 1991).