Give your child a set number of tickets each night. Tell your child that tickets can be traded for help throughout the night. For example, your child may get two tickets. The first and second time she or he comes out and asks for something (water, tuck in, comfort etc), you collect a ticket, fulfill the request (within reason), then tuck her or him back into bed. If your child comes out again, but has no tickets left, you just walk her or him back to bed. You can then reduce the number of tickets when you feel it is time.
This is likely to work best if your child is constantly coming out asking for something, and you suspect it is just an excuse to get out of bed. It is unlikely to be effective if your child is genuinely uncomfortable, or scared in bed.
Please add your experiences with this approach in the comments below. Please provide the age of your child when you tried it. If it worked, please share the effects you saw. If it didn’t work, why do you think it didn’t work in your case?
