Big bed- how to keep him in?

Hi everyone,

My 19m old DS desperately wants to sleep in his big boy's bed. I am fine with that, however, he just cant seem to settle.
He will sit up and play, or get out and play. (he always hated going to sleep, thinks it is a waste of time:lol:)
When I put him in his cot, he just screams for a long time and tells me he wants to sleep in the other bed. (pointing and saying sleep)

Does anyone has any tips on how I can help him sleep in the big boy bed? Lying next to him doesn't do the trick either. He wants me asleep and when I pretend to be, he just sits up and starts play.

thanks!

We are just about to put our DS into a bed. I heard a good tip from a sleep nurse. Most kids aren't bothered about whether the door is open or not. But she recommended shifting the focus to the door. Tell him if he gets out of bed, then the door is shut, if he stays and lies down, the door stays open. Being 2 everything is a battle of wills and they will want to get the upperhand. So suddenly they do care about the door being open because you have bartered with him and will (hopefully) stay put to get his own way.

I don't know if it will work but she said it had worked for other families.

A safety rail might help by making it harder to get out of bed and maybe less worth the effort. We put our 21 month old in a big boy bed recently but it's a loft bed so it has a railing all the way around it (and a ladder/slide at the end). The first week he kept getting out repeatedly. I didn't mind if he stayed in the bed and sat there quietly playing with his toys as he would eventully get tired and go to sleep, but whenever he got out I would just pick him up and quietly put him back. He got out of bed a lot at first and cried when I put him back, but it gradually got less and less as he learned it was a waste of time to get out, and now he stays in it all night.