Almost 3yr old keeps climbing into our bed. HELP!

JulieandBen

We are having sleep issues. Jack is coming into our room no less than four times a night. He climbs over Ben, who doesn't realize he's doing it half the time until he's half way over him. I've picked him up and carried him back to bed each time without a fight or fuss or anything. I lay him back down and he goes right to sleep without any issues. I tell him to stay in his room until it's daytime out or the sun comes out and to call us if he needs us but not to get out of bed unless he has to go potty. He loves to say to us 'it's wake up time. It's daytime out' or something like that when we try to get him to go back to sleep after 7am so we can stay asleep. Anyway, do you have any advice on how to keep my monster in bed? I am not getting any sleep.

Halo79RN

my dd has been doing this too... about 3 or 4 am most nights.  we just let her sleep with us. I ask her why she's in our bed and she responds b/c there are monsters.    but the kids and I were traveling a lot recently and she was sleeping with me for those 10 days.  we were pro cosleeping.  So long as she starts the night out in her room, her climbing into our bed in the middle of the night is no biggie to us.  Last night was the first night in about a week that she didn't come to our room. 

 

maybe a nightlight?  Is he going potty when he gets up?  anything happen to make him have nightmares?  it's a phase, I guess if you don't do bed sharing, just keep what you're doing.  

good luck. 

abpdjs

you are doing exactly what i would do so no real advice, maybe a baby gate?  he will catch on eventually as long as you are consistent.

JulieandBen

My husband doesn't see it as a big deal even if he gets a foot in the face here and there. (From Jack not me:)) I wake up in so much pain when Jack sleeps with us. I want and I need my personal space to sleep. I have resorted to going to Jack's bed or the guest room in the past but I don't think that's the way to handle this. It's not fair for me to leave my bed.

Jack has a night light in his bathroom, one on his headboard, and one next to his bed. I've been turning the one on his headboard off because it's a blue glowing thing and it's really bright in the room. He hasn't gone to the bathroom when he gets up or when I'm putting him back down.

I'll ask him why he's in our bed and he'll say because he wants to be. He has no problems going back to his bed, he doesn't fight it or anything. Half the time we think he is still asleep when he climbs into our bed. 

I will continue to be consistent. Hopefully I'll get some sleep soon. Ugh.

 Thanks for your thoughts.
 

Halo79RN

do you think he's sleepwalking?  maybe try the gate??? 

good luck.  

Goldie_lv

My DS1 was doing this too, we ended up putting a gate on his bedroom door.  Now I will warn you, there will be some crying, and even a couple days where you might find him asleep on the floor by the gate in the morning, but they eventually (sooner rather then later) figure it out and stay in bed.

neverblushed

When my son was nearly 3, he had a lot of night-waking troubles and fear of the dark or monsters.  He was still in a crib at the time, and we kept him in there and didn't make the move to a big boy bed during this time.

Can you have Jack call to you when he wakes up instead of coming into your room?

I helped my son through this by giving him things he could do to get himself back to sleep besides call for Mommy. 

I taught him to "think about happy thoughts" instead of "scary thoughts" and we made a list of happy things he could think about.  He liked to think about Lightning McQueen and Sally going for their drive together -- so cute! 

I made one of the biggest stuffed animals into my "deputy" and had Rexy, the dinosaur, stand guard on the bookcase.

We got a fun, interesting poster and put it on the wall right next to his crib, where he could look at it.

Basically, he just needed something to distract him from feeling alone and scared when he awoke at night. 

roseroseroseroserose

abpdjs:

you are doing exactly what i would do so no real advice, maybe a baby gate?  he will catch on eventually as long as you are consistent.

This.  Especially if the baby will be in your room after he's born.  Because then Jack will REALLY want to be in there too.