Bedtime Blues - Oklahoma City,OK

Hello C.,

I am assuming your daughter has been sleeping in your bed for quite a while, if so, she needs to learn to feel comfortable in her room.

I suggest laying with her for a few nights (it may take several days), until she is about to fall asleep, then kiss her goodnight and leave. Staying with her will feel normal, which will help the process and help her transition.

If she is still napping, nap time is the best time to start the process.

I hope this helps.

R. Magby

Have you tried getting her to fall asleep in her own bed? That is probably the first step to getting her to stay there. I love the book called Healthy Sleep Habits, Happy Child. It goes over a lot of sleep issues your child may have. I've never dealt with that specific one so I do not remember if it is in there, but it probably is. The author is also very encouraging of early bedtimes. Many times that in itself will solve a lot of bedtime issues. Hope you get it worked out quickly.
M.

I have a 3 yr old son and we went through this same thing. I have found that if I lay down in his bed with him he stays there all night. We lay down and we read his night night stories and I sing to him and then I get up and leave the room he usually "reads" to himself for just a bit then goes to sleep. I think it has something to do with waking up in a different place from where you go to sleep.

We did the laying down at bedtime with our toddler and that seemed to open a new can of worms (of course). One thing that helped was something my sister told me...our son doesn't like complete darkness in his room or the door closed so we would tell him at night that if he got out of bed, we would turn off the light or close the door. He didn't want that to happen so he would stay in bed. Tears were shed, so you do need to be strong. We did do the warning system so it wasn't on the first time of getting out of bed.
For example: Gets out of bed the first time, just put her back in. Second time, warn her that you will either close the door or turn off the light. Third time, do one or the other and then if she cries you can give in and tell her that next time that is what is going to happen for sure. Fourth time, follow through.
As the days go on, you can give fewer warnings.
When he started falling asleep on his on and in his own bed, then he would still wake up in the middle of the night and come in bed with us. We ended up putting a sleeping bag next to our bed and when our son would come in during the night, we told him he could sleep down there. We did tell him before he went to bed that if he needed to sleep with mommy and daddy, that he could sleep in the sleeping bag. It was a tough couple of nights to get it started and not much sleep on our part (because every time he would get in bed with us, we would put him back in the sleeping bag), but afterwards it was well worth it. Just remember which ever approach you use, don't give in because it will be like starting over. It may be a tough week, but just remember you are not the only one that is going through this and the end is in sight. :) And if you do try the sleeping bag thing, maybe do it when you have a couple of days off in a row so you can either nap with your daughter during the day.
One more thing, after our son slept in the sleeping bag the first time, we praised him and made a HUGE deal out of him sleeping in the bag.

Hope you find some good things that will help you!

Your the adult and she is the child stay firm for about a week and don't let her fall asleep in your bed to begin with, put her back in her room every time she gets out of bed and reward when she goes to sleep in her on room one time with something thats stay in her room. Don.t forget nap times and any other time sleep is involved.Start with a book and good night prayer and rest mommy rest.