Help My 3 Year Old Will Not Sleep in His Own Bed!

This is hard to do. And you should plan on getting no sleep the night that you plan it. (And if you do it, you need to REALLY do it. No wishy washy and giving in at 3 a.m.!) But you either need to secure him in his room, or secure him OUT of yours. We locked our bedroom door so my son couldn't sneak in during the middle of the night. The first time he banged on the door, I opened the door only a tiny little crack, crouched down to his level and said "Mommy and Daddy are going nigh night. You should go back to your bed. I love you. I'll see you in the morning." Then I closed the door and did my best to ignore the banshee screaming and banging. We didn't open the door or say anything else to him. It was hard, but darn if he didn't go back to bed (eventually) that night. That first night was the worst. He did try to open the door the next night, but he went back to bed on his own.

we had the same problem with our two year okd and when we moved finally we got him a big big boy bed (twin size) and made a ta da about how big boys sleep in there bed all night and then for add assurance that he would stay put we do the baby gate across the door at night. we can still hear him when he gets up but then we march him right back to bed and he doesnt then even get a taste of our bed...it took about a week now he isnt even getting up at night. give it a try...i am a mom of two so i know how tired you are!!! good luck with the newest addition!!!

I don't know if it will help but there is a book by Marc Weissbluth, called "Healthy Sleep habits Happy child. I bet you will beable to find something helpful in there. I used it when my son was 8 months old and he has been sleeping in his own bed since then. He is going to be 2 in November. He can't open doors yet, so I am not sure if i will have this same problem too. But i thought i woul dlet you know about the book and hope that it helps. By the way i bought the book on amazon.com for like 5 dollars plus shipping. I looked for the cheapest one, but they in a really cost effective range.

D.

I have a 3 year old daughter and we used to go through the same problem. I read everything I could get my hands on. Good night, Moon. Elmo's sleep book (it stinks because it's only a few pages of a board book). There is nothing really out there for this problem! Then, a friend told me about this book called, I Sleep in My Own Bed (www.isleepinmyownbed.com) which has amazing illustrations and it's actually written for a child. It walks through all of the reasons they should sleep in their own bed (eg, their toys would miss them). It worked! She gets it! My daughter asks me to read it to her every night! It's like we had been speaking another language to her until we found this. Now, I can't wait to start reading it to our 1 year old. I feel your pain, I have been there. I hope this helps!

Hey E. Congrats on your newest! I haven't had that problem however I would love to try and help. Maybe you can make a chart to put on the fridge and use stickers that he likes to mark the nights he can stay in his own bed all night, reward his accomplishment by maybe after one or two nights give him some change for his piggy bank, and after say five nights or a week take him to the store and let him pick out a small toy (with my 4yr old its hotwheels!) That way you and he can track his progress he'll love seeing all those stickers and I bet he'll feel like such a big guy after he starts getting those rewards! We used that with my 4yr old son when he was wetting the bed it worked for us. We even let him pick out the stickers we used. Goodluck and let me know if it works for you guys!

I don't know if you are familiar with Supernanny on ABC, but she has a technique that seems to work for the parents who have used it on the show. The first time he gets up you say something like "It is night night time and you need to go sleep in your own bed". The second, third, one hundredth time you say nothing and make now eye contact, but you just pick him up and put him back in bed or lead him back to bed. It looks like the parents have a few sleepless nights, but it seems to get easier each time. She has a book out that explains the technique in more detail. If you didn't want to buy the whole book I'm sure you could just read the section at Barnes and Noble or wherever or even make a copy of it at the library.

Also, when my sister was little she did the same thing and my parents put up a baby gate. For a week, my parents would find her curled up by the baby gate in the morning, but ultimatly she figured out her bed was more comfortable.