Sleeping Habits - Bluffton, SC

Hi! Have you tried to put a baby gate across his bedroom door? At least than if he gets up, he will stay in his room. I don't know my daughter is still in her crib, but I think I would try that if that was happening to us... Good Luck!

C.,

Did your son just start doing this? Because my son is 2 1/2 and he is doing the same thing, only we do have a gate in his room and he will just cry until we come and get him. So.....I'm not sure if the gate will help you or not, but your situation might be different. I'm interested to see if anyone else has any other suggestions besides the baby gate. I'm really tired and my son has to sleep practically on top of me so I'm not getting much sleep these days. It is nice to know that someone else is going through this :)

We never used a baby gate or locking the door. That seems like it would be kind of scary to a child. They need to understand that their bed is where they need to sleep and I think kids need to learn to respect parent's sleep. I know lots of people co-sleep, but in our family whenever we have tried this, noone gets a decent sleep. Keep bringing him back to bed. Make sure that is where he falls asleep on at the start of the night.

Hi C.,
Just a few thoughts to ponder... I'm wondering when he has time away from you except bedtime and even then he is getting up to be with you?
I imagine he is at the restaurant quite late and is over stimulated by the time he goes to bed keeping his little mind in the busy mode.
When he's in bed with you he is comforted and feels safe after being around so many strangers during the evening.
Like I said, just some thoughts to ponder. I wish you success with this little darlin'.

Lock him in his room (some people do this), baby gate him in, or keep putting him back in his bed when he does that. Then he knows he wont be able to stay in the bed with you so he may as well quit trying. Mine tried that too, it took a good week of tantrums. I kept putting her back and she finally figured it out...

My experience has been with my 8 yr old that over time he stopped doing it. I have a 4 yr old that now gets up and goes into the living room to sleep. We always put them back in bed but them either come back to us or go into the living room. My middle child never did this he always stayed in his room and my oldest just stopped on his own but the youngest is still getting up. I'm not sure if it's that's he alone in his room or the neighbors are making some kind of noise or if it's a neighbor dog barking that gets him up, your not alone in this I too have it. I never put gates up or else they would just cry when they were younger I'd rather they come to me then anywhere else in the house. I figure it could be bad dreams my 4 yr old tells me many times that he was running or riding his bike and fell down...I ask when he says last night mom...I say in your sleep?? he says yes 'cause I never fall on my bike. So maybe it's dreams that's gets your little one up...maybe it will be some that is out grown. My 4 yr old also gets up to potty during the night that may be something soon to come as well. I've had less of a difficult time potty training my light sleepers then the heavy sleepers so this could be a blessing without realizing it at this time.

Some kids do need more cuddle time even at that age and older. What I did with my now 9yo (who was the worst with this) was every time he came into my room, I would either walk him back to his room or carry him back and tuck him in (no words, keep quiet), kiss him and walk back to my room. Did he come back? Yes, but I did it again and again and again until he gave up. It took a few times, but he managed to stay in his bed. When this particular child was doing this, he was much younger than yours and he understood that I was going to put him back.

But as he got older, he had nightmares and was back into our room. What I did then was tell him that he could sleep in my room, but it had to be on the floor...he eventually gave that up and stayed in his room.

I would NOT lock the kid in the room. That will only create or add fears. Children need to know that when they need their parents, they will be able to get to them.

I have a 2 1/2 year old girl who at times wants out of her twin bed and gets into mine. I let her; I see the need for her. She falls back to sleep and I put her back into her bed. She sleeps quite well in her bed knowing that I will be there for her when she needs me.

That is the exact same situation we are going through, glad to hear we are not the only ones! My daughter is 22 months and wakes every night around 2:00 and comes in our room and gets in our bed. She NEVER sleeps the whole night in her bed no matter how tired she is. I am usually so tired I don't have the energy to move her back to her room. I kept thinking eventually she would get sick of doing it but no luck!
My husband and I are so tired of getting pushed to the edge of our bed every night. I am sorry I have no advice but am glad you asked this question as it will help me out too!

Good luck! A.

Put a gate on his door ,keeps him from comming into your room and if he's getting up and getting in bed with you and you not notice till you've got him laying on ya , he can also get up and wander around the house and get into other more dangerous things, one moring you might wake up to find him standing on the kitchen counter. And keep putting him back in bed , he will get the hint.

our gate is 3 feet tall and has wire as the gate part and you have to make sure you put the bar to close it on the outside of the gate and there isnt anything they can climb up on to get over it.

I am also curious about responses, b/c my 2 1/2 year old daughter does the same thing. She climbs over gates, so they don't work for us(and yes, we have tried one gate above another, too). She used to stay in her room until about 6 am and then crawl into our bed just for the last 30 minutes or so, but now she gets up all night long and comes back into our room. She never wanders, just goes straight into our room and crawls in bed. I am bad about letting her fall asleep in our bed and then carrying her to her bed before I go to sleep and I have wondered if that is part of the problem. But, she used to fall asleep in the living room and then get carried to bed, so I wouldn't think that would matter. I know it is amazing how small a king size bed can seem when there is a 2 1/2 year old in the middle, though!

If you think about it, it is common to wake up in the middle of the night, but as adults we train ourselves to roll over and go back asleep. It sounds like your son is waking up and thinking "hmmm, I would like to go hang out with mommy!" Try putting a gate up at the door of his bedroom so at least he can't leave his room. He probably won't like not being able to come and see you so it might take a few nights of crying before he learns he needs to stay in his room, and therefore his bed. This is all assuming he has his own room. If he doesn't that will be harder, but you could still work on disciplining him to stay in his bed. I don't have all the answers....this is just a thought you might want to try!