Sleeping Habits

J.,

My 3 year old son wakes in the night as well and we just keep sending him back. At this point I don't always have to actually get up I can just tell him to go back and he usually races back to his room, but it took us a while to get to this point.. My only advice is what you already know, just keep sending them back to bed. Unfortunately, the next few months will most likely be rough for you, but try to start now so she doesn't connect sending her back to bed with a new baby. I don't suggest waiting until the baby is on the scene and you will have little patience.

Good luck!

Well, wait til the baby comes,
its will really be a full bed then LOL

But honestly this was the same case with me, I rolled the bassinette next to the bed, and my son was inbetween us,

When the baby woke to nurse , i would nurse him and then move the big one back to his bed, Of course he would eventually wake and come back in.

What helped was a blanket,

I would cover him with the same soft blanket in my bed, and i eventually put that INTO his bed, and it helped alot, because it was familiar and smelled like us.

my son is also a head petter, pets my hair all night long.

Still comes into our bed at night tho, we are used to it now.
But he does spend more hours in his own bed and will on many nights sleep thru the night in his own bed.

M

J., My daughter (3 in June) started this several months ago, and my husband decided to buy her a tent. We put it on the floor at the foot of our bed and told her she could sleep in there - but she couldn't get in our bed. That made it a lot more comfortable to sleep in our bed and she was happy going to sleep near mommy and daddy! We let it go on like that for about a month and a half. Then we moved the tent into her room. The idea is to work her BACK into her own bed, and we're still working on that. But she loves the tent. It was relatively inexpensive, and we're hoping one day we'll be able to use it for her to play "camping" in the backyard. I know that doesn't help much with the May timeframe, but at least it might get her out of your bed! Good luck and congrats on baby number two! J.

My son went through te same phase when he was about 4. It was to the point that my husband and I would wake up in the morning and our son would be sound asleep between us. We weren't even feeling or hearing him creep into our bed. We finally told him that he was no longer aloud to come in our bed when it was dark out. It took a couple of nights, but it worked. When he came down we would take him right back up to bed or tell him to sleep on the couch. he was afraid to be in the dark living room alone, so he stayed in bed. I have also heard of people putting a beach towel on their bedroom floor and when the child came in they had to lay on the floor. Another thing you could try is putting a radio or CD on n her room. My son is now 7 and we found that he sleeps better with backgroud noise. when he was young we put a CD on and had it play all night long on continious play. Now that he is older he leaves his TV on all night. he turns it on when he goes to bed and is asleep within 15 minutes. We find that if he does wake up during the night he watches TV for about 15 mintues and falls right back to sleep. We leave his Tv on either Nickelodeon or Noggin, so no matter what time he is watching during the night it is always something appropriate for him. We never have a hard time with him getting up in the morning or being tired during the day, so it is working for us. I am sure that some parents will not agree with a 7 year old havibg a TV on all night, but it works great for him!! Every child is different. Maybe you could try using "reverse" psychology. tell her that if she doesn't want to sleep in her bed she has to sleep someplace she is not comfortable (maybe the hallway) or sleep covered with a blanket that she may not like (maybe a "boy" blanket). this will probably last a few nights, but in the end hopefully you will have your be to yourself. Good Luck!

Lock your door. When she cries for you put her back to bed. It should only take a few nights to get her to realize she cannot sleep with you.

J., although it will be difficult to do, I would suggest that you start by putting her on either a mattress or a sleeping bag next to your bed and then gradually get her back to her room. It's hard to break the habit but you will all sleep better eventually. Hang in there and good luck.

I tryed a reward chart.At the age 3 they understand when you talk them.I had my daughter help me decorate a tag board and we made "put our day to bed"and a tag board "wake our day"I explained that if she went to bed in her bed she could but a sticker on that day and if she woke up in her bed she could put a sticker on the day tag board,i explained that she got pretty stickers for being a big girl and at the end of the week when mommy goes shopping if she got all her stickers she could pick a big girl prize out.when she comes in at night u just explain her day sticker is waiting for her and if she wants to wake her day she needed to be a big girl and i walked her back to bed ,showed her her chart and showed her her special sticker she was gonna put on the chart in the morning

We did a sticker/calendar program--every night he didn't climb into our bed he got to put a sticker on his own calendar. When he had earned a sticker EVERY NIGHT for 30 nights he got a Star Wars lego set he had been wanting. Worked like a charm.

Good luck!

Have you tried putting a baby gate in her doorway so she can't leave her room. This way she can still call out to you but she can't get out of her room.