Help! My two and half year old son refuses to sleep in his bed. He would rather sleep right behind his bedroom door. My husband and I have tried everything. We even put his little pull out couch in his room and he still refuses to sleep on it. I don't know what else to do and he is way to big to sleep in a crib. I am at my wits end and. If anybody has any ideas please pass them my way.
Thank you!
My daughter is 6 and sleeps on the floor of her room almost every night right in front of the door, we leave the hall light on so there is plenty of light. I even bought a new mattress thinking she would like it better, she just likes the floor and the dr said as long as she is sleeping it is not a concern and she will out grow the phase. She has been doing this for about 6mo now. I wouldn't be concerned he will out grow it.
I say let him sleep on the floor. Its not going to hurt him. And when he is ready to sleep in his bed he will.
Char
My daughter is almost 3 and is doing the same thing. O fell it is a phase because she will sometimes sleep in her bed and other nights she is on the floor. I would not worry too much about it, I know they will grow out of it. My oldest- he is 11 now- did the same thing and he stopped after about 6 months or so. Just be careful opening the door in the morning.
Hope this helps
H.
Don't worry....this is normal, atleast to my family. We have gone through this with all four of our children and eventually them have all outgrown it and sleep in their beds. We just have a rule that you can sleep anywhere in your room...but you can't sleep behind your door because I have to be able to get in your room in case of an emergency. Best of luck.
Personally, I have an 'if it doesn't hurt you and it doesn't hurt them, let them do it' theory. Yes its strange and yes you should try to understand why he won't sleep in his bed, but in the mean time it's not like it's unsafe for him to sleep on the floor so don't let it drive you. Offer to make him a pallet out of the way of the door. If you find him other than where you left him just cover him and try to talk to him about it in the morning. Maybe there's a bad spring in the matress, or he saw a bug in or near his bed, or any number of things that are keeping him from his bed. I'm sure he can communicate his problem to you somehow and I'm sure you'll find a way to understand his issue with his bed. Good luck!
Make sure he's got a night light if you don't already have on in there. And my guess is he sleeps near the door so he can lay there and hear other people in the house so he knows he's not alone. Just go in and reassure him that it's bedtime, mommy/daddy are going to bed too, see you in the morning. Sometimes it helps me when my son (3yrs) is having a hard time falling asleep I tell him something we will do when he wakes up tomorrow (like play with his trucks, or go to the playground, etc...) then he seems to get fixated on that big surprise and he'll quiet down and go to sleep.
My first instinct is to say let him sleep on the floor, don't worry about it, but then I thought about if my son wanted to sleep on the floor. I would not let him, but only because we are in Missouri where there are lots of brown recluse spiders. We have seen several in our house this season, and I always pull our bed and his crib away from the wall and don't leave clothes lying on the floor because they are mainly on the floors and walls. So, if you have brown recluses, you might want to get him into his bed.
Hi M.,
I have a couple of suggestions and if you alreay have them cool or maybe you don't.
You say he is too big for a crib but where does he sleep now if he is in a toddler bed it still may be too small. So you might try going up to a twin size bed.
If he likes sleeping by the door are you able too arange his room to where the bed is by the door.
A night light in his room and also in addition to this they make a fisher price kids flash light for kids or if you're cheap like me go buy a 99 cent flash light that he can sleep with in his bed in case he gets scared in the middle of the night and show him how to turn it on/off.
Make sure his room isn't too hot or too cold.
Also make sure his bed isn't under the air vent that cold air may be blowing on it and making the bed cold.
If all of these are not factors and have been resolved you can do one of 2 things...1) let him sleep where he wants in his room or 2) make him sleep in his bed and battle it out. If you go this route than you need to either put him back in bed everytime he gets out or sit next to him while he is in his bed and you sit on the floor. Remember pick your battles, also you need to decide what the real issue is...is it that he doesn't want to sleep in his bed or is it maybe because he isn't really tired at the time you are putting him to bed so he lays by the door to hear what is going on in whichever room you are in. It may help that you turn down the lights, turn down the t.v. and act like you are going to bed. In my opinion a bedtime between 8pm or 9pm is really good and earlier if he doesn't take a nap in the daytime. If he wants to sleep right behind his door does this mean you are shutting the door when he is going to sleep and then try leaving the door open but he has to sleep in his bed or in his room. Also another reason for him not wanting to go to sleep in his bed but behind the door is he may be taking to long of a nap so then he stays awake for a little while by the door to hear what is going on. There could be some other factors on this issue if the house is loud and not really calmed down in the evening time to get ready for bed. Anyway just my ideas and opinions hope something works for you, mom of 4, W.
