Daughter sleeping in my bed

Spendless

AylesburyDuck wrote: »

I wouldnt panic, she'll grow out of it soon enough.
At one point in our lives we had 4 children under 7, bought a superking sized bed because sometimes we could end up with 2-3 children with us :eek:
It doesnt last forever and they do grow out of it.

Agreed. Our eldest was always a poor sleeper and frequently used to end up in our bed. As he got older he used to sneak in from the bottom of the duvet all the way up the bed, so we frequently didn't discover him until we woke in the morning!

He's 17 tomorrow and grew out of it, long, long ago.

Pop_Up_Pirate

cookiecrumbs wrote: »

Hi

I have two children - one is 3 and a half, the other is 1. The one year old sleeps well (at the moment) and doesn't wake up very often in the night.

The eldest is a different story - she was a good sleeper as a baby but went through a period of waking every night at about 18 months then seemed to settle down.

Now I would say she wakes up at least 2 or 3 times a week. This isn't usually a problem as she is fairly easily settled and will then go back to sleep fine so I am usually only up for about 10 minutes.

Lately however, she is waking up very upset - saying she heard a noise or had a bad dream or something like that and asking to come into my bed. The first time or two I let her - and to be fair she just goes straight to sleep and doesn't wake up again so it's fine.

I'm just thinking that I don't want her to start getting used to it - but negotiating with her in the middle of the night is useless because the more I try and persuade her to stay in her own room, the more distressed she gets and the louder she is I worry about her waking my youngest.

It seems like an impossible situation - if I refuse she gets upset and nobody gets any sleep, if I say ok then she is just getting her own way.

Plus in the middle of the night I can't be bothered to argue, I just want to go back to sleep!!

Any advice?

Arguing and negotiating with a 3 year old???
Say "Get back to bed" and be done with it.
Don;t give her the time or attention and she will just stay in bed.

You are enabling her behaviour by giving her just what she wants.

jjj1980

OP I really wouldn't worry. When my daughter was little and having trouble sleeping in her own bed, the doctor asked me what helped her sleep and when I told him being in with me, his reply was "Well that's your solution then as long as you both get the sleep you need. Silly to cause sleepless nights when there is such an easy fix."


My little girl is now 7 and I leave it up to her whether she climbs into her own bed or mine. There is no stress at bedtime, she sleeps 12 hours straight and wakes up happy. I get a full nights sleep and she quite happily takes herself up to bed early some nights. She loves her own bed now, which she chose herself along with her own bedding. Although I never quite understand how she fits in it with the amount of cuddly toys she keeps on it!

sheramber

She is at th age when she has dreams and nightmares. I would stay with her in her own room.

I used to sit on the bed and rub their back and they would fall asleep. Then I could go back to my own bed.

If necessary I would lie down with her on her own bed.

Make her room and bed inviting. e.g Have covers or curtains with her favourite characters. Let her choose them. Does she have a special toy to take to bed?

SmlSave

Do what feels right for you hun.

I just climb in bed with my 5 year old if it's the middle of the night until he falls asleep - often I do to!

The 3 year old climbs into our bed and while I enjoy the cuddles we now move her to her room. As she wakes up most nights we've put a mattress next to her bed so we can fall straight asleep again.

If she didn't insist on sleeping right under my armpit I'd be happy co-sleeping.

What ever you do don't mention monsters etc like said above. A wonderful friend of mine once told her son that bedtime is when the moon is up - now in summer or God forbid if the moon is behind a cloud she has a fight on her hands. smart kid.