Tips on getting my 2.5 year old to stay in her own bed?

[staceyobu]

My youngest is getting up every night multiple times. I have no idea what started it. She's been an awesome sleeper for a long time. She typically comes in our room and lays sideways across the middle of the bed and tries to shove DH and I off the sides. She will put her water cup on my side of the bed and then crawl over me 18 times to get a drink. She will crawl over me to get in bed and then over me to go back to get her blankie. Then over me to get back in the middle. Then back over me to go get her cup. And back over me again to get in bed.

 

If I take her back to her bed, she reappears 30 minutes later or goes into her sister's room and crawls over her for an hour and then comes back to my room. We've tried sleeping her with our oldest, but she won't stay in bed with her either.

 

I'm not sure that she wants to sleep with us. I think she wants our bed and is trying to make us get out of it. DH has been sleeping on the couch to get away from her. Unfortunately, there is not another couch for me! She is not a cute, snuggly little thing. (Edited to add... she actually is quite cute. Just not snuggly. She's a cute, squirmy little thing.)

 

I keep thinking I just need to put her back in bed every time she comes in my room. The problem is that I am so tired I'm usually only half aware of what's going on and not with it enough to realize I need to get up and move her.

 

Any great ideas? My six year old asked at dinner if we could put her back in the crib and flip it over like a cage. I thought that was a pretty funny solution. :tongue_smilie:

 

I know a lot of people cosleep with 2 year olds. I'm just not sure how to make that option work and both of us sleep. I have a hard time sleeping while hanging onto the edge of the bed and getting kicked in the back.

Edited December 2, 2011 by staceyobu

[Melodiya99]

No solutions...we have the same child:D :bigear:

[ondreeuh]

Tell her you are shopping for her Christmas presents, but if she keeps interrupting you will have to stop. ;)

 

(I pulled that one tonight after my almost-4-year-old called me back into his room to tell me he thought he had a hair in his mouth.)

 

But really - can you think of any reason she is so restless? Does she drink all night because her thirst is abnormal? Could she have pinworms?

 

I'd try to figure out what is making her so squirmy. If she's just a light sleeper, sleeping in your room is going to make it worse. Try a white-noise machine in her room to block out noise, dark curtains to block out light, and hope for the best.

Edited December 2, 2011 by ondreeuh

[Dahliarw]

Will she sleep in her bed if it's in your room. Kind of a compromise. Or, start her out in her bed and have a sleeping bag on the floor of your room she can come to if she's up in the middle of the night and wants to be closer, but not IN your bed.

[Rosie_0801]

I don't know how to keep them in their bed, but while they are in nappies, nice things called doors keep them in their rooms. :glare: The doors don't prevent them kicking the walls though. :glare::glare:

 

Rosie

[rocketgirl]

i remember those days with pain, good luck & remember its just temporary. One thing I tried was that we had magic/special/whatever words and that we could read a story, do prayers, talk, whatever, but once we said those words, "good night", it meant we wouldn't talk or get out of bed anymore until the morning. That was like our "stop" button. It worked when we needed it.