Night waking

[MonMic]

Hiya,

Our 2yo DD has developed a bad habit of getting up most nights and getting into bed with my DH. :mad:

It all started when I was preggers and she was getting anxious about it all and started waking up at night, my DH took her out onto the spare foldout lounge to give me some rest and now 3 months later she does it most nights of the week. :(

My Dh is stuck sleeping on the fold out bed, and DD seems to think that this is quite a nice way to continue!

Any one got any ideas on how we can get her back into her own bed?

A while ago we used to be able to give her a bottle of formula and then she would go right back to sleep, but we have tried that a few times and it just doesn't work anymore.

We have tried continuously putting her back in her own bed, but she just gets hysterical and DH ends up caving and letting her sleep with him again. :(

DH travels and its odd because the nights he is away she sleeps through no probs, he came home late one night after she was asleep. I didn't tell her he was coming back but she still got up that night. :mad:

Would love to hear if anyone has any ideas.

Ta
M.

[Ky]

I just keep on putting my boy back to bed as soon as he comes into my bed. He has only started doing this in the past 6 months or so and often all I have to do is tell him that he needs to go back and I don't even have to get up!

I have a rule that no matter whether I have the room in my bed or not, he is not allowed to jump in with me before 6am. This means that I have had a decent nights sleep and have a lot less bruises from a wriggling little kid!

I believe that the parents bed is for the parents and neither one should be displaced by a child! They have thier own bed and should learn to sleep in it.

I am not saying that they have to stay in thier own bed at all times ... I really love the saturday and sunday mornings when the kids jump in with us and we spend time waking up together, tickling each other, laughing, telling stories (torturing Daddy - hehe!) and starting the day in a really positive way.

[MonMic]

Thanks Kyra,

I have to say I am with you.
My DH has kind of dug his own hole with this one as he likes having her come into bed with him, the other day he was saying how he didn't mind so he wasn't going to do anything about it, but then after a rough night he wants to stop again.

Until he is prepared to be strict and stop it for good there is no point in me trying anything. I have offered to help on a few occasions and he says no, so I am just leaving it up to him now.

lets hope she doesn't complain for too many nights once he does decide to do something, as she tends to be a screamer, which is really awful at 3am!

take care
M.

[Ky]

Tell me about it! Screaming in the middle of the night gets on your nerves soooooo much faster than it ever does in the daytime!

Perservere once you start as it won't take long for her to give up and accept that she is in her bed for the night. You may have a few rotten nights, but it will be well worth it in the end!

Here's hoping that he decides to put his foot down soon ... it may mean that you end up having to be the strong one and almost bully him into leaving her to scream, but in the end it will be worth it.

I hope it all turns out to be less of a hassle than you think it will be.