7 Year Old Waking Up

My first thought is he's coming down with something. Kids always seem a little clingy or want mom or dad more when their body is fighting off an illness. Perhaps he'll settle down in a couple of weeks.

My six-year-old has had a bout with this lately as well. It was driving me nuts, & I am 8 mo pregnant, so any and all sleep is valuable! What we are doing & seems to be working is making a bedtime chart. We have big foam stickers on a plastic sheet (any surface that you can remove & restick would work) that get removed one by one each time she gets up & has to be put back to bed. In the morning we count how many "points" she has left ( how many times she didn't get up). I started out with 5 stickers to begin the night & am gradually reducing them, so she has to work harder to earn the points. We tally up the points each am & she gets to do something fun for certain increments. She is down to getting up only once, which is much better than the 5 or 6 when she started. It's just like any part of parenting though, you have to be consistent. Bring him back to bed every time. Encourage him every morning if he got up less, remind him of the fun plans. It will be a few sleepless nights, but worth it in the long run. I wish you the best of luck. I had to answer this post, because I know exactly how frustrating it is to have something so important revert for no reason!

At 7 he is old enough to understand that he needs to stay in his bed if nothing is wrong. Tell him he either needs to tell you what is wrong, so you can fix the problem, or he needs to just stay in his bed. If he is just wanting to get into your bed because he likes being in your bed, why not plan a weekend "movie night" in your bed once in a while in your bed when he does get to sleep with you.

did he start school yet this year? That is a major change. It doesn't have to be anything bad or traumatic for something to mess up his sleep. Kids can show anxiety in all kinds of different ways. Even in something as little as a new school year. It's a transition time and stress can show up in all kinds of ways. Or it could be that he had a dream, woke up and can't sleep. Maybe he has to use the bathroom? It could be anything really. I wouldn't keep bugging him to get an answer out of him. He might not even know why he keeps waking up. If he comes in your room, then just walk him back to his, give him hugs and tell him that it's time to go back to sleep. If he wants to sleep with you, then let him. If there is no room in your bed, let him sleep on a blanket on the floor next to you. 7 is still very young.

I'm a light sleeper and the kids have NEVER slept in our actual bed. However, when they both hit about 3, they would come in and sleep on the FLOOR next to my side of the bed. They would come in around 2-3am and I would wake up and there they would be! One kid did it for a couple weeks, one for a couple months, then just stopped. I have always had GREAT sleepers. They are now almost 14 and 11 and I have NEVER had to make them go to sleep or wake them in the mornings, they have always done it on their own. I think that is because from day one, they slept in their own crib then bed and learned to put themselves to sleep.

I find it hard to believe he isn't giving you any kind of "reason" on why he's doing it. Maybe just let him sleep on the floor...DON'T make it comfy for him, he can bring his pillow, blanket and/or stuffed animal and that's it. He will likely grow out of it on his own, but maybe not if you make it too comfy for him. Good luck!

I would ask him once and for all why he is waking up and why he suddenly feels like he needs to sleep in your bed. Tell him you want honest answers....no baloney. He's more than likely been scared of something recently or his imagination has gotten the best of him. The shows and stuff on TV these days are or riffing to say the least and he might be really afraid of something he has seen, heard, or even glanced at for a moment. You never know. Imagination and vivid dreaming is at a peak at his age....it doesn't take much to sidetrack a kid with creepy thoughts and get their minds revved up for nightmares or thoughts that might seriously worry or scare them. Having said all this, sit him down and see what he tells you. Then, address the bed hopping situation. No matter what is going on here, DO NOT....DO NOT....let a 7 year old sleep in your bed. It is not a good habit to start and at this age, it is also not appropriate behavior. He is learning to grow up and do more things independently. Sleeping with mom and dad is NOT one of those things! If he needs a night light, get him one. If he finds comfort in a stuffed animal or toy, let him sleep with that. Leave his bedroom door open or a hall light on if need be but he has to stay in his own room and sleep in his own bed. No ifs, ands, or buts! He is old enough to begin to work out his feelings and emotions independently and he also has to soothe himself to sleep and keep himself asleep as well. This type of behavior becomes habitual very fast so nip it in the butt right now. Open up to him, see what he says is the issue, and then put measure in place for I'm to help him remain comfortable in his own room. Explain that unless he is I'll or there's an emergency, you expect him and everyone else in the house to be asleep in their beds and not disturbing others. He knows what you are saying....he's old enough to get it. Put the foot down and as long as nothing super serious has occurred here in his life or scared the heck out of him beyond belief, he needs to move on and get to bed. His own bed!

We've had that issue off and on. Even up to age 11! While I'm certainly going to comfort a child that is ill or has had an nightmare, no one in our house can sleep when there are 3 bodies in our bed. The result is always 3 crabby people in the morning!

We always told her she can sleep on the FLOOR of our room with a blanket and a pillow. She did that for a while, but then got tired of it because it's not comfortable. For a while it wasn't odd for us to wake up and find her sleeping on the floor in the middle of the night, only to wake up in the morning and find her back in her own bed because the floor was too uncomfortable.

There might not be much wrong except he likes the extra security. If he's in school, he might be feeling a little unsure of himself and wanting that extra closeness. It may bother him that he has to wake up in the morning and leave for school all day long. I would just try giving him extra reassurance at night before bed. That may help a lot!

I really don't have any advice for you but I wanted to say that you can certainly post here! We have 6 kids, so I'm pretty strict about letting the kids come sleep in our bed. If we allowed it, we'd never get sleep! If he insists nothing is wrong, I would just walk him back to his own room and tuck him back in. sorry you are going thru this. I hope it's just a quick phase.

Nightmares probably. For me, it was never a big issue. Told kids if you wake up, just climb in. Not necessary to wake anyone up. However, if frightened or sick then wake me. You have to choose your battles. This was one that we choose not to fight. Eventually they stopped coming in and then I missed it.

My 10 year old still comes into our room and gets in our bed occasionally. She typically doesn't remember coming in though. This too shall pass. I wouldn't be concerned about this at all as long as he is happy and well adjusted otherwise.