My just 5 year old son started coming into our bed at night (anywhere from 1am-6am) almost every night since moving to a new home almost a year ago. I had a baby in March who transitioned out of our room over the summer but my son did not! My husband and I desparately want or bed back at night but do not know how to make that transition. My son is extremely strong willed and when he is half asleep it is even worse. We do not have carpet in our bedroom or room for a small inflatable bed. We were thinking that during school vacation would be a good time to do an intervention.
Looking for suggestions about what to do?
Thanks for your help,
W.
When my daughter tried that stuff... My husband and I told her, ok... You want to sleep in our bed, we'll go sleep in yours. That stopped her pretty quickly.
When our son was 5 he would do the same thing. We bought a small cot (it is small enough that it uses crib sheets) that folds up very small (fits in a small bag when folded) from wal-mart.com for about $25 and just set it up next to our bed. He would come in our room and just hop in that bed rather than our bed since we don't have a lot of room in our bed for him to sleep there most of the night. He'd go right back to sleep and we were all well rested.
But the good news is that after we did all that he started staying in his room after a few months. I think just knowing that they can come to mom and dad anytime they need to is very comforting and I wouldn't want it any other way.
Through my own similar experience, we tried it all: bribing, positive reinforcement, loss of toys and games, etc. Anything we could think of. The only thing that actually worked for me, was to get my warm and cozy behind out of my bed and put our daughter back into her bed :) My husband or I would sit with her (as tired and cranky as we were) until she fell back asleep. It took a few miserable weeks but she finally stayed there all night for good.
Don't know if that's the route you want to go or if it'll work for you, but good luck with whatever method you find!!
I would get an alarm clock, or some type of digital clock. Then tell him he is not allowed to come into your room until it reaches whatever set number on the clock.
Then, if he wakes up, just walk him back to bed. Yup, it might be a rough few nights, but if you don't give in, after awhile he will get it.
Good luck with whatever you choose!
