My son has been sleeping in his toddler bed for a year. Recently he started getting out of bed (right after we put him to bed) and he crawls under his bed and tries to sleep there. My husband and I are afraid it will confuse him if he wakes under there, so we often go in and wake him up, and move him into his bed shortly there after. He stays in bed after that, but we have no idea why he keeps crawling under his bed. Anyone encountered this? Our son doesn't have great expressive speech, so asking him why he does it doesn't get us very far.
Thank you to everyone for all your input. I am not overly concerned about it...in my opinion, sometimes kids just do these things. It makes me feel better to see other moms have had the same thign happen! We'll just keep on truckin'
My son did that for awhile. We put up a tent in his room with a sleeping bag and let him sleep in there. After a couple months...he got bored and went back into bed.
Just a thought!
K.
He could be doing it for several reasons. One that my son did was for sensory reasons (he liked being on the hard floor). He also likes being under his bed. I would not let this persist because I was concerned if there was an emergency that he might get missed or be hard to find. He may not know why he does it.
Since you mentioned that he has expressive speech difficulties, you might want to check his other areas of development, because it could be an issue you need to check out. Be sure to mention this to your pediatrician as well as any other concerns you might have (does he point to things? does he avoid new people? lack of eye contact? etc).
Good luck!
Hi B.- I have a 2.5 year old and she has done the same thing except she would sleep in the corner behind her door. I asked her doctor about it and she said it is totally fine for her to sleep on the floor. We changed her crib to a toddler bed around 18-20 months because she kept getting stuck in the rails. She loved her toddler bed but one day started to sleep on the floor. This lasted 8-10 months. One day I was shopping at the grocery store and they had tinkerbell sheets on sale. They are not made for crib size toddler beds, but I bought a twin set anyway since they were on sale for 75%. From that night forward she slept in her bed every night. We just switched her toddler bed to a full size bed on Sunday night. I am interested to see if she starts sleeping under it now until I put some tinkerbell sheets on it :)
I don't think it is anything to worry about. He is young and will sleep in the bed when he is ready. He may find some security in feeling enclosed under the bed. Possibly he likes the darkness too.
My son too loves sleeping on the floor. (under his bed was never an option as there are bins underneath. His bed is a bunk bed my husband built, with the bottom bunk being high enough for boxes to go underneath and the top bunk being high enough to sit on the bed without ducking. Needless to say he doesn't sleep on the top bunk!)
At first I was perplexed and never could figure out if it was because he *fell* out of bed or because he moved himself out of bed - often he had his pillow on the floor with him so I eventually decided it was because he moved himself, not because he fell out.
It has been SO nice to have him *like* to sleep on the floor because it is easy to travel with him LOL We go visit family and all 3 of us are in one room (he moves way tooo much to be in our bed with us if we want to get any sleep!) so all we have to do is fold up a quilt and lay it on the floor and he's happy!
Once school started, we made it a point to have him sleep in his bed everynight.
I just asked my now 7yo where he liked to sleep and he says the low (camping) mattress because he doesnt fall out of bed. Hm.
My 18 month old frequently gets out of bed at night and then goes to sleep on the floor somewhere in his room. The best I could come up with is that for some reason he was more comfortable on the floor or he was sleepwalking. I asked his doctor and she said it won't hurt him if he sleeps on the floor every once in awhile. I would just make sure if he's getting out of bed at night that there's nothing dangerous in his room.
Hi B.,
If you don't want him under the bed, why not stuff a big old comforter under it or something? He'll still sleep on the floor, but won't get freaked out from waking up under it (???)
Good luck!
t
Hi B.! I used to sleep under my bed when I was a kid simply because I was too hot, and the cool tile felt good :)
My dd was afraid to sleep in her bed when we turned on the a/c. She had never see or heard one until she was 3.5 yrs old and it was a real scary thing. I put a canopy over her bed and told her it would keep the air from blowing on her. She was much happier.
My nephew has a little boy tent that goes over his bed, and he is all safe and snug in there at night. It just slides over the top of his mattress.
They do strange things sometimes. It could feel safer to him under there because there is something over his head to keep the monsters out. You just never know and most of the time at that age they aren't going to tell you.
Maybe he feels safer with something "protecting" him, like the bed. Once he falls asleep, he is okay, but something is making him feel unprotected as he goes to sleep. You could get one of those play "tents" that fit on the bed... maybe he would feel more protected. Of course, you would need to make sure there is enough air circulation, too.
My son started sleeping on the floor as a toddler, we would put him back in bed because we felt that is where he should sleep. We purchased so many different mattresses and beds and still he prefers the floor. My son is now fourteen and would still rather sleep on the floor. He might grow out of it and might not. But either way he will be fine. I just buy real thick blankets for him.
I had the same problem with my oldest she did the same thing but eventually grew out of it. (we still to this day never knew why)she is now 15 & every once in awhile she will sleep on her floor (not under the bed anymore).
