night walking

[MRoos]

why is my 2 year old suddenly at night standing up and walking to my bed every few hours.
He likes sleeping in my arm and i only permit this for 10 min or so, then i take him back to his bed.
after an hour or two he will come back to my bed again. it is very difficult for me to sleep like this because
he keeps on kicking me in the stomic or back.

I think his cold, but i do put a waterbottle in his bed for heat. i also give him a bit of warm milk to heat his body but none of this seems to work.  i haven't had a good night's sleep in over
two years. what am i to do? i don't want him to feel rejected.

[MRoos]

hi Supermomma

i tried following your advise but my situation with my 2 year old is not getting any better,
last night for example i put him in bed at 7 i read him his bed time story and tucked him in, left the room and went on with what i was doing.  not 10 min. later he was standing is the door out of bed, i ignored him, then he came closer. i took him back to bed and spoke nicely to him, it didn't work he got out of bed 5 times. then my husband let him sit with him at the TV and there he fell asleep.  at 10:00 he woke up, i took him back to bed constantly, i watched the clock untill 11:00 i gave him at least 6 hidings, to stay in bed as soon as i turn around and walked out of his room he is behind me. not even 5 min later he is at my bed side. i even closed his door and my bedroom door, but he keeps on coming to our bedroom, standing next to our bed and crying to get in to bed with us.
after an hour of strugling i could not take it any more and i let him sleep with us.  i realy do not know what to do, even if i give him a hiding that doesn't stop him.  he is so persistant and not naughty, i feel so sorry for him and i know that this must stop but i don't know how... PLEASE HELP ME

[Mariana101]

hey supermomma, You sure gave a  great advice to MRoss!!!! I will keep you in my mind:)

[supermomma531]

This is something you have to a hold of and make him stay in his own bed. You have to be firm with him and tell him that big boys don't sleep with mommy anymore. It probably will take a week or so of being diligent about the situation but eventually it will work if you stick to it. Every time he comes to your bed, you immediately put him back to his own bed and talk to him about how things are okay and he's okay and your okay and how he needs to stay in his own bed so that everyone including him can get their proper sleep. It will be a power struggle which is why summer time is perfect for this because of the no school things. Unless he is in daycare. You can hug him once or twice and kiss him and let him know you care but then you need to leave him be to soothe himself back to sleep. Start these routines at nap time and gradually work up to all night bed time. Use a reward system like stickers and a scrap book. Every time he does something good to your satisfaction, he gets rewarded. Because he's only two, this should be very easy and inexpensive to do. Consistency is the key on your part. If he cries, that okay but he still needs to sleep in his own bed. Maybe as a bigger reward, you could have a camp out in his room or your room on a weekend that your not working or maybe he can sleep over at a grandparents house as a reward or a play date with a friend or something like this. If you choose, you could maybe cuddle with him at the proper bed time for a few minutes while reading a book or something but cut out all the night time travels for sure. It different if he's sick or something and maybe need a hug after getting up for the potty or something and going back to bed but not getting up in the night just to be cuddled. I'm not trying to sound mean or cruel but you have to be fairly strict about this or you'll never break this habit of his. Good luck.