Does anyone have any advice on getting my 4 yr old son to stay in his bed all night? He has done fine w/ this for 2 years or more. He has his own room, own bed, nightlight if he wants... I've even tried letting our dog sleep w/ him to see if it would help reassure him or something. But, now he is getting up 3-4 times a night just to come lay down w/ me! Which I don't let him do... I send him right back to bed. I've talked to him about it, and he says he just wants to lay down w/ me. I don't think he's having nightmares or is scared. I've considered it was because it's cold in his room, but I've dressed him warmer, turned up the heat, and given him extra blankets... so I don't think that's it either. I don't know what else to try. I stay home w/ him, so it's not because he misses me and nothing else has changed in our life... I cut out the the sweets altogether to see if was just beause he was hyper and I cut out the drinks a few hours before bedtime since he doesn't know how to wake up and go to bathroom yet. Which, does anyone have any advice on that? I know he's young enough not to worry about it yet, but if anyone has any tips on getting him out of pull-ups at night that'd be great! Anyway, thanks in advance on the advice. I just really need a good night's sleep soon!!!
Oh, and he usually does not take a nap during the day at all either!!! And still gets up several times throughout the night, at all different times. TIA!
I'm not sure what else you can try, but wanted to tell you GOOD JOB on trying so many different things. It's sounds like to me you might want to see if the doc has any other suggestions. It sounds like you're doing everything you can. GOOD LUCK!!!!
Hi, yes, I have an almost 6 daughter who did something very similar. I too stay home and am very engaged with her, but she just still needed more. My advice is to sleep with him for a while and then he will probably go back to sleeping alone soon. He may have figured out that night is a time when you are unavailable to him and that your husband is acually there to stay and that may have him a little insecure. He is too young to recognize that is what is happening, but sometime, kids juat need that little extra security. So do adults. Kids grow up fast and there is never enough time to enjoy holding him. Use the night as a time to get in some still cuddle time to remember when he outgrows the cuddle phase. Boys aren't still to be loved on much, so just use that as a time to get it in. I also have a 4 boy. I lay with him until he falls asleep and a little after every night. I know all too soon, he won't want me to because he will be grown up too much for mom to do all that kind of stuff. My advice is that you should listen to what he needs and validate that he knows what he needs by laying with him for a while at night. When he feels secure in knowing that you are going to be close when he needs you, he will probably go right back to sleeping alone. If you keep making him feel that you don't want him at that time, it may even get worse instead of better. I wouldn't want mine laying in their bed crying because they were lonely and then on top of that, scared to come tell me.
The thing to remember is that like diapers, teething, colic, carseats and baby open mouth kisses, this too shall pass. He won't want you to move away to college and sleep with him. ha!
My 4 year old is going through a monester thing. We are starting to come out of it now. His imagination just gets the best of him at times and he freaks out. But this causes him to RUN to my room storming through the house as if someone is breaking in. We have tried all sorts of things. Try talking to him, asking him why else he is waking up and ask him what you can do to help him stay in bed all night long. A while ago my son was getting up and coming to my room and he said it was because his papaw shared a bed with mamaw because Papaw loved mamaw and he wanted to share a bed with me cause he loved me. I made a simple explaination of the difference between marriage and mom/child relationships and that seemed to work. Also, my son is very stern on the fact that only HE gets to sleep in HIS bed. So when he comes to mine I remind him that if I'm not allowed to sleep in his bed then he is not allowed to sleep in mine.
As for the peeing at night...Good luck :) I have the same problem. I have even let him go 2 weeks without pull ups hoping that it would help...NOPE by the end of the two weeks he was still SOAKING his sheets. Maybe this is your key though...Maybe he is waking up to pee and doesn't want to go into the bathroom alone for some reason because it's night time. You may want to get up with him and encourage him to go to the bathroom while he is awake. It's your opportunity to teach him he can pee on the potty through the night! Best of Luck!
My son went thru the same thing at about 4- jsut kept on trying to sleep with me at night. I remained consistent with direction and eventually he stopped. I went a little nutty- but it was almost like he was going thru a growth spurt that disrupted his sleep.
Now- for the bedwetting- I would have him go potty right before bed. Evn if he said he didn't have to go-I would at least make him try. I also cut all liquids out 2hrs before bed. He would still have an occasional accident-but that was usually if he didn't go before bed or he got liquids too late. It took about another 6mths and before I knew it- he was able to get up and go to the bathroom at night.
Hope this helps
i don't have any personal experience with this, because my little one is not quite 2 and still in her crib. but i've heard some advice i tucked away in the back of my brain for this very problem-- make "get out of bed" passes. each time he wants to get up he has to bring you a pass, and when he's out of passes he can't get up. i don't know if this works as simply as it sounds, but it might be worth a shot. if he's getting up 3-4 times a night, i'd start with 2 or 3 passes, and work him down to 1. i would think you would always have that 1 pass to make him feel secure, like he can get up if he needs to. just talk it up, and give good reasons to get out of bed vs. reasons that are not good enough. has he told you why he is getting up, or is it an "i don't know" kind of thing? otherwise, you seem to have covered all the bases with diet, no naps, etc. like i said, i don't know if that will help, but it sounded like a good thing to try to me. good luck!
