My daughter is almost two-and-a-half years old and over the past three months has developed the habit of waking up and wanting to sleep in our bed. She was sleeping very well in her own bed in her own room up until this time. We let it pass for a while since she just had a baby sister a few months ago but now it's getting worse. She's up almost every hour or so and making a trip to our room. The advice I had previously been given is to just keep walking her back to her room. I've been doing this consistently, but it has not been successful. She is a very happy little girl but I am concerned that if she doesn't get the proper sleep she requires, it will affect her development. Not to mention I'm going crazy with no sleep. Help!
Yikes! There is no easy way out of this situation, but that doesn't mean it's impossible to solve. There are a couple of approaches you might want to consider...
1. When your daughter gets out of bed, use a no-kidding-around voice and tell your little one "back to bed." You want to keep all your interactions firm and neutral, so there are no secondary gains from waking up. No hugs, no kisses, and no tucking her in.
2. Stop walking her back to her room. Just point and say back to bed.
3. Before she goes to bed, talk to her about what you would like her to do when she wakes. Say something like, "If you wake up tonight, I want you to stay in bed and hug your teddy."
4. Make up a little bed on the floor of your room where she can sleep if she comes in quietly. Gradually move the bed, inch by inch, back to her own room.
5. As soon as you hear her starting to squirm, I'd stand by her door and say "back to bed."
6. Don't lie down with her when she goes to bed.
As you can see, the main message here is that your daughter must not get any thrills -- good or bad -- when she wakes up. Praise her when she does well, but barely mention when she doesn't.
Comment reported
Thank you for reporting this comment as inappropriate.
Back to Comments »