Question:
Read about attachment parenting for more information on Family bedding. Dr. William Sears has some good stuff on this. lizo both of our children share a bed with us. – Hide quoted text — Show quoted text -> Our 2 3/4 year old likes to sleep in our bed with us. She says that there > are monsters in her room. She won’t sleep in her room even with us there. > Any suggestions on getting her to sleep in her room?
Response:
> Our 2 3/4 year old likes to sleep in our bed with us. She says that there > are monsters in her room. She won’t sleep in her room even with us there. > Any suggestions on getting her to sleep in her room?
Some people will warn you that if you allow the child to sleep with you then the child will never leave your bed. I can attest this is not true. I have 3 children. For fear of SIDS and the fact I nurse (d) all of them, my babies always sleep with me the first 6 months. I don’t sleep soundly, so no chance of rolling on baby ( I suspect it is a myth, but not sure). After that baby goes into crib and it is Tough Love time. However, sometimes when the kids are sick or having set backs, they are allowed back in bed with us until they readjust. For our son who is now 3, he had a lot of setbacks. In a short period of time, he started a 1 year stint at a full time daycare, we moved to a new house and he got a new baby brother and new toddler bed all at once. I realized at the time there would be reprocussions from the changes and I was relieved that it only surfaced in the need to sleep with mommy. He slept with us for about 9 months or so until he decided to go back to his own room. Every night we asked him to sleep in his bed (just like potty training) and he refused until one day it was o.k. My husband would get frustrated and wanted to be firm but I told him that this was different — it was an emotional need and since I didn’t make a big deal about it, eventually he went back to his own bed and bedroom. My belief has always been that the less fuss, the better. I still hear about kids sleeping with their parents at age 7 and you have to wonder who is the one instigating it…is it the child or the parent? My kids leave on their own initiative once I don’t make a fuss….granted 9 months was a long time but that was because there was a lot of uncommon stress for my boy. Heidi Wellman
Response:
> Our 2 3/4 year old likes to sleep in our bed with us. She says that > there > are monsters in her room. She won’t sleep in her room even with us > there. > Any suggestions on getting her to sleep in her room?
Our 2 1/2 year old has a similar problem. He -prefers- our bed to his. He doesn’t make any claim of being scared, though. For a while, it was -every- night. We’d put him to bed and he’d join us. We moved him in with his brother, and he would climb in bed with him. When his brother kicked him out, -then- he’d come join us. What finally worked was buying bunk beds, giving him a firm innerspring mattress. It has been remarkable how much that has changed the situation. I never would have thought that a child would react so differently simply to a change in bedding. I mention that only because claims of being "scared" often mask other reasons for a child’s action. Our oldest (5) often says he’s "scared" when he doesn’t know the word for what he really -is- feeling. Imagine, one day he said he was scared of his lunch! He didn’t know how to explain that he didn’t like the -smell- of mustard Mommy had put on the sandwich. So, consider exploring other possibilities. Good luck! — Charles I. Letbetter, Editor CATCH Online Magazine http://www.pagebrothers.com A new way of looking at parenting
Response:
Our 2 3/4 year old likes to sleep in our bed with us. She says that there are monsters in her room. She won’t sleep in her room even with us there. Any suggestions on getting her to sleep in her room?
Response:
> Our 2 3/4 year old likes to sleep in our bed with us. She says that > there > are monsters in her room. She won’t sleep in her room even with us > there. > Any suggestions on getting her to sleep in her room?
When my wife and I rasied our niece, we had the same problems. I decided the best way was to sleep on the floor next to her bed. I did this for about a week and it helped. I reassured her we were in the next room and we would let nothing happen to her. She went to her own bed without any problems at all. Whats tough is when your 2 1/2 knows the manipulation game and comes to your bed stating he wants to cuddle. You can’t resist, pretty soon you wake up at two in the morning and think, hey I’ve been suckered. I move him to the room saying to myself, "I’ll show you". At least until tomorrow night. Western
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