2 yo and 5yo cosleeping and waking ruining our life

[Scandimummy]

Hi everyone. Hoping I could find someone that might have survived the same or has good ideas to help with the situation. We have a 5yo girl and a 2yo boy (plus a new baby due in the autumn). Weve always coslept because theyve been such bad sleepers. Daughter was breastfed for 19 mo and son 11 mo. Theyve both woken up lots even though theyve been in our bed but recently Ive started to feel like Im losing the plot and cant cope with the situation anymore. Weve tried different methods of sleep training, just not willing to do controlled crying. The biggest change happened recently with moving the kids into their own room. It involved a lot of tears and cuddles but now at least they start in their own beds.

Our normal night goes like this. 7.30bedtime, husband lies with daughter and she falls asleep within minutes. I sit next to the toddlers bed and he touches my chest and takes about half anhour to fall asleep. He normally shouts for the first time at 10 but settles when I put his dummy back in his mouth. Then 11.30 our daugter runs into our bed. 12.30 son starts crying so much I take him into bed as well. On a good night little man wakes up at 2.30, 4.30 and 5.30 and we get up at six. But normally he wakes up more than that, like twice every hour last night. He often seems to wake up to bad dreams, sometimes he just wakes up crying andis hard to settle. They both kick and nip me all night and I just cant sleep like that anymore. Were going to try having them falling asleep without touching us, just sit in the same room, but Im quite pessimistic whether itll help for the other restlessness in the night. Any ideas?

[Sylviecat]

I'm not the best person to advise as I'm in a similar situation with my 3and1yr old. They start of in their own beds but come into ours around midnight. It used to be later, around 4am which wasn't too bad but it's crept up and I'm getting kicked out of my own bed most nights!

When your dd runs in at 11.30 can you return her to her bed and sit with her til she falls asleep again? And repeat? It won't be easy and will require less sleep before it improves. Can you do the same with your ds, just returning them to their beds and staying with them -I totally appreciate this could mean no sleep for a night or 2!

Can you bribe your dd with stickers or a treat if she stays in her bed?

There's a useful episode of 'the three day nanny' on 4Od, where she helps a mum return her kids to their own beds, it takes til 5am but after that they stay in their beds!

Ultimately there's no really easy way but if you really want to stop it before the new baby comes it will probably involve a bit less sleep, short term pain for long term gain...

Good luck x

[FiftyShadesOfSporn]

Could you make them up little beds on the floor? The novelty might appeal to them, and if there are fewer wriggling bodies in your bed, there might be less waking.