Three Year Old Partial Co-Sleeping

[Scout19075]

SmallBoy turned three at October half term.

Sometime in the summer, I can't remember when, he started crawling into bed with us in the middle of the night (usually between 2 & 5 a.m.). Sometimes we could tell he was sleep walking (it runs strongly in both sides of the family) and often on nights he was sleep walking into us I wouldn't wake up until he was back asleep in our bed. It wasn't nightly.

But it's now regularly, most nights, and he's most definitely not always sleep walking. Most nights he'll crawl into bed and fall asleep within moments. Sometimes he's more active and it'll take 2-3 hours for him to settle (meanwhile MrScout sleeps through it all and I bear the brunt of SB's tossing & turning & fidgeting).

Mostly I don't mind co-sleeping but....

MrScout is 6'5" and SmallBoy is rapidly closing in on 3'6" (he takes after MrScout in the height department!) so between the two of them there's not much room left on the bed for me (I'm a very average 5'5"). I wake several times a night sandwiched between the two of them, sometimes hardly able to breathe as they're both trying to get close/snuggle in their sleep. SmallBoy has a toddler bed so sleeping in his bed isn't an option and our sofa is about the length of SB's bed so sleeping there not an option either.

Is SmallBoy's night time entry into our bed a phase? If so is it likely to last much longer? Should I be cruel and make him go back into his own bed, no matter how much he protests? I can't get him to tell me if something woke him up or what his dreams were about so I can't tell if he's having nightmares & is scared or just wants to be close to us or what. I know, though, if I don't start getting better sleep I might just lose my marbles (and I definitely struggle during the day after a night of his tossing/turning/fidgeting).

[Scout19075]

Oh, I forgot to mention we keep, more or less (within half-an-hour either way) to his bedtime. SB has the same bedtime routine he's had since he was BabyScout and started sleeping in his cot/own room. He goes to bed easily/happily/well and usually stays in his bed once he's there. It's if he wakes in the middle of the night that's the issue.