5 year old no longer likes going to bed!!

[Ktm164]

So all of a sudden my 5 year old has decided he no longer wants to go to bed! Bed is boring! It’s not fair that mummy & daddy get to stay downstairs and he doesn’t, apparently!!

He’s always been brilliant at going to bed, story, songs, lights out and we leave him to it! He’s occasionally woke up in the night but always gone back to bed okay!

He now gets in bed okay but as soon as we leave the room he says “I don’t like going to bed, I don’t want to be upstairs on my own” he then cries and continually gets out of bed resulting in one of us having to stay in his room holding his hand til he falls asleep! He is also waking up quite a bit in the night wanting to get in our bed, we always put him back in his own bed and he does settle but then he’s up again after a few hours!

I’ve asked him why he doesn’t like being in bed anymore he says he doesn’t know, I’ve asked him if he’s worried about anything or if there’s anything he wants to talk to mummy about he just says no!

He also won’t go upstairs on his own anymore or in any room on his own for that matter!

He has had a bit of upheaval this year, we moved out of the only house he’s ever known and in with my parents for 6 months while our new house was being built and we moved into our new home at the end of May. He started reception in September and We also told him 2 weeks ago that he is going to be a big brother next May!
We’ve given him lots of reassurance about the new baby and he seems excited as he’s been asking for a brother for a while!

He has also said quite a few times that he doesn’t want to go to school that school is boring but I’ve spoke to his teachers and they say he’s fine while he’s there and he always says he’s had a good day!

I don’t know the best way to deal with this because I’m not sure if he’s genuinely feeling anxious or if he’s just acting up or if it’s a bit of both! I don’t want to be too firm with him and him feel like we don’t care!

What used to be a half an hour bedtime routine has turned into a stressful 2 hours and disturbed sleep through the night for all of us making us all feel tired the next day!

If anybody had any tips to deal with this I’d be very grateful! (Sorry for the super long post)

[JiltedJohnsJulie]

Wow that is a lot of change. He probably just needs tonnes and tonnes of reassurance. I’d not mention the new baby for a few weeks at least to give him time to get used to the house move and starting school.

Congratulations on the pg too