Five year old a restless sleeper - never in his own bed, always up etc. what to do?!

[Sleepyhead777]

My five year old has always been a bit of a restless sleeper. I’d put it down to him being a baby, then a toddler, but now I can’t do that!

He goes to sleep in his own bed. Every single night he ends up in mine. DH sleeps in the spare room because of too many disruptions. But even in mine, he’ll wander around the room at some point in the night, sit up and complain about something, etc etc.

He is also prone to sleep talking, walking and night terrors.

What do I do about it?!

He’s also not dry at night yet and wears nappies. I’m desperate to get him out of them. He was daytime potty trained at age 2!!

He goes to sleep at 8:30 and wakes at 7:30 (with his intermittent night wakes), so is getting 11 hours (prob 10.5 in reality) which is normal for his age.

Anyone been through this? Any advice?

Bump!

We've had some success with a weighted blanket at night for my 4 year old who is a restless sleeper & has night terrors. Also making bedtime very calm, nothing stimulating. We also bought a red bedtime light to drift off & if they wake at night. I'm sorry I don't have any advice on night time dryness, my understanding is that its controlled by a hormone rather than 'teaching ' it but if my 4 year old wakes i always offer to go for a wee & she does go just before bed (they are dry at night).

DS was doing 3 or 4 visits to our room still at that age.

Carrot and stick approach and persevering. Nothing magical. When he came in it was like 'you can have a cuddle but then its back to bed' and repeat. On bad days there were warnings about losing toys. And there were offers of magical prizes if he could be good for x amount of time. Also got a nightlight with timer and stars which seemed to health with the fear. As well as a good teddy who was very good at looking after his owner in a way that appealled to his over active imagination.

On days where i was exhausted we just started the night with me sleeping with him. It saved my sanity.

He was still doing it on and off until he was nearly 7. He eventually seemed to just grow out of it with some encouragement. He seemed more tired after school, he was eating better and i think he felt more secure generally.

He will still frequently wander in, once in the night, ask for a cuddle and then go back to bed when asked.

But yeah. I do think some kids are just looking for that reassurance. It may be reflective of something else but its not for DS. He is just a cuddle monster!

Lots of children are not dry at night at that age. My sons were 9 and 8 before they were dry at night. My daughter was 5.

gosh OP you have my sympathy this was my daughter.

we tried everything and she would still come into our room at night.

i did have moderate success with bribery (there was a small talking toy dog that she was desperate for so we had a star chart to get to it) but that didn't last.

one of the best tips ever was that we got her a double bed. in the worst of it one of us would take turns to sleep in with her. not ideal i know but actually it worked brilliantly as we all got sleep - we both work full time so couldn't carry on the way we were.

she's now 8 and perfectly capable of sleeping in her own bed all night - although we do have 'sleepovers' at the weekend where she comes into our big bed or one of us into hers. now it's only occasional i enjoy it :)