Reception and bad sleep

[AndIKnewYouMeantIt]

Our DS has slept excellently for around a year (he is nearly 5 so an older reception kid). About 10 days into school he started getring out of bed 3-4 times a night and in desperation after nearly a week of both working on 4ish hours a night we've made him a "bed nest" on the floor which he transfers himself to around 3am.

If this happened to anyone else - I believe it's separation anxiety - how long did it last?

We have gone through phases of this, and major changes to routine or emotional well-being (such as starting school) tend to be triggers. Mine are 6 and in y2 now, and we still have the odd week where they will come in a few nights in a row, but 90% of the time sleep through in their own bed.

my general stance has been 1) they must go to sleep in their own bed, but 2) later in the night we follow whatever strategy gets everyone the most sleep. Mostly that means letting them join me in bed (nest is a good shout!), but if both kids try to join I will resettle both since there just isn’t enough room for everyone in the same bed comfortably.

Some people are very negative about letting them sleep with you (boundaries), but I have found it much easier on everyone (myself included !) to just let them in - we all settle back to sleep so much sooner. I also haven’t found it to be an enduring habit- there have been months where they come in most nights, but we never made a big deal about it and they always revert back to sleeping through in their own beds in time.

Thank you, that's a very reassuring reply. He happily goes to sleep about 7.30pm but this all starts when he has the normal mini-wakes we all have, from about 10pm. People say to just keep putting him back to bed but a) he goes, but reappears 60 minutes later and b) we are not in a life stage where we can spend all night doing this right now! I work 4 days, DH works 5. I tried the other night and when I was still awake at 3am that's when I chucked the mattress on our floor. Last night he did 11pm to 6am on the bed-nest and we're just going to have to roll with it for now. Honestly telling him off just made it worse so not making a big deal is good advice.