It's no good I need help (and proper sleep!)

[secur]

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there's other recent threads on this I think. My dd2 was the same, leapt out of her cot at under 2 years and would dearly love to stay up til midnight and then sleep with us. Like you I like some co-sleeping but am pregnant and need my sleep too much. We did the Toddler taming approach (christopher green) where you post them consistently back into their bedroom and if necessary secure the door (he suggests a rope latch) so they can't come out. I don't like having to lock them in but it did work. took 4 months though as dd is rather irrepressible and just keeps trying. Though her language is great she seems too young for reasoning still unfortunately -only the locking in actually works with her.

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Secur, I had this, my 2.5yo decided our bed was beter than his when I was pg. I eventually got him out by telling him that now I was so fat there was no room for him, and had a few nights of very firmly putting him back in bed when he got out. We had a lot of tantrums, and when things got really bad we put him in a travel cot in his room, instead of his bed, which he can't get out of. He hated that, and after about 5 mins in the travel cot he would usually agree to go to bed and stay there.

Recently he has started to be scared of the dark, so we asked him if he wanted to go "camping" in dd's room, which was met with great enthusiasm, so for the last week they have been sharing a room. They both like having someone in their room at night and it has worked really well.
Good luck, bit of a nightmare really but you should be able to sort it out in a few nights. Those nights may be a bit broken though!

ps I'd never lock the door, I suppose our way of restraining was the travel cot which seems friendlier somehow. Then it wasn't so much punishment but "we need to know that you are safe and not wandering around at night, and if we can't trust you to stay in bed you'll have to go in the cot". seemed to work anyway - he was never scared of the cot, just cross that he had been demoted from a bed IYKWIM

I think the point of the rope latch (which means the child can open the door a few inches and call or see out) is supposed to be a nicer restraint than just locking a door. We did unlatch it when she'd gone to sleep so she could get up and out in the morning.
Some people use a stairgate across the door which again would be nicer.

another thing I did for a while was locking OUR bedroom door from the inside that felt better as they are able to roam but we are less disturbed and eventually head back to their own bed.

I know the restraining thing is not ideal but it did work and now dd stays in bed without using it (and we all sleep much better).
It's much easier when they just stay in their cot til they are old enough to reason with isn't it?

I hope I don't sound really brutal. I was a keen co-sleeper with both my babies. Being tired and pregnant makes sleep seem very important. Another approach which is supposed to work is just put them back, every time, until they learn that they will always get put back. Trouble is, I get far too tired in the evenings to do this, and DD2 can keep going for longer than I can. It does work, if you have the energy for it.

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This probably isn't the best solution in the long run - what about putting him in your bed to start with and transferring back to his own bed once he's in a deep sleep? I guess that depends whether he sleeps right through the night or not; if he doesn't he may well end up in your bed anyway, but it might give you a few hours restful kip before he does?

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Secur - we had a stairgate across ds1's door. It was the only way to keep him in but he could still see the landing light and not feel shut in etc.
Worked a treat.

secur - if they all sleep ok together the i'd just leave him with the girls until he wants to go back to his room i guess.... if it gives you an uninterrupted nights sleep i'd go with it!

why don't you just go and sleep in his bed - eihter he will join you and get use to sleeping there, or he won't and yu get to sleep undisturbed?

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