5 year old can't sleep in own bed all night ... Advice please

[rainbowmagic1974]

Our 3 rd child is now 5 and he can't sleep in his own bed all night. He wakes up and comes through and wants to sleep in our bed. We've tried so many things from new bed, bribes, taking back in the night to his room.
He genuinely seems upset ... Talking of monsters and funny noises. He is not tantruming but is distraught.
Any advice would be very very much appreciated. Thank you.

Does he share a room or is it his own?
Can you record his sleep? (Other mn's talk about a sleep app on their phone). My then 3 yr old started talking about monsters under his pillow. It turned out we had mice and they were running alongside his bed and the wall. Once the mice were gone he went back to sleeping in a manner that was then normal for him and us (disruptive sleep by anyone else's standards but still, he's 5 and sleeping through most nights now).
Is there something on his mind? Is everything ok at school? Is he watching something on tv? My den phew couldn't watch scooby doo as it gave him nightmares whereas my dc can and do before bed.
Otherwise, just cuddle him to sleep and gently return him to his own room? Or co sleep for awhile?

If you feel you've tried everything to try getting him to stay in his bed how about putting a camp mat and sleeping bag down on the floor of your room and telling him if he needs to come in he can but he needs to creep in as quietly as he can and sleep on the camp mat and try not to wake you?

Is this a phase or has he never slept through consistently? With my non sleeping DS once he was about 3 we did a lot of work on explaining why we needed not to be disturbed in the night and that if he woke up he really needed to not wake us up. We got him a clock so he could see what time it was when he woke up and if it was before 6am he should stay in his own bed. But it's tricky if it's due to bad dreams and they need comfort.

We bought him a gro clock so he could see the difference between night and day ... It didn't work. School is fine. He has 2 older sisters so he is more susceptible to seeing 'older' stuff. The girls both did this for a while but my first stopped at just over 2 and my second at 3 when bribed with a micro scooter!!!
I'll try your ideas, thank you x