Toddler Only wants to sleep in our bed!

[Camilla10]

Hi
I wonder if anyone can help us? My son is 26 months old and about 2 months ago started coming into our bed when he woke up at night. Now the problem has got so bad he will not stay in his own bed at all and all we can do is transfer him when he is asleep.can anyone please advise how to get him to stay put, is putting a stair gate on his bedroom door worth a try? The only problem with this is we live in a very small house and he will scream the house down when he realises he can't get out and wake up our 10 month old. I'm going back to work in a couple of weeks and desperate to get it sorted so if anyone can advise me I would be eternally grateful.
Thank you

I am having similar issues

My 2.5 year old wants to come to our bed if he wakes. We have a stairgate but he just stands and wails.

bump

Hi there, we've just gone through this with Dd (2.8). We'd tried the stairgate but she headbutted it till her lip bled and the screaming was so stressful for everyone. I gave up for ages and just let her sleep with me but, with new baby on the way knew we had to nip it in the bud. Went to see my HV and she gave me very obvious advice but it has worked so here it is:

1. Look at what time he is going to bed, Dd's bedtime had crept back to nearly 8pm by which time she was over tired. I now start our bedtime routine at 6:30pm (milk, teeth clean, wash, story, lullaby, story cd etc) and she is in bed ready to sleep by 7:15 at the latest.
2. Put a chair at the end of his bed and be prepared to sit in it till he falls asleep. Every night move it a litle further away from the bed until you are eventually sat outside the door. If he gets out of bed say something along the lines of 'It's sleep time now' and put him back in bed. Don't enter into conversation. (This all has to be repeated if he wakes in the night and tries to come in). This will mean you have to spend a few days sat for some length of time in his bedroom but it really worked for us. Within a week Dd's sleep was much better and (minus a few hiccups!)she generally only takes 15 mins maximum to get to sleep now. I've now moved on to leaving her whilst still awake and so far so good. Hope this helps you, good luck

oooh I like the sound of earlier bedtime

Honestly, I swear that was what made the rest work. It's simplicity itself but still.....go on, try it!

I will try it tonight
I want my evenings and my bed back

Thank you so much for your advice, he's definitely not over tired as we've got the bedtime routine down to a T and he's pretty much down by 7 most nights, although I do have to sit in his room until he falls asleep. So what you're saying is every time he comes into our room I must take him back into his room (no talking or eye contact) and sit with him until he nods off again. Ok I will try it tonight. I probably won't even try the stair gate then as I'm sure he will wail constantly or bash his head on it like the other baby in this conversation.big thank you for your advice

Hope all goes well ladies.