2 year old still comes into our bed

[divacharl]

Hello,
We have finally cracked the bedtime routine with 2 year old and thankfully get some adult time between 7-11pm.

Only problem is he still wakes up crying/shouting mama every night early hours in the morning and as I'm so tired (21 wks pregnant) I can't seem to get out of the habit of bringing him into my bed.

The bigger I'm getting the more I need my space in bed & also want to get this sorted before I have a newborn waking at all hours too.

Any tips? We have a few months to get this sorted.
Tonight shall I just go in, put dummy in and lay him back down, stay with him until he is back asleep? Problem is an hour later he will be up again?

Thanks!

Tell him it's bedtime and put him back to bed every time.

You don't want to get in the habit of staying until he falls asleep if you're going to have a baby soon because you'll need your sleep too.

Unpopular opinion but one of us sleeps in our 2 year olds room every night. Am also currently pregnant (36 weeks) so we take it in turns but once the baby is here, it’ll be my husband and I’ll be in our room with the baby. It doesn’t actually make much difference to us as we get the full evening to ourselves (she rarely wakes before midnight) so one of us gets in 2 year olds double bed and the other gets into the ‘grown up’ bed. It means we all sleep through the night - if anything my husband is going to get a lot more sleep once the baby is here!

My husband started sleeping in with my 18 month old when baby 2 was born. She would then sleep through, he got sleep, and I breastfed 2nd so took him in my bed. Worked well for us. I know wouldn't be solution for all.

If you don't want a co sleeping arrangement I'd still get your husband to settle your 2 year old every time now. Then he can have that responsibilities (and child will be used to him doing it) once baby arrives and you won't be running between the two.

To cope with my first born coming into my bed when I was pregnant I had a little mattress tucked under my bed which I pulled out when he turned up and he would snuggle up on that. He stopped around 3years old.
My youngest was more tricky and kept coming into me or waking until 9years old. It nearly finished me off but I think he had some sleep issues following premature birth. He was too big and wriggly to sleep in my bed so I would go to settle him in his. He would scream the house down with night frights if no one sat with him.
Suddenly in the last year he has grown out of it and is sleeping OK and doesn't call out for me anymore.
Happy days.
My point being just do what works for you and your child and your comfort when pregnant and don't get too caught up in what people tell you your sleeping arrangements should be. I wish I hadnt wasted time and stress on what I thought other people's expectations were about sleeping arrangements and instead just focussed on what worked for me and my child.

My nearly 4 year old sleeps in our room in his own bed and most nights he will get in with us in our bed. Usually we don't hear him getting in, just wake up and he's there. All my kids have done the same, I just go with it and don't make a big deal. These stages don't last long.

Yes so I'm thinking of getting DP to go in each night when he cries and settle him back to sleep, when I say sit with him until he's asleep, this would literally take 10 mins so I don't really see an issue with that. But I'm not sure how many times he will have to go in in the beginning. Hopefully by the time baby is here he would have learnt to self settle in the middle of the night like he does at 7pm ? It's just a bad habit we have never managed to get out of, thanks

@MistyFrequencies

If you don't want a co sleeping arrangement I'd still get your husband to settle your 2 year old every time now. Then he can have that responsibilities (and child will be used to him doing it) once baby arrives and you won't be running between the two.

Yes this.