OK. Its beyond a joke now. We ARE sortng this out. Grr.

[Slouchy]

dd2 was 3 last month. Apart from a blissful period as a newborn she has never been a great sleeper and comes into our bed EVERY night. Sometimes at 6 am, sometimes in wee small hours. But it always happens. We have been lazy and allowed it - we recently bought a bigger bed to accomodate her! But she thrashes around all night, her latest trick is to wedge herself right up against me - i move her - ten mins later she is back.

I am going back to work (2 yrs SAHM) after half term. I need to sort this out once and for all so I start work knowing I will sleep properly.

I will use this thread to vent/think/record progress. Any wise words would be greatly appreciated. (I actually found myself contemplating tying her into her room like Tioddler taming suggests this morning. Not really a route I want to go down!)

If room, put a small mattress or ready bed on the floor by your bed and say she can come in whenever she wants, IF she is quiet and doesn't disturb you, and gets into her special little bed

it may take a while to work
give her time, my ds was only just getting used to sleeping in his own room at all at this age - some children do need the closeness and company for longer - don't compare your child to what other children are doing, but look at HER needs and development and work out what is reasonable to achieve at this stage

good luck

Not a bad idea actually, Franny. I really don't want to go down the route of being mean. Have tried stickers/rewards etc but they don't work. I know she will grow out of it, the problem is disturbing us - so a mini bed might work. Hmm.

(Scuse the ruminating/waffling here!)

Well, we tried the mini-bed thang last night. Hmm. NOT a success. She came through at about 1.10am, we were all awake then until 3.30ish when she finally went back to sleep (in own bed though!)The mini-bed was too close without providing the cuddles she wanted, I think. Eventually, dh spent 20 mins or so sitting on her bed with her until she went to sleep.We wil;l keep the mini-bed for th etime being though.

Number six - thanks for all your input. (Do i 'know' you btw?) We tried the bunny clock with dd1 but found it noisy whe it woke up (so it still woke her at 7 at weekends etc). There is a light one I've noticed which might be worth investigating (jojo sell it I think). She also has been promised all sorts of things (decorate her room, a poster of horses she has chosen etc) when she is sleeping in her bedroom reliably (the horse pic is after 3 days) but none of these rthings are strong enough draws in the middle of the night IYKWIM.

(BTW, I'm not serious about the rope thing, that isn't my style at all.)

We'll keep goin with last night's strategy, I think. Mini-bed available but if she disturbs us, rapid return. And I guess we will have to sit with her for a while as a half way house.

Cheers for help, girls. I'll reprt back!

Oh, and just to add, going to bed is no prob at all. She has a good routine, and settles nicely, with CD on. Usually asleep in 10 mins. It is just when she wakes in the night (which she always does).

Sorry it wasn't immediate success but I would persevere for a couple of weeks before you rule it out as a potential solution. Even an improvement would be good at this stage, wouldn't it?

Well...we had success last night!

She trotted through in the middle of the night, I said to get in the little bed if she wanted to stay in with us. She did, and promptly fell asleep again! Must have stayed asleep until sometime after 6 when she got in with us. Yippee! Will def keep this going.

Number six - I was sassy for years and years. That ring any bells?

Oh that's fab - hooray! I expect you will have some nights where it works and some nights where it is total disaster - but I always think with quite major changes like this, that any progress is Very Good.

Ooh I know Franny (said in Sybil Fawlty-style voice). I am delighted with a full night's sleep.
Thanks for your suggestion and support. I'm sure I'll be calling on you again before this is cracked for good.

Well I am such a fraud, our nights were awful for so long, that I can hardly claim to have expert knowledge about this
however I do sympathise and I won't say "argh you softies put your foot down and show her who is boss"

We had a full night last night
She stayed in her own bed until 6.20 this morning, whenshe came through. Offered her the little bed, she refused buty then I looked at the clock and was sooo overjoyed I let her into ours anyway (prob shouldn'e have done this, I knwo).

Going to stay at my sister's tonight - this will put us back cos me and dd2 have to share a futon (grr). but we have proved we CAN take action, and we will return to it when we are back home on weds night.

Ta for support F&Z, No 6

oh wow, even if you have some bad nights ahead at least you had a couple of good nights on the trot

She has stayed in her own bed for 2 consecutive nights - yesterday it was 6.15ish she came through and today 7.05! Ta Da!!! And she went nappyless for the 1st time at night last night too. Huzzah.

Thanks for your support ladies, it really helped me bte the bullet.

(Oh, and the mini-bed? Seems it is now being used by dd1 - aged 5 and a half. Can't win!)