3 year old suddenly afraid of being in his bed on his own

[ShonaPye]

Hi, I am new to using a forum, but am really struggling and need some help. My little Boy has just turned three and has always been an amazing sleeper. I followed EASY from the start with him as he was my second child and he has been a dream baby/toddler. About two weeks ago he got frightened in his bed by the night light in their room. There is an alarm on it which we have never used and he had been fiddling with the light and set the alarm which went of in the morning and frightened him. Since then he has been scared to Nap/Go to bed without us in the room. I have followed what advice I can find in my baby whisperer book and we started off on the floor with a mattress to try and re-assure him. He will now let us sit outside the door while he goes to sleep, but he still wakes frequently in the night and wont stay in his bed. So we end up back on the floor in the room or sitting by the door until he is asleep. He is also therefore up really early in the morning 5.30- 5.45 most mornings. My husband and I have now started doing the Put Down after hoping to re-assure him by sleeping on the floor but it is not working. We are so exhausted and trying to do P/D in the middle of the night for 3 hours is starting to wear us out. We have just bought a new night light, the Gro clock which I hope will help as I think he has been missing the Rabbit light/clock even though he didn't want it anymore.

Anyway I have really rambled, if anyone has any tips I would really appreciate them.
Thanks Shona

[HenaV]

Hello and welcome to the forums

I think what your LO is going through is simply a developmental stage and nothing to be overly concerned about. R went thorough something similiar. I simply offered her empathy, reassurance that she was safe and if she needed me she just had to call (I felt very brave offering this iption!) and because shes always been an IS I used Walk in/Walk Out rather than stay with her. For R this worked as she knew I would come back if she needed me to give her the confidence to know she was safe. I didn't stay with her because I have learnt with various regressions in the past that she will take a mile if I give an inch she'll take mile!

I certainly would advocate Wi/WO for an IS - it can sometimes take a while but if you stick with it, you will prevail. The key is consitency and determination in your part - you can be sure your LO witness maintakn his consistency and determination to keep you in gneiss room, so
You just have to really stick with it yk.

Just for the sake of compelteness,
What does your LOs day look like in EAS format?

Hena