2 year old waking and coming into our room every night multiple times

[st3r]

Our just turned 2 has been waking and coming into our room every night consistentl for the past 3 weeks at least twice sometimes up to 4 times a night. He never used to do this now does it consistently and we dont know hw to address it

We dont let him sleep in our bed and always put him back into his bed. some nights were hard and we would cry and refuse to sleep for hours, some nights we cld turn on his lamp open his dooor and wld go back to sleep but wld often end up coming into our room again later on during the night with no crying or making a sound.

What can we do to help this? Its been going on for awhile now and he and us are not having good sleep becos of it

[anna*]

How about putting a stairgate up at his bedroom door?

[babymunkey]

Came on to say the same as Anna. Although we did the stair gate as soon as we took the cotbed sides off so it was a natural transition for him. You might have a few rough nights, I would still get up and put him back to bed to start with. But I do remember H falling asleep on the floor a few times - heart breaking to start with but he'll figure it out.

Do it now or you'll be like my brother - his youngest did this every night until recently - she's 6

[st3r]

Thanks for the suggestion...so we dont need to address the NWs just stop him from coming out of his room at night you think?

[becj86]

Any changes recently? DS is doing this but we recently moved house...

[babymunkey]

Well 1 could be causing the other - of course make sure there's no other issues like pain, discomfort etc. plus routine issues, but I'm guessing that he's probably in just 1 nap now, maybe that needs a tweak. But it could be that the incentive of getting into bed for a cuddle is causing the wake-ups.

[becj86]

But it could be that the incentive of getting into bed for a cuddle is causing the wake-ups.

Absolutely - we're just finding that the wakings and the trips in to visit us are diminishing as DS settles in and becomes more secure in his new room, TG! No visits to our room last night and only two wakings which is a grand improvement.

[st3r]

We havent had any changes lately that could have brought this on. And i dont cuddle when he wakes at night however daddy does tend to fall asleep wih him when he takles him back to bed. I think its now become abit of a jhabit to come into our room for daddy now as our little one has made it clear these few nights he wants daddy.

We dont have gate but tried closing his door firmly so he cant open too easily and he ended up screaming and crying hysterically until one of us came.

Not sure what to try

He is on one nap and on a good day its an hr or hr and a half long. Lately though with his sleepless nights hes been waning to nap longer somedays but we try to cut it so its not too late. Stil we r getting the night wakings and visits and he is getting little and restless sleep

[anna*]

There will be crying with a gate for sure. With toddlers, you just can't change their sleep habits and expect it to happen without a fuss!

[babymunkey]

We dont have gate but tried closing his door firmly so he cant open too easily and he ended up screaming and crying hysterically until one of us came.

See this is why we used the gate - I think a shut door is much more upsetting and scary - we left our door open and we talked to H from our bed, telling him it was still sleepy time, we were there and that he needed to go back to bed. Initially we went in and put him back, then stopped doing that and just talked to him. He fell asleep on the floor more than once and we would go and put him back to bed (although I think it was only for EWs we had this problem)

[st3r]

we still havent gotten around to buying a gate yet but just found out last week that his 2year molars are coming in... is it okay to introduce something like a gate during this time when it could be teething thats causing the constant wakings? we have tried teething meds but have not seen any improvement at all in his sleep..

hes also now back to fighting going to bed it takes over an hour sometimes 2 even with us there beside him..

we are really confused it could be so many things. im also wondering if his day naps are too long - usually an hour or 1.5 hours with me but with his grandma he tends to do 1hr 45 to 2 hour naps...

[anna*]

If meds don't help then I would do the gate.