motherhood

Please Sleep In Your Own Bed

Back in 2011 I thought the phase was about to pass. I blogged about here and jinxed myself apparently. Then again in 2012 I thought I would conquer it, but yet again it didn’t happen. 2013, nope he still comes a creeping down and stealthfully climbs into bed.

Every now and then we are blessed with these beautiful words, “I slept in my bed ALL night!” The entire family cheers. Let me just tell you that those words are too far between. Maybe once a month and I’m being generous saying that. Guess what? I’m tired. It’s just a hard battle. “But I need to snuggle you Mom.” How can you argue with that? I mean how many more years am I going to have where my child will let me snuggle them, let alone be seen in public? The down side…no sleep.

Well since he was 2 he’s been coming down to my bed nearly every single night. 1am, 3am, 5am. It depends. He talks in his sleep, he tries climbing under the pillow, then he tries climbing on my or my husband’s back, then he asks for “ice-cold water,” and then the request to go and retrieve his Charlie (blanket – he must sleep with all three Charlies). Yeah, I’m complaining and it’s my own fault. I get it.

Last night I had a great sleep. It was one of those momentous occasions where we all cheer that “Finn slept in his bed all night!!!” Yeah FINN!! Which inevitably means my husband and I will be sharing our bed tonight, because two nights in a row is just not written in the stars.

We’ve tried bribery before. Offered a toy he’d been asking for, but apparently snuggles are more important than the toy…can’t say I can argue with that. I’ve been racking my brain on how to go about this. It’s 2014 now. He’s going to be 5 soon. We need to nip this now.

Bass Pro. Bass Pro Shops. Finn’s Mecca of everything he loves. He asks to go there daily.

Finn Crocket

That’s it. Sleep in your bed all night 30 times and we will take a trip to Bass Pro Shops. The chart has been made and we’re ready. I’ll keep you posted on how it goes. Sleep all night my friend, please!

Do your kids sneak into your bed at night? How do you approach it?

finn sleeps

11 thoughts on “Please Sleep In Your Own Bed

  1. Love the chart hate that you had to make it. Eli has been doing this on and off over the past few months but years…I don’t think I could endure that. You guys are so strong! You are right though….there will come a day when he no longer wants to be seen with you let alone snuggle. Enjoy it while you can?

  2. What about a compromise…if he really needs a snuggle, you go to his bed for 5 or 10 minutes, then return to your own. He gets the reassurance he needs and everyone learns that they sleep in their own bed…

  3. Our daughter did. I broke her of the habit by making a list of activities we would do the following day. (It has to be things you are actually willing to do). I wrote each one on a separate piece of paper and stacked them at the threshold of her bedroom. Each time she walked out, I would walk her back and tear up the top activity. In the morning, we went through the activities and reminded her of what she lost for coming up, then followed through with the ones she earned by staying in her room. It took a few weeks. As she started coming out less, I just made the stack less. I also put the most fun (or expensive) ideas at the top, so she really felt like she lost something fun. “Oh darn, you came out of your room twice, so we can’t go to the zoo or the movies, but look here, we still get to go to the park and have a picnic!” It worked for her!

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