Separation Anxiety @ Sleeptime in 20mth old

[*Ang*]

Alex has always had problems with sleeping since a young un. We only recently for the first time ever had around 6 weeks of sleeping thru - it was so exciting!!! (hence baby no 3 on the way hehe).

But anyway now we have a new problem...he has decided that he doesnt want to be separated from us come sleeptime and it can take up to 2 hours to get him to sleep. He will fall asleep in his cot and we will creep out of the room, making no noise at all yet somehow he senses us going and immediately will stand up screaming. He is not the type of child to cry himself to sleep - he just gets more and more worked up, so we cant leave him to cry. He will fall asleep easily in our bed and last night slept with us the whole night without waking - but we dont want this to become a habit especially as I get larger in pregnancy.

We were debating moving his sisters bed into his room in the hope that with someone else sleeping with him he might relax enough and calm down and feel safe.

Has anyone else had this happen?? Any tips would be so appreciated as we are currently exhausted from all the struggle.

[mickyndan]

Hugs to you :hugs:

My DS who is 2.5yr old has never been a good sleeper and we have finally got him out of our bed onto the floor on a mattrass next to my DH. Even that was a struggle but we finally got there. He has always hated his room, big bed and cot and since he was a tiny bub he has never been one to sleep through the night or put himself to sleep. We even got to the stage about 8 weeks before my DS#2 was born, we paid a sleep nurse to come and show us how to get him to sleep in his big bed and how we needed to do it. It was exactly what we had been doing, persisting (I hate that word)

He slept with us throughout my whole pregnancy and to be honest, we were and are completely over him sleeping with us. We now have our bed back but just not our room - so no sneaky business for us... LOL

All I can say is do what works for you... I definitely think you should try moving his sister into his room. Is she a good sleeper - he might end up climbing out of his cot and sleeping with her...LOL

Good luck with it .. xxoo

[*Ang*]

Thanks mickyndan for those words of support. It can be so frustrating and challenging.

I never thought about putting a mattress next to our bed - that could very well work. And yes DD is an extrememly good sleeper - she would sleep through a train wreck!

[mickyndan]

I am glad that I could be of some assistance. At least your DD is an extremely good sleeper. I have one great sleeper (4.5 months) and a terrible sleeper (2.5yr old)... I think it shows that you know what you need to do with the second one and we have no clue what to do with the first one... LOL Good Luck xxoo