Hi everyone,

I am looking for some advice/techniques on how to keep my 2 y.o. in his bed at night.

DS moved into his new bed about 3 mths ago and initially there was no problems settling him, but lately things have changed. I am 36wks pregnant and for the past couple of weeks DS has been very clingy and insists on me either lying down next to him (which I can't do anymore) or sitting with him while he falls asleep. He likes to hold my hand or be touching me in some way and generally takes a while to get to sleep. Then, when I think he's alseep and I try to leave, he notices I'm missing and wants me back or he comes looking for me, and it starts all over again. Some nights I sit with him for over 30mins, and there is no way I can do this when bubs arrives. DH also has tried to put him to bed, but DS usually takes longer to settle and calls out to me constantly and DH is getting very frustrated with it taking so long.

He has also decided to start waking during the night, generally around 2am and calling out for me. By the time I get there (it takes me a while to haul myself out of bed) he is up and on his way to our bed, which is where he insists he sleeps. Last night I spent 45 mins with him trying to get him to settle in his own bed, before DH finally took over and slept in his bed with him. We have let him sleep in our bed occassionally in the past, but as a general rule don't let him join us till after 6am. And because he is so clingy, he snuggles up to me and takes over my side of bed which is extremely uncomfortable given the size of my belly.

We have a good bedtime routine, which involves his bath, straight into bed with his milk and then he's read two or more books before lights out. We still try to get him to have a daytime sleep, but that is getting harder and harder and often means sitting with him for ages also. I only let him sleep for a maximum of 2 hrs. I have considered cutting his daytime sleep out, but he gets so cranky in the late afternoon and then won't eat his tea, so it's not worth it. Also, when bubs arrives, I will really need that hour to catch up on some snooze myself, so I really want to keep it going.

I apologise for the lengthy post, but figured it was easier to give all the info rather than just the basics.

Please, any advice you can give us would be greatly aprreciated.

Lou.