18 month old - Weird Sleep Habits. Is this normal?

Hi all!

My DS is 18 months tomorrow and every since he could crawl he's been a very "active" little sleeper! He sleeps great, 12 hours a night without waking up for any reason other than being sick, coughing or teething. I have two concerns, and I'm wondering if these are just normal toddler sleeping habits?

My first concern about his sleeping is that he moves all over the cot throughout the night. We'll put him down in the normal position, but go back in to check on him before we go to bed and he's upside down, legs up on the bars, sleeping slideways, sleeping sitting up!!... all crazy positions. We are thinking of transitioning him to a toddler bed and taking off the rails, but if he's moving around like this he is bound to fall out. We would probably get a low side barrier for his bed so that he doesn't fall out. Will he grow out of this? Normal?

My second concern is that, in order to put himself to sleep, he gets on his hands and knees and rocks back and forth. This doesn't bother me too much, what does bother me is if he's also, in the process, bashing his head on his sideboard. It's quite loud and can get quite vigorous, although he seems to do it in his sleep and it doesn't seem to wake him. My sisters did something similar, and it took her til she was mid teens to stop doing it. We've padded up the sides of his bed so he doesn't hurt himself, but I'm worried about when he goes into a big bed if it will cause him to fall out etc. Is this normal??

Thanks in advance for your advice and thoughts!

xoxoxo

if he's happy, I wouldnt' worry about it. the moving etc is certainly quite normal.
when he's in a big bed, he might fall out, but he will quickly learn not to (or jsut sleep on the floor :))

I say normal hun... P moves all around too and it drives me batty when he is in bed with me!
Rocking back and forth to sleep might just be his settling method. And I know they grow out of the head banging, obviously though if he bruises then maybe talk to your gp/paed

My DS does the rocking on hands and knees, it started when he was about 11 months and he is still doing it at 3 yrs. He is in a single bed with rails both sides, so that keeps him enclosed. I asked our nanny what she thought about the rocking motion and she said that is just some children's way of putting themselves back to sleep. It does seem to have calmed down a bit but he does it now and again.

Normal! DS moves around everywhere in his cot too and that's one of the reasons we want to keep him 'enclosed' in his cot for as long as possible, lol! A friend's little girl does the head banging and it's just her way of self-settling. Some do thumbs, some head bang! ;)

Thanks guys! That makes me feel better about things. Will keep him in the cot for a little longer yet and see how he goes later next year I think.

Our GP doesn't seem concerned with his hitting his head as long as its not hurting him and since he's not waking up from it I guess it can't be too bad :)

all sounds pretty normal :)

we're moving DS to a big boy bed over Christmas too, so you're not alone!

I'm sure he'll fall out a few times (we'll have something soft for him to land on) but we all make this transition and live :)

GL