Child won't sleep in own bed

[Georgann]

It's my fault.  I am a single mother,exhausted all the time and it's just been easier on me to let her fall asleep in my bed than to try and get her to settle down in her own bed.  We have been doing this since she was she was probably 8 months old or so because she never liked her crib.  Well, now she is almost three and I can't get her to sleep  in her bed.  I have tried playing those nighty night videos, I try to lay down with her and plan to leave after she falls asleep but then she usually wakes up and wonders into my bed or won't settle down at all.  Do you have any helpful hints as to how I can fix this mess and get her to sleep in her bed?  Thanks

[Kevin Kennedy, Ph.D.]

This will improve only if you bite the bullet and refuse to allow the pattern to continue. You already know that your behavior has brought this situation about, and now it is your behavior that will change it. Insist that your daughter go to sleep in her own bed, and if she comes to you during the night you must return her to her bed. From her point of view, of course, the current situation is just fine, so there will be no motivation to change it. Be resolute, know that you are doing a sensible thing, and change will come.

[vannysmom06]

A related discussion, Help was started.