4 yr old son won't sleep in his bed

I posted this on the chid behavior site and no repsonses--This site always has insightful info.  My oldest son just turned four--he will not sleep in his toddler bed at all. His two year old brother has no problem falling asleep in his bed. He says he is scared that wolves are gong to get him or some other monster. I do leave the lights on, we check under the bed. After fours hours of trying to get him to sleep I just give up and let him crawl into bed with us so we can all sleep. This entails wakes his brother up and he also climbs into bed. So either mom or dad end up on the couch. I need to some help to get a good night sleep.

[Hope2OneDay]

Have you tried putting them in their own beds as soon as they fall asleep?
I don't know if this would help, but at least they would wake up in their own room in the am, and then you could make a big deal of the fact that they slept in their own room...and tell them what big boys they are! Even reward them after a week of sleeping in their own beds (a special stuffed toy to sleep with, new bedtime story book, etc...)


Good luck!

[Me2mommy2b]

Oh, Gosh...I'm afraid I'll have to deal with this issue with DD later on.  She's only 3 mos now but we're having difficulties training her to fall asleep in her crib.  She will only fall asleep on my breast in my bed.  I can't get a good night sleep knowing that she's on me and worrying that she might fall or something.  I NEED some advice also on how to train her.  Everyone says that she's too young to be trained but I believe that if I keep doing it, it won't get us very far.

[sarubers]

My son was the same way. He is four. Turns 5 in two weeks. So I moved our bed that we had in the guest room into his room and got rid of his small bed. It worked pretty well. But,that is not an option for you, you should just try to move them into their own beds once they fall asleep. Im sure you have tried this though.

[twiceadopt]

my almost-5-yr-old son doesnt like his own bed either, but we co-sleep so its not a big deal. if you dont object, try putting his bed right next to yours (or a mattress on the floor for him), then gradually move it further out. my almost-2-yr-old sleeps with us and will continue to after the new baby arrives, but hopefully in a toddler bed!

[Hope2OneDay]

Here are a couple of links I found about the whole sleep thing:

http://www.drgreene.com/21_631.html

http://www.itsamomsworld.com/toddler_sleep_big_bed.html

http://www.happynews.com/living/sleep/getting-child-stay.htm

[stephd]

I am in the same predicament.  My son will be 3 in a few days and will not sleep in his bed.  I have tried and tried but he wakes up in the middle of the nite and gets in bed with us.  now I will have baby #2 in march and WILL NOT have him sleep with me.  So we are getting him bunk beds and he is all rady to sleep in there.  So we shall see.  Good luck to you!!

[babyforeva]

good luck! my son is 6 and will not sleep in his own bed. I even went out and bought him a new bedroom set thinking he would because that is what he wanted. It worked for one night. He is afraid of the dark even though he has a nitelight in there. If you succeed at getting your child to sleep in his bed let me know the trick =)

[jd1419]

Thanks for the advice.  I will look at the websites posted and hopefully something will work.  When people tell you the two years are the hard ones for get it--I think the three and fours are--hopefully I will find a solution, so I can get a good nights sleep.

[aridza]

don't worry, she's only 3 mo old, she is still learning to trust you so she wants to make sure you are there with her.
my DD didn't fall asleep on her own until she was about 7mo old (but was sleeping thru the night in her crib), I always had to breastfeed her for her to fall asleep until one night we decided to let her cry, she cried hard the first night, then less the second and not all all the third night.