Child wandering the house in the night

Our youngest child (3) has taken to wandering round the house in the middle of the night -last night I found him at 4 in the morning sitting crossed legged on his brother floor with the light on reading books – and most nights he will wander round for at least an hour or so on 2 diff occasions.

Mrs Fla and I are getting rather tired (in both senses of the word) with this activity and would rather like him to change it, any suggestions are very welcome.

Velcro sheets / PJs?

Is he awake or sleepwalking? We have one that has occasionally wandered, turning on lights, but is totally asleep….

On the other hand, if it is chosen get up and play….

Dont tempt me – duct tape does come to mind

Is he awake or sleepwalking?

Very awake and knows exactly what he is doing – he runs back to his room as soon as he sees you

A nice little bedtime story about werewolves and ghosts should put a abrupt stop to that 😈

Our daughter used to occasionally sleepwalk at that age – found her in the garden one night – we had to lock all the doors.

We’ve just got one of these for our little lad (3yo in Feb) as he was wanting to come into our bed every night. He got it for christmas from his Grandma so he’s still getting used to it but it seems to be having a good effect.

The gro-clock worked for a few weeks but he now comes in at 6 or so and tells me the sunshine is awake now – it isnt.

He is rather an indipendent little soul

Is he tired or napping during the day? He may just need his routine changing so he is tired enough to sleep through, even if his bedtime has to be later than you might like.

he isnt allowed to nap anymore and he usually doesnt go to sleep until about 8ish

Tell him there are monsters in the hall/landing at night and the only way to stay safe is to stay in his room. 😈

Oh, bugger. Hope mine doesn’t do that then!

We try to tire him out during the day by taking him to the park, out on his bike etc. Although that doesn’t work all the time either.

Bollock him.

Worked for our little girl.

Stopped sharpsh.

As above, he’s testing you and your boundaries. Explain to him that it’s wrong and punish him if it continues.

stair gate across bedroom door, or am i missing something obvious?

We had a reward sticker chart. Every time he stayed in bed, he would get a sticker and10 stickers earned a treat. It took a few nights but then worked for us.

Our youngest does this occasionally.
I find going upstairs and threatening to take favourite soft toys away usually works.

200k audax ride finishing at bedtime?

I love that video – I shall try that

Our middle child did similar but I can’t remember specifically what we did – if anything – to stop it. Not much help other than for you to know it’s not unusual.

stair gate across bedroom door, or am i missing something obvious?

He needs to use the loo – we have only just managed that bit !

I find going upstairs and threatening to take favourite soft toys away usually works.

4 dummies and 3 soft toys removed last night !

200k audax ride finishing at bedtime?

for me or him ?

In that case Andy, I’d be going down the firm and strict approach, with a reward chart as the carrot.

And lock all your external doors!

http://www.healthandcare.co.uk/bed-chair-occupancy-alarms/wireless-care-alarm-kit-with-large-bed-leaving-sensor-mat.html

Sounds like too many espressos before bed.

Swap them for brandy and he’ll sleep through.

(I’m not a parent so this may not be sound advice)

wondering around at night you say…

If he doesn’t need as much sleep at a normal kid of his age it might be something you need to get checked.

What if you keep him up until your bedtime? His sleep hours might co-incide with yours.

Problem solved

If he doesn’t need as much sleep at a normal kid of his age it might be something you need to get checked.
What if you keep him up until your bedtime? His sleep hours might co-incide with yours

He usually is knackered at 6.30 and ready for bed but could that be habit ? Hmm we shall run some experiments

I had this problem.

I said, “who the hell are you and what are you doing in my house?”

What reward does the “good” brother get for not being a little shit in the first place?

No reward, just not punished ! he is 8 so treated very diff anyway

Unbelievable weak parenting here. Its a kid. Kids need rules. You let him away with something like this once and you deserve all the unrest it brings. Just you wait, the 8yr old will spot the weakness in your parenting and start copying it or decide there must be something else they can do to wind up daddy.

Someone suggested taking something away. You then say you have taken away 4 of his dummys for gods sake. That in itself suggests he lost his 1st dummy but had 3 back ups. Wow he must have been gutted.

It is in a families interests for the kids to know clear boundaries. Bedtime is one of that is black and white. If they go to bed, they go to bed to sleep and only leave the room to go to the toilet. Other than toilet breaks both my kids, even at 7 & 12 ask if it is time to get up yet. Its not military and they are never told no. Its called respect.

Take the kid to one side, explain that bedtime is for sleeping and nothing else. Ensure he has 100% darkness in his room for bedtime with the use of blinds etc. He should not be able to play with his toys at bedtime but if he has a teddybear then my lad used to sit for a while playing with his inner sanctum of cuddly toys doing wwf wrestling. Always found him cuddled up with them asleep.

Now the big secret for a happy bedtime. I was told this by a midwife and it worked for both my kids from the age of 6wks old they have given full nights sleep.

Have a routine for bedtime. Every night must be the same. Play, calm down time, bath time, brush teeth, cuddle for 15mins then bed. Every night. Its like a signal to the kids body clock that he needs to get into sleep mode.

If the little one wakes up at any time you should NEVER give him any more than the most basic attention. Never have a discussion with him and never let him win even if his tantrum takes all night. Even if it escalates to a dirty protest!!! If you give in just once you have rewarded his behaviour with the attention he craves. A child waking up in the middle of the night is usually just bored or needs the toilet.

All sounds a bit blunt but if you have a tired child and tired parents then you cant give him the full love through the day. A bit of authority through the night means you can be so much happier through the day.

stair gate across bedroom door, or am i missing something obvious?

Yep, it would be far funnier to stretch cling film across the door and set up a camera. Problem child sorted, and £250 profit from Harry Hill to boot. What’s not to like?

This is one of those threads which proves no-one knows the right answer about parenting – we do the complete opposite to TheLittlestHobo and also have a child who happily sleeps through the night.

I’d take the approach of what harm is it doing? If they get up and quietly read a book for an hour, what’s the problem? If it makes them tired and grumpy, then explain to them that it’s a good idea to get more sleep.

Unbelievable weak parenting here. Its a kid. Kids need rules. You let him away with something like this once and you deserve all the unrest it brings

Interesting interpretation of the scenario – the 8yr old is as good as gold because we have always had boundaries that work, the second child is a touch more willful and the boundaries that we have set he seems to have great fun crashing through.
At night we have exactly the same routing that he has had for the last 3 years, but in the last month he has started to get back up. He gets sent back to bed everytime we find him out of his bed, with no exceptions bar the toilet.

Not sure what part of what we are doing is weak parenting, can you elaborate ?

‘d take the approach of what harm is it doing? If they get up and quietly read a book for an hour, what’s the problem?

If he was up in his room reading I prob wouldnt mind, but he crashes and bags around the upstairs – how can a 3 yr old make so much noise waliing around !!!!!! – only running back to his room when he hears us

Where can I buy one as Amazon appears to be out of stock ?