2Yo Keeps Waking up at Night

I am sure it is just habit at this point. It really is personal preference if you want to allow co-sleeping. I personally never did it because my husband is 315 lbs and 6'3 I was so afraid he would roll over on my kids I never felt comfortable. If it doesn't bother you then let him in if it does then I suggest you get a gate and when he calls for you just go in and put him back in his bed. When my kids had nightmares or were not feeling well I would always go to them and sit beside them on their bed rub their back until they fell back to sleep. I would never get into bed with them and they did not come in my bed. I felt as long as I was close enough to them to comfort them I didn't want to start bad sleeping habits. In reference to children being ripped from their beds and murdered I do think that is an extreme situation. On the flip side of that infant mortality has tripled in the past twenty years due to co-sleeping from suffocation, or strangulation and that is a fact from a recent government study. I must say I think the risk of death or injury is higher in co-sleeping then the chance of someone abducting your child from their bed. Like I said this is personal preference and basically what works for your family. But for now if it is bothering you then you may have to suck up a few nights of no sleep and walk him back to his bed within a few nights of doing this he should stop waking up.
Good luck!!!

If he's dry and fed and in good health...keep in mind little ones go through all kinds of stages while developing. As parents we form their routines. What we allow them to get away with also forms a routine for them.
For a little one it's more secure to be warm and cozy with M. and Dad in their bed and if you allow it, sure, thats going to be his routine....
So either give him his own space in your bed that's not on top of you and your husband and let it be until he's older in which case you will then have to deal with the transaction of getting him out of your bed or make him walk right back to his own bed as soon as he shows up in yours. He might fuss about it, but after awhile he will learn and become independent in his own bed....

M. D,

My son is 5 years old he will be 6 in June. He still comes into our bed in the middle of the night around 2 or 3:00 in the morning. Everytime my husband tells him to go back to bed, he will go in his room for a few minutes and them come back whispering "mommy, can you come sleep with me." The other night, I just got in his bed and then he went to sleep. I'm thinking that he may just want to cuddle and be warm. He rarely does it during the summer months.

Did he co-sleep with you before the toddler bed or did he sleep well in his crib? If he slept well in his crib, then he's not lonely because he's used to sleeping alone, but probably just isn't used to the bed yet. If he was co-sleeping, then maybe he isn't used to sleeping by himself yet. I suppose it doesn't matter. Either way, I would bring him back to his bed as soon as he goes in your room. Just keep doing it and he'll catch on. Don't let him get comfortable there, unless you want a little visitor every night.

Good luck. We're thinking about switching our 2yo into a toddler bed soon, so I like to see what issues other families are having with them, so we can be ready.

Could be he just likes to be close or is lonely. But remember he is probably getting his 2 year molars too, which might be waking him. I also think sometimes as they roll around the covers come off. They may get chilly and know its toasty to sleep with M.! You might want to try dressing him warmly. If it isnt a big issue, let him stay. If it is, then you'll just have to keep bringing him back to bed. Good luck!

This might sound rather dramatic but I'm going to paste in a comment that appeared today on another forum about co-sleeping with children. I personally happened to read the book The Family Bed shortly after my daughter was born and everything in the book happened in our lives exactly as it said. I have a wonderful, well-adjusted teenager who is secure and we have a great friendship and relationship.

Anyway, here's one aspect that I never thought of until today when I read it:

"We have a 2yo and a 3mo old. We've had a bassinet for both, which they would sleep in during the day - and sometimes at night, too. They are both welcome in our bed to sleep. I believe co-sleeping (same bed) is fine as long as you have your wits about you and have ample space. I believe that there will be an age where a child desires privacy, and people can change things then. We lived next door to Jessie Lunsford (abducted from her own room at night while sleeping, raped and buried alive to die right across the street). It was sick. Just sick. At this very moment, there is an Amber Alert for a missing 5yo girl (probably abducted from her room in the middle of the night) in Ocala. Elizabeth Smart was abducted from her room in the middle of the night. A nice home in an affluent area. JonBenet Ramsey, same thing. There are people with bad intent. If your child/children in your room with you to sle ep, don't you think there would be less of a chance of them being abducted from within your own home? If ANY type of emergency (fire, tornado, etc.) happens in the middle of the night, wouldn't you all feel better to have your children in your room with you? I just had a conversation with my husband about having one room just to sleep in. The other rooms in the home can be for activities during waking hours."

While that may be extreme and highly unlikely to happen I always felt much better to have my baby with me in bed. No one in the animal kingdom leaves their babies elsewhere. In Bible times children slept with their parents. Only in recent times as our part of the world has become more affluent and there's more rooms in the houses have parents discovered a new need to sleep separate from their babies. It's not really natural. Just something the so-called professionals have dreamt up to complicate life. I highly recommend reading The Family Bed. It's available thru La Leche League if you can't find it online.

Now it sounds like habit. Just keep taking him back
to his bed or try a gate.