Not Sleeping in His Bed

Hello A., I am all to familiar with this one I have a 18 yr old girl and a 91/2 yr old boy. My husband has consistently been working away from home so with my daughter she slept in the same room with me until she was 8 and most of the time then it was due to a storm or nightmare, something that she just wnted to be close to me. By age 10 she began to become little miss independant and well lets face it once hormones hit my little angel became my little devil.(smile) My son on the other hand has autistic spectrum disorder. To see him you would just think he was a NORMAL boy. So yes I have a tendency because of this handicap to spoil...mostly because I am too tired to fight. However children are only needy for a very short time and I really miss my cuddle time with my daughter now that she is grown and it won't be long before my son (hopefully) will start the same need for independance as she did. Now remember this is when my husband is not home. Both children knew where there bed was and daddy's bed was/is. Yes it is a struggle sometimes but just remember you have a lifetime of cuddle time with your significant other and only a few short years with your child. I really do not see any 16 year olds wanting to sleep with mom and dad.(smile)

I never had this problem with Mackenzie, but I have a few frieds who have the same issue. One of them has a reward system, her son starts with 2 matchbox cars on his table next to the bed. When he gets up and goes into mommy's room, he looses one when they bring him back to bed. Same thing with the 2nd one. If he comes back in, and he has no cars left, that means he doesn't get his favorite "big boy" cereal for breakfast the next morning. The other friend actually took apart the toddler bed and had her daughter help her put it together again. It helped her feel like it was HER bed and she was important for putting it together. They even had a "big girl bed party" where they invited over a few friends and had snacks and her daughter got to show everyone her big bed. With kids this age, you have to figure out what makes them feel big and special then over-exagerate that point. Good luck!

Have you tried a night light for him? My 3 year old was the same way, but has gotten better about sleeping in his own bed. NOw the only time he gets up and wants some one to lay with him or to lay with me is when he has a bad dream and it wakes him up or he is sick. Try to reward him for sleeping in his own bed. My brother had the same problem with is step children. They are older but he told them for every night they slept in their own bed he would give them $.25 but for every night they got in bed with him and mommy they had to give him a $1.00, so far it has been working out well for him.

I have the same issue with my 3 yr old. She falls asleep on my bed at night and then I carry her into her room and leave her in her bed. Most nights she sleeps all night but sometimes she comes back in my room about 4 am.
I havent been able to put her down in her bed and walk out since she was in her crib at 1 yrs old.