Does Anyone Else Have a Toddler Who Migrates to Your Bed at Night and Rubs Ears?

My daughter did this. She would rub any ear she could find but her own. We were on a flight to LA and she grabbed they guys ear sitting next to us. I could only apologize. Thankfully he was nice about it. She also got into bed with me at night. It will all stop. I think my daughter's ear grabbing stopped when she started Kindergarten. Sometimes when she's tired she will grab my ear and then will catch herself. It will pass like the many other stages they go through. Just hang in there.

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My daughter did this. She would rub any ear she could find but her own. We were on a flight to LA and she grabbed they guys ear sitting next to us. I could only apologize. Thankfully he was nice about it. She also got into bed with me at night. It will all stop. I think my daughter's ear grabbing stopped when she started Kindergarten. Sometimes when she's tired she will grab my ear and then will catch herself. It will pass like the many other stages they go through. Just hang in there.

When he was a toddler our son use to come to our room in the middle of the night, tuck himself in at the foot of our bed and snuggle up to my feet - usually without waking us.
We'd find him there in the morning.
I've always felt the seeking of adults in the middle of the night thing was a left over instinct from our cave man days.
Unattended young are prey in the wild - so toddlers being with parents was a survival thing.
I think they all do it at some point - but they eventually grow out of it.

I've seen kids rub their ears as they sucked their thumbs - when little, or with a blankie to self soothe, as you say. My mom worked with small children and I remember that quite a lot at nap time.

So if he's doing it at nap time, or when sleepy - that makes sense. Also would make sense if he's waking at night and coming to find you - I'd deal with him waking at night (rather than the ear thing). A couple of mine woke in the night at that age. We simply put a comforter/duvet on the ground in the corner, and allowed them to crash there if they needed to come in. We put a baby gate across top of stairs and lit the hallway (night lights) so they could make their way down to our room safely. They knew they could come in (woke with night terrors I believe) and could crash, but because we didn't make it too appealing (floor, not our bed) they decided after a while they'd rather sleep in their own beds. They could always come to our room though if they felt scared.

One of ours would kind of freak a bit so there was a while where I would have to wake just long enough to comfort him. He could be redirected back to bed. He had a lovey (a stuffie). Can you introduce something like that? He also had a special night light. Some kids have music boxes (another one of our kids), some have nice lights that cast soft lights on ceiling (not enough to keep awake), etc. It has to be something you're ok with and that doesn't really interfere with sleep so much as is soothing to them.

Mine didn't seek ears for comfort, but they did both migrate to our bed. Our oldest stopped when he was about 2 or 2 1/2 (which was very convenient, as Mommy was very pregnant). Our youngest continued until he was 5 or 6.

They may not have sought our ears, but they still woke us up. We used to hug them and rub their back to sooth them back to sleep. As my youngest got older, it did become more difficult to get back to sleep. There were nights when I would go sleep in his bed and leave him in bed with my husband.

I think it's normal for kids at that age to seek their parents in the middle of the night. There are many ways to help him change that particular habit - having a sleeping bag on the floor near your bed or walking him back to his bed each time. I'm sure there are other ways, as well. We chose to continue to let our youngest come to our bed because we knew he needed us (he has Autism).

I guess I'm just saying, you're not dealing with anything out of the ordinary. Doesn't make it that much easier to deal with, but it is totally normal.

Oh my gosh that's the cutest thing I ever heard! No lie. My son used to twirl a piece of my hair for comfort. (Now he's 20 :-( ) I honestly don't have a solution I'm sorry. But this too shall pass! Maybe a soft little satin or silk blanket? I don't know but best of luck!

At least he doesn't pinch. I had a family member whose child pinched. I mentioned it to one of them because they were sitting in front of the TV and she was letting him. I got fussed at for mentioning it because she felt that it was perfectly fine for him to do it. Then the next day she had a HUGE bruise on her arm - like the 4 inches long and 3 inches wide kind of huge - WOW! She didn't let him pinch her anymore after that.

I asked him one time why he was pinching and he said "I need to pinch!" This child also needed OT. I will just bet that they were related.

It may not be the same for your child, but it's worth a mention to your ped.

All that being said, you don't have to allow this to continue. That's a lot of sleep deficit on all 3 of you. I would not allow him to mess with your ears in the middle of the night anymore. I'd take him right back to his bedroom and tell him to stay in his own bed. Over and over and over until he stops doing it. Let him cry about it. He's in this habit of waking and he won't put himself back to sleep. He needs to learn to self-soothe. He won't learn if you're doing it for him. And when you stop, he will eventually stop waking up in the middle of the night. He's conditioned to do it now. Stop allowing it. It will be hard for about 2 weeks. But you will get to sleep after that.

My son is 5 and will come in our bed around 3 or 4 am also. He plays with my arm hair. It hurts sometimes if he pulls on the hair - but I know the cuddles are going to end soon and he won't be doing this. I am fine with it. I'll miss it when he stops doing it.

For my son it was my elbow or my belly. When he nursed he always ran his hand over my belly. He continued that for a long time after he stopped nursing. Not sure why it was my elbow. Once in a crowd at the state fair he started rubbing an elbow that wasn’t mine. He was mortified and the lady was really annoyed! He eventually outgrew it, but it was annoying in the middle of the night.