Seeking Help and Advice for a 5 Yr Old Who Will Not Sleep in His Own Bed!!!!!!

My brother wouldn't sleep in his bed when he was young either. To finally get him out of my parents bed they put a sleeping bag on the floor in their room and after a while (it did take a while) he finally realized his bed was more comfortable! I've also heard that "ghost spray" works at getting rid of the ghosts. An air freshener of some sort! Good Luck!

My daughter (at age 3, she's now 5) went through something similar thinking that there were ghosts in her room. I did not give in. We checked her room over thoroughly and made sure she was comfortable. I do have to leave her room door cracked with the lights on in the next room, but for the most part she goes to sleep pretty quickly these days. She does have a CD player in her room that she likes to have turned on. This helps to drown out any noise. We have a routine. Every night at about 7:30 Jordy, her father and I play 2 quick card games and read 2 books.together. She eats a snack while we play cards and is already in her jammies before we start her routine. She goes potty and brushes her teeth right before crawling into bed. I tuck her in and turn her radio on. I let her know that she is not to get out of bed. For the most part, she listens.

You might consider putting a calendar in Hunter's room. Let him pick out a sticker each morning after he went to bed on time and stayed there. If it comes down to it, take away something that he likes to do. In Jordan's case, it's her computer. She loves the computer so much that just threatening once normally does the trick.

Whatever you do, be consistant. When you put your foot down, mean it. Don't give in. It's tough, but things will get better!

I know many of my friends have had the same issue with their kids, a start off trick that might work is give your son a flashlight to keep by the bed or under the pillow and tell him it is a a ghost fighting tool, that they do not like it.. If he sees the man/ghost again, have your son put the flashlight on and shine it around the room a few times. I know this helped my friends son.. and after a while he will not need it..

Another thing I found with my daughter, when she had a fear as well I rearranged her room,and I had her tell me where she wanted the bed, gave her more of a feeling of control. So she was not in Direct line with the closet or the window (that was her big fear was that some one was looking in, but it was the moon casting shadows from the trees outside)
that also seemed to help
Good luck with it.. and I hope this helps

He throws a fit and tells boogeyman stories because he knows they work. Just remember at his age they are into self gratification and are still trying to TRAIN us. Get a small can of Ghost spray, air deodorizer, a recording of Elmo, Bob the Builder or whomever is his favorite and a nite lite. Tell him he's a big boy and thats how you got rid of scaries at night. Give him a book and tuck him in. If he whines, cries or screams let him. It won't last long. When he sees you aren't conditioned to respond it will quit. My grandson was doing this at three and his bedroom was on the opposite end of the house. I gave him an older bald boy Cabbage Patch for Christmas (he doesn't like dolls per my daughter) When he went through that I don't want to sleep in my bed we did the spray and he grabbed his Cabbage patch and told my daughter I won't sleep by myself. He is four now and goes to his room every night and takes his Cabby because Cabby needs him, as he is too little to sleep by hisself. It was very funny but has worked like a charm. My daughter a year later still makes sure Cabby doesn't get lost anywhere and is in sight.

I understand this as my own youngest son is 5. He will be 6 in November.

He is getting better at going in is own bed, but he NEVER stays in it the whole night.

So, here is what we do:

We try of course to get him in his own bed. Sometimes it works.

We compromise...

One night we will let him sleep on the couch and have the tv on really low on cartoons so he has some comfort. (He does not seem to like the complete silence of his own room)

Sometimes he can sleep with Mom or Dad (we are both tall and the bed is not big enough for all 3 of us) However, this is becoming rare as he is getting used to the idea of his own bed.

He gets to do these things provided he makes an effort to sleep in his own bed.

It is kind of like making the transition slowly.

One thing is he hates it dark. So, we got a spongebob shapped light. Sometimes even that is not enough se we just go ahead and let him sleep with the light on. It really isn't hurting anything if it is helping him sleep in his own bed.

We have also added a small tv to his own room to let him watch cartoons in there (thus, not so quiet in the room)

I know it is frustrating, but just remember soon he will outgrow wanting to be with Mom and Dad and you will miss the closeness then.

Hope it helps!

A.,

I have the same problem with my son who is 3 1/2. We actually moved his sister in the room with him thinking it would help. It hasn't as of yet. I am hoping that it is just a faze. I would believe him when he tells you this because it obviously scares him. If you have another room in your house, I would switch his rooms and maybe this will help. Good Luck.

Try giving him "monster spray" -either air freshner or just a spray bottle with water and some added scent (e.g lavender, cinammon). Put a label on it for Monster spray and tell him he can spray his room before bed, and that will keep all the monsters away. This will give him some control over the situation. We've also had luck putting a fan in our kids room to provide some white noise, and a nightlight too. Good luck!!

I had a similar problem with my daughter when she was little. I was told by a counselor to keep her in her room. She said it would be rough for a few nights, which it was, but that she would get used to it, which she did. She said to allow my daughter in my room in the morning after a certain time so she could come and snuggle, but if she tried to come in in the middle of the night to take her back to her room. She told me if I had to, set an alarm clock for her so she'd know when it was okay to come in my room. It's a habit that your son and you have developed and kids do have wild imaginations. He's looking for a way to get to stay in your room. He knows he will eventually get to if he keeps on like he does. There might be a few sleepless nights, but what the counselor suggested worked and spared me my sanity. Maybe you could hang up a dreamcatcher or something along those lines and tell him that it will catch all his bad dreams and the ghosts that come into his room and maybe make up a little saying that you use with him every night to discourage bad dreams and ghosts from even entering his room. heh! You have to be the one to put your foot down. As long as you let him, he'll be coming in your room. Be firm and consistent (and kind, of course), no matter what, and the habit will break.

We had the same problem with our son when he was 3 he is 5 now.What we did was baby steps first we put his bed in our room to get him use to sleeping in his own bed ...after about two weeks of him being in his own bed w moved it back to his room and found some small toys he liked at the store and we told hm if u sleep in your bed for half the night u will get a toy.First night it was about 5 hours later he came to our room but than after that we never got him in our bed again unless hes sick and thats only because he has breathing problems.If this dont work you and your hubby might have to do tough love and ignore it if he screams and check for ghost or what ever and just leave him he will fall asleep sooner or later maybe some nice music will work and shut the tv off its keeping him awake!!!!!

As long as you will give in he knows he gets what he wants. You will have to set your foot down and stick to it no matter how hard that is going to be for awhile. He is now so used to you giving in that he will continue to cry or do whatever needed to get you to give in. I really know how hard it is to stick to something with my 4 year old. But if you don't have the control now I hate to see him in a couple of years or as a teen. It really is going to be tough for awhile for all of you but in the long run it really might be worth it.

Also, for me, bedtime is bedtime and not the time to watch cartoons or anything. If he can watch tv it is no wonder he is not asleep at 11:00 pm.

First of all, how long has this 5 year not been sleeping in his own room and bed?