Can your 3yo get out of bed to find you in the middle of the night by him/herself?

[reezley]

I mean, if your 3yo starts the night in his/her own bed, is s/he able to find your bed in the middle of the night to get in with you? My older ds could do that at 2-3 years old - always just woke up and right away got out of bed and started walking - but younger ds is now going on 3.5 and doesn't wake that way. He usually just sits there all confused and whiny and half-asleep. Sometimes he makes his way over the mattress I'm in, next to his bed. I'm trying to determine if I should move back to dh's bed in the master bedroom(that's the goal anyway) and expect ds2 can find me when he needs me!

[elmh23]

Mine can/could. Maybe he doesn't get up cause he knows you're in there? I know that even though my older two have been out of our room for two+ years now, when they sleep in our room (when dh is out of town mostly) they wake up and just sit there and whine so that they don't have to get up on their own and I'll come get them.

[fruitfulmomma]

My current 3yo can, yes.

My 5yo sometimes does that whiny, half-awake thing and it usually means she has to pee. She won't get up and go unless we tell her to. If we miss it there is a mess in the morning.

[phathui5]

My younest is 2 years, 11 months. He generally ends up sleeping in the living room (his preference) and can come find me in our bedroom.

[reezley]

Originally Posted by elmh23

Mine can/could. Maybe he doesn't get up cause he knows you're in there? I know that even though my older two have been out of our room for two+ years now, when they sleep in our room (when dh is out of town mostly) they wake up and just sit there and whine so that they don't have to get up on their own and I'll come get them.

Half the time when he wakes I'm still awake downstairs, and he doesn't come out looking for me, just does the sit-n-whine. But yeah, maybe it's worth experimenting with sleeping in the other room more. I've tried it sometimes - I hate jumping up out of bed with a start, hearing him crying/whining.

[KatWozBlue]

My three year old used to get up and just yell for either me or my dh and we had a little chat where I told her that if she needed us to please come to our room and she does without a problem.

[elmh23]

Originally Posted by KatWozBlue

My three year old used to get up and just yell for either me or my dh and we had a little chat where I told her that if she needed us to please come to our room and she does without a problem.

After reading this, I remembered that my daughter was that way. We had to have several conversations about the fact that she could leave her bed to come find me or daddy. After a couple days of reminding her every night before bed, she started actually doing it. My son had no idea he was "supposed" to stay in bed in the first place so we didn't have that problem.

[greenemami]

Yes, dd (3) can come find us in our room-however, we did ask her to do that rather than yelling from her bed shortly before ds was born and it took a while for her to get it. She does it most of the time, but not always. Also, our house is tiny and only one floor, so there is no navigating stairs-it is really only ~10 feet away

[COgirl19]

DD (3 yo in April) finds us just fine, usually around 4am

[St. Margaret]

DD *has* come to us, mostly in the AM but maybe once or twice at night. Mostly she calls for us. She's never been one to get out of bed on her own, and I'm sort of okay with it b/c we do have stairs that are impossible to gate, and our bedroom doors with a very short hall at the top of them. We'll see about having her come to us when we have #2.

[LynnS6]

Mine could! She would wake up, come into our room, climb over me and dive into the bed to nurse.

Now at age 5, she wakes up, screams like mad for me and I have to go get her. Argh! She's scared of the dark. I can hardly wait for this to pass...

[Aubergine68]

Sometimes mine could find me at that age. Sometimes, esp if they had a bad dream, they'd seem disoriented and just stumble around or cry for help. Sleepwalking and night terrors run in my family and I don't take it for granted that my kids are going to wake up and be conscious and know what they are doing and not do anything unsafe. I'd rather wake up when they do.


My youngest was an escape artist at 3. I put extra locks on the door to keep him from getting out during the day, but actually preferred to have him in the bedroom with dh and I (on a separate bed) at night so I could be sure we woke up if he did. I could totally see him being one of those kids who is found by the police blocks away in pjs in winter, while his oblivious parents sleep on....

[ewe+lamb]

Both mine managed at that age - of course there are times when they get abit disorientated and end up in the wardrobe but basically we've managed fine!

[Alyantavid]

Mine's just recently turned 4, but he could come and find us. Our room is right next to his, but while he could and sometimes did find me, most of the time he lays in bed, half asleep, and cries for me.

[earthmama369]

DD has always gotten up to come find us if she needed us during the night. DS (almost 4) will do that sometimes, but most of the time he stays in bed and wails/yells until someone comes in. We've talked about him coming to get us, about not waking the entire house up, but no dice. He does sometimes wake up disoriented, but a large part of it is personality, I think. For better or worse, dd is more likely to jump into the middle of things and ds is more likely to stay in one place and demand someone to come help him.

[reignbelle]

My 3 year old either cries bloody murder and we go get her, comes looking for us, or goes into the living room to sleep on a couch which is her preferred sleeping place.

[staceychev]

Mine could, but about half the time didn't.

Is your LO waking from a nightmare? I know that I had night-terrors and sleep-walked, and if I woke, I would have been upset, yet much too disoriented to find my way to my parents' room.

[zeldamomma]

Of my 3 kids, one would get up and find us, and the other 2 would lie in bed and call for us at age 3. But either way it was fairly rare, mainly they'd sleep through the night on their own just fine.

I know that all my kids will occasionally wake up a little in the middle of the night (rolling over and moaning, that kind of thing), and sometimes they'll go to the bathroom, but they don't usually need me. However, we have never been co-sleepers (it doesn't work for us) so maybe that's the difference? If my kids wake up and want to get in bed with dh and me, one of us takes them to the bathroom, and then back to their own bed.

ZM

[mamadelbosque]

Yup. DS1's been totally 100% willing and able to get up and fins us at night since he moved to his own room/bed ~20-24 months. Hes 39 months and now usually sttn, but he still comes in and finds us a couple times a week.

[ecoteat]

DD just turned 4 and doesn't leave her bed in the night. But that's the way we want it--we still keep a baby gate on her door. I guess it's not really necessary anymore, but over the winter we felt better about making it impossible for her to wander near the woodstoves in the middle of the night. Also, one of the staircases is pretty precarious in our old house and we don't like her using it with someone being aware of where she is.