My daughter has been sneaking into my bed in the middle of the night since I quit my marriage the end of August last year.
When we lived in the condo I didn't really have any issues with having a "family bed" thanks to my California King. Most of the time I couldn't even feel her in bed with me. I knew it was a habit I would have to break her of at some point, so I always made her start in her own bed. If she showed up before 1am I usually made one attempt to move her back to her bed. But, every morning I would wake up with her snuggled up against me.
Then we moved to my parents' house and said goodbye CA King, hello Queen. I never really knew how much my daughter rolled around while she slept. An arm resting on my face was nothing compared to the foot crashing down on my chest, or being used as her pillow. After a months I was noticeably sleep deprived. I couldn't catch up on my lost sleep even the weekends she was with her dad.
FULLtwin size bed for her room. This way her bed would be more spacious and softer than her Disney Princess toddler bed. Maybe she would be more comfortable and she would have a better night's sleep. It didn't work.
The next idea was to move her Disney Princess toddler bed into a corner of my room. If she came to me in the middle of the night she could just sleep in her own bed, but in my room. That kind of worked for a week. I say kind of because she would wake up a second time and climb into my bed.
The final attempt was to simply sleep in her bed with her. For about a week she would wake me up around 2am and I would take her back to her bed and lay down with her. I would attempt to come back to my bed, but about an hour later she would come get me again. I gradually started sleeping in her bed with her only a couple of hours in the middle of the night.
Then this week we had a break through. She slept through two nights in a row. I was actually nervous about her going to her dad's for her overnight visit because it would break the new rhythm. Karma seemed to be on my side ... he came down with her cold and we figured it would be best if she stayed home with me. She and I had third night of solid sleep in our own beds.
Last night would have been the fourth if she hadn't woken up at 6:15am from a nightmare ... a monster in her closet. Wish me luck that this weekend she is nightmare free! And, now it is time for me to get some shut eye.
