The common reason why your toddler is wandering into your bedroom at night
A night-wandering toddler is a very common occurrence, but the answer could be simpler than you think.
Listen to Chris Minogue on Feed Play Love:
Two-year-old keeps coming into our room at night
Mum Jodie asked mothercraft nurse Chris Minogue for advice on how to stop her daughter wandering into her room at night.
“Any advice for 25-month-old who keeps coming into our room at night?” writes Jodie. “We keep walking her back to her room but it can take up to two hours to get her back to sleep.”
“She also wakes early, around 5:00-5:30am. We have reduced her day nap to one hour and have also tried earlier and later bedtimes. Currently, it’s at 7am. We also have a newborn, so I know this may be affecting her.”
Too young for a bed?
Newborn baby aside, Chris says she’s had many parents ask her a similar question and the answer may lie in the bed she’s sleeping in.
“She’s only just turned two and personally, [I think] she’s too young for a bed. If she’s walking into you, she’s in a bed, not a cot, so I suspect she’s come out of the cot too early. And this is common,” advises Chris.
“She’s only 25 months old, so she’s only quite literally just turned two, and I think that’s where the problem has probably stemmed from. You’re doing the right thing by walking her back. But I have been known to – and clients of mine will know this – but I put them back in their cot because that’s what she’s sort of looking for, she’s looking for that security and that comfort,” explains Chris.
Does it matter how long she’s been out of the cot?
Nope! Chris says that she has put kids back in their cot after six months of disturbed nights while sleeping in a bed.
“They’re looking for that sort of smallness and the security of the cot,” says Chris.
“But you are doing the right thing by walking her back to bed. And sometimes we even put a gate on the door so she doesn’t walk around the house because she’s very young, and we’d hate her to go left where she should be going right.
“See if that helps – you are doing the right thing by putting her back to sleep, but I wouldn’t rule out putting her back in the cot.”
Submit your questions to Chris for Helpline on Feed Play Love:
- Email us at helpline@theparentbrand.com.au
- Call Chris during the Babyology Facebook live every Friday from 11:30 am on 1800 543 772
