4-year-old keeps waking up in middle crying…

[Anonymous]

…because he’s kicking his covers off.

DS is newly 4 and this issue has gone on for well over a month. He is a very active mover and it seems like he’s kicking his covers off at night (sometimes numerous times at night) and will wake up realizing they are not on and cry for us to cover him back up.

We’ve tried;

- teaching him how to put his covers back on. We have him practice before bed every night. He eagerly shows us he can do it but at 1am he’s half asleep and won’t do it. He just cries for us. We’ve tried to get him to do it in the moment and he won’t. More than capable any other time but his sleep brain won’t let him.

- Ignoring it. Letting him cry for us hoping he went back to sleep. Escalated to him being beside himself and crying so hard we could hear him gag and heave. He never remembers this the next morning.

- making his room warmer so he doesn’t notice the covers off of him. Didn’t seem to make a difference other than him not sleeping as well and complaining in morning he was too warm.

- weight blanket with the hopes it stays on him better. He didn’t like the pressure

- tucking sheets in tight. He still manages to kick them off in his sleep.

He has zero issues waking him to go to the bathroom at night and then covering himself back up, although I say it’s seldom he has to go in the middle of the night.

The issue is when he wakes up without covers. I don’t think he’s fully awake. He will literally go to sleep the second we cover him up but on nights when this happens 2-3 times it’s exhausting.

[Anonymous]

Put a sleeping bag on his bed.

[Anonymous]

Sleep sack style jammies (like what infants wear) and an overnight diaper. You can't lose your bedding if you're wearing it.

[Anonymous]

Sleep sack (yes they make them for kids this big) or footie pajamas. My kid was like this. Actually still is, though she doesn't cry when it happens now, she wakes up and pulls the covers back up. Some kids are just super active sleepers and can't keep covers on. We'd do footie pajamas under a light quilt, so when she inevitably kicked the covers off, she'd still be warm enough in the pajamas.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Put a sleeping bag on his bed.

Good idea! We will try!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Sleep sack style jammies (like what infants wear) and an overnight diaper. You can't lose your bedding if you're wearing it.

We just transitioned out of sleep sack a few months ago. DS is nighttime trained and was adamant against nighttime pull-ups. He will get up to use bathroom if needed but could not undo sleepsack. Now he wears long, cotton pajamas that keep him warm but he really seems to want the weight or a regular blanket as well.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Sleep sack (yes they make them for kids this big) or footie pajamas. My kid was like this. Actually still is, though she doesn't cry when it happens now, she wakes up and pulls the covers back up. Some kids are just super active sleepers and can't keep covers on. We'd do footie pajamas under a light quilt, so when she inevitably kicked the covers off, she'd still be warm enough in the pajamas.

He’s in a two piece cotton long sleeve PK set at night.

Like this https://www.hannaandersson.com/pajamas-collection-shop-all/59852-722.html?cgid=pajamas-collection-shop-all&dwvar_59852-722_color=722

No socks, he does not like feet covered. His sleep sack beforehand was like this with open feet.

https://babyinmerino.com/collections/merino-sleep-sacks-child/products/copy-of-2-layer-merino-wool-sleep-sack-with-open-legs-stone-gray-1?variant=46785702625586

We can’t do zip ups because he sits to pee, so needs a two piece set so he can pull pants down.

We aren’t willing to go back with our nighttime training. He does really well and he also does not want to wear pull-ups anymore.