Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:You'll wish for these days in a few years when she doesn't want to be seen in public giving a parent a kiss or hug goodbye.

As mentioned, it is a phase that will pass.

Ok, but it's negatively impacting the mom's sleep. So it does need to be addressed.

As someone who also has a hard time falling back, I agree.

I wouldn't have let this go past the third night. What does she say when you ask her why she is doing it? Have tried just telling her not to? 5 year olds are pretty communicative.

Thanks all from the OP. I am definitely directing the return her to her bed task to DH. And he is the type who is snoring before his bed hits the pillow while I am awake ruminating for hours when my sleep is disrupted!

DD does have an ok to wake clock (part of her white noise) and she knows she’s supposed to go back to sleep. I’m going to do a reward chart as she is very motivated by those and see if we can curb it. I have no problem if she comes in in the morning for a few minutes when we wake up; it’s a sweet way to wake up. It’s just when it’s the middle of the night that is getting to me!

Anonymous wrote:You'll wish for these days in a few years when she doesn't want to be seen in public giving a parent a kiss or hug goodbye.

As mentioned, it is a phase that will pass.

Ok, but it's negatively impacting the mom's sleep. So it does need to be addressed.

Anonymous wrote:You'll wish for these days in a few years when she doesn't want to be seen in public giving a parent a kiss or hug goodbye.

As mentioned, it is a phase that will pass.

+1

She will grow out of it so I wouldn’t worry about that.

If it’s disrupting your sleep then I’d figure what to do to address that— maybe it means she stays on your husband’s side, or maybe something else. We kept a blanket on our floor for a while and our kid would curl up there.

Have you tried an ok to wake clock?

Can you teach her to go to your husbands side and have him deal with it? Lots of sympathy bc I have a hard time falling back asleep sometimes and will be awake for hours, my husband is always snoring like 10 seconds after any disturbance.

Our child of same age does this on occasion but we never wake up and just find out in the morning! So I’d try to figure out which aspect is waking you up and address that.

Anonymous wrote:It's not safe to have a three year wandering the house at 3 am. What if she bypasses your room?

The child is 5.

It's not safe to have a three year wandering the house at 3 am. What if she bypasses your room?

You'll wish for these days in a few years when she doesn't want to be seen in public giving a parent a kiss or hug goodbye.

As mentioned, it is a phase that will pass.

Two months is about how long I would have lasted on "waiting it out" too.

I would spend all weekend being over dramatically tired, lots of yawns, and sleepiness, and at least once, stop playing with her to "rest" on the couch. Then have a conversation one night where you tell her that getting up in the night is making you too tired, and you need to sleep undisturbed all night long. Tell her that you know she likes those middle of the night snuggles, so you're going to do some extra snuggles right now - can get you get right in her bed with her for five minutes and snuggle up? Add that to the bedtime routine maybe? Or maybe it's lap snuggles. But specifically add in some extra snuggles and call that out as a replacement for middle of the night snuggles. Then tell her there will be no more snuggles in the middle of the night. As soon as she comes into your room that night (as I'm sure she will), do NOT let her get into the bed. Just calmly take her by the hand and tuck her back in.

I bet after a week of essentially just walking back and forth between your room and hers, she'll decide it's not worth it and stop getting up.

Good luck!

My son did this around the same age, though he was typically scared when he woke up, which doesn't sound like is happening in your case. It went on for a while but now at 6.5 he hasn't done it in a while (I think he just doesn't wake up at that time any more). We just took the path of least resistance to getting everyone back to sleep, which in our case was letting him snuggle in our bed and in yours sounds like it might be having DH help her most of the time if it doesn't disrupt his sleep like it does yours.

For us, it was (like so many things) a phase.

If it disrupts your sleep too much and your DH thinks it’s harmless then he needs to be the one taking her back, always.

DD, aged 5, has always been a great sleeper. 12 hours overnight and even at her age still naps a couple days a week. She sleeps from 7:00pm to 6:30am. For the last two months or so, she’s been waking around 3am, which must be the end of a natural sleep cycle, and coming into our room. She just quietly gets into bed between us. We give her a snuggle for a minute and then one of us takes her back to bed. She never argues and falls asleep as soon as she is tucked back into her bed.

DH thinks it’s harmless (and sweet) and even if it’s a little disruptive it’s not a big deal. But I often have a hard time falling back to sleep so it’s impacting my rest. And we ultimately want her to go back to being a totally independent sleeper in her own room through the night. Any good tips? Maybe a “stay in your room” sticker chart for rewards? Or am I blowing this out of proportion bc it’s not a “typical” sleep issue like refusing to stay in bed or crying when have to go back to own room?