3 yr old keeps getting out of bed argh!

[shellbear]

My 3 yr old keeps getting out of bed at night. She has been in a big girls bed for nearly 9 months and it's like she has had a sudden realisation it'as not her cot and started getting up and paying us night time visits. Weve had a few early evening get ups too but nothing too bad - its the night time thats worse. We are being as consistant as we can putting her straight back down, being firm but not over reacting either, trying to make it as boring as possible for her. I don't want to put a gate on the door yet - that feels like a last resort. It's about 3 nights out of 7 at the moment so not every night. A couple of times it has gone on for hours and my partner has eventually made a bed next to her in her room so everyone can sleep. When I ask her about it the next day she just says I get up because I want my mummy and daddy. What to do?! Has anyone had the same experience and got some magic advice?!

[Chippy Minton]

Exactly the same experience, no magic advice though!

When one of ours was 3 she started to do this and at the time we just couldn't face the fight of getting her to stay in her bed at 3am so we let her get in with us - huge mistake. It took another few years to truly crack it and to get her to stay put and even now we can still get a visit once every few weeks.

Moral of the story - it maybe tough, but don't give in. We were much stronger with the subsequent sibling and she sleeps like a dream!

Good luck.