How to kick your toddler out of your bed ... for good

While sleeping with your baby is a personal choice, many parents discover that once this habit has become entrenched, it’s extremely difficult to break.

When your toddler or preschooler refuses to sleep on his own, it results in high levels of anxiety and stress for the whole family at bedtime.

When deciding what sleeping arrangement is right for you, it’s important to bear a few guidelines in mind, says educational psychologist Emma Stewart.

“If you choose to co-sleep, do some online research and familiarise yourself with the co-sleeping guidelines.

“It’s also a good idea to decide upfront, together with your partner, how long your child will co-sleep with you (at what age he will transition to his own bed), and to stick firmly to this decision.

“The best solution is to allow your child to continue sleeping in his own room and to go into the room if and when you are needed.

“The most important thing is to respond to your child’s cries immediately. In this way, healthy attachment bonds will continue to strengthen.”

Jacqui Flint, routine and sleep specialist, offers the following tips on how to help your toddler or preschooler transition to his own bed.

If your child is still having a day sleep, insist it’s in his cot or bed in his own bedroom, so when you put him down in his bedroom at night, he is familiar with the surroundings.

Always put your child in his cot or bed when he’s awake and walk out of the room so he can see you leaving.

If you do so when he’s already asleep, he’ll be frightened when he wakes up to discover he’s not where he was when he nodded off.

Leave the door slightly open to prevent creating a sense of isolation.

Leave a night light on in your child’s room, or leave the passage or bathroom light on if he is showing a fear of the dark.

Make normal household noises so that he knows you are at home and he hasn’t been abandoned.