Okay so for the last two plus years practically every night my 4 year old son comes into our bed in the middle of the night. We wake up and he's right there in between us. We have a king size bed but still we like our space. We have put him back in his bed as soon as he comes in, if we hear him or feel him get on the bed. We have put one of those child proof door handle covers on his door and he breaks it off. My husband is about to leave for a 7 month cruise on the 15th of this month and while I would love to have the extra body heat in the bed with me, I still need to break him of that habit. I certainly don't need him trying to get in the bed with us when my DH comes home in August!!! 
What can I do to break him of this? He says he hates his bed and I know it's got to be something else. This has gone on way too long!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 
Amy
Amy, I sympathize, but I never had this problem. I can only suggest that you ask him why he hates his bed, then try to resolve the issue. I can tell you, from many years as a Mom, that if the answer is, "I don't know," it's not the bed.
Have you tried moving it to a different place in his room?
Theresa 
I never had this problem with my older son...and it was my younger one who slept with us every night until he was 18 months old (MAN, that was a long year and a half).
I agree with Theresa. Try rearranging the room. Give him something special that is his "special bedtime" something...like a blanket, stuffed animal, etc. The special thing is something he can only spend time with in his own bed. Is he scared of the dark? Maybe he'd like some kind of special night light. I don't know if any of this will end up working, but it's worth a try. You're right, you gotta break him of the habit!
I have moved his bed away from his window because I thought it was the light from the street coming in on the side of the curtains! Apparently that's not it. He has a Tow Mater night light in his room. It's not bright enough!! He wants his table lamp on. He say's his bed is "ugly"! 
Not sure what that's all about seeing as he has new McQueen sheets on it. We do need to get him a new table lamp. One of those where the base has a dim light as well as the regular light. It's really hard to get into a 4 year old's mind!!! I will try your suggestions again!!!!!
Amy
Our youngest son did this for about 2 years. We decided to have dh take him back to bed at night instead of me when he came into our room. He would just quietly pick him up and tuck him back in. We were amazed that it worked! I would put him back in and he would start screaming as soon as we started back to bed. I eally think it just turns into a habit. We also put a dimmer knob on his light so we could just use his room light as a nightlight. It was less than $5. Good luck!
I can relate but there is hope!! Our 5-1/2 year old son just stopped coming to our bed every night since he was 3.I always ended up being kicked out as there was no room and both Daddy and him snoring.....so I would go sleep with my now almost 4 yr old daughter.He stopped once he started kindergarten and was physically played out and tired by 8pm at night.Now he is older and pretty much stays in his room.I think it was a security thing with him feeling safe.Don't worry ..it will pass!!
well, i have to say, my oldest slept with us until he was 9 years old. No i didn't intend for that to happen, but sometimes its just easier to say get up here and get back to sleep. I was working full time and needed to be to work at 5:30am and just didn't have the energy to tell him no. But i also, felt that if he needed the security of knowing he could get in bed with us, then so be it.
He is now a very secure confident 16 year old.
I do have to say, i remember having nightmares when i was little and my father never told me i couldn't crawl in to be with him.
Just dont forget your jammies.
I just got home from the Seahawk/Dallas game. GO SEAHAWKS!!!
Okay, I too just have no energy. He goes to bed in his bed but it's usually around 2-4 a.m. that he'll come in!
He just has his body clock trained now to wake up at the time and to come into our room!
Amy
I asked my niece, the mother of a sleepwalker, who had the same problem, about this. She said that the doctor told her that if he wakes her or her husband when he crawls into her bed, firmly, but not frighteningly, tell him no, he cannot come to their bed, and march him back to his room. It will take about a month to re-program him.
Theresa
Theresa~That's what I'm going to have to do. We've known that all along but it's a debate as to who is going to take him back to his room at 2:30 in the morning. Since I will be the only one now to do it. I'll just have to do it!!!!!!
Who would have thought that I would have to retrain a 4 year old to sleep in his own bed? Of course now Daddy is about to leave for 7 months in 8 more days so I fully expect some emotional changes with my boys!
kelleym~Gig Harbor is 20 minutes from me. I used to work in Bellevue Square Mall way back when they were celebrating their 50th Birthday and they had The Hunchback of Notre Dame Disney tour their!
Small world!
BTW, my best friend lives in Baltimore and she is a die hard Dallas fan. She and I were texting each other on our phones lastnight heckling each other! 
I can totally sympathize with this!! My daughter did it, she used to have lots of nightmares. Eventually the problem resolved itself and she stays in bed now. My now 4yo son is still trying to get in my bed, it's a constant struggle. Our latest thing is a neat little trick Zmama told me about to get them up in the morning (last one up gets squirted with water). Now I tell him if he doesn't stay in his bed he won't hear his alarm in the morning, so he stays put. It's turned bedtime and mornings into a fun game and a competition for the kiddos.
Navy wife here too! I have a three and a half year old with the same thing.
It most likely has nothing to do with his bed - you could have any bed in there and it wouldn't be as wonderful as mom's. It's not about the bed, it's about him feeling secure next to you. Kids with parents in the military go through a lot of change. You're not doing anything wrong. This is just the life.
I think the most important thing is consistency. Even if it's just putting him to bed in his bed at the beginning of the night - if he ends up sleeping with you, you at least started him in his room.
I let mine stay when he crawls in (husband is presently in Iraq). I put him to bed in his bed, but I don't usually move him if he crawls in. I don't mind it, my husband doesn't mind it when he is here. I guarentee your son will NOT be climbing in with you when he is 15!
My son was a night time bed sneaker upper. The funny thing was at the time (25 years ago) we had a bladder water bed and I watched how he was able to get into the bed without us noticing him. He would make one crawling motion, wait for the water to settle down and then make another move until he was nestled inbetween both of us. It's hard to fuss when you are trying not to laugh. I told him that I would make a bed on the floor next to us if he just wanted to sleep in the same room. That did not last for long and he started staying in his own bed again after I allowed him to leave music on all night long with a night light. I also gave him my pillow that had my scent on it, which he would snuggle up to as he fell asleep. Make sure his bladder is empty before bedtime. He may be waking up needing to go to the bathroom, but not enough to actually have to go to the bathroom. He was also a big HeeMan fanatic, so he would pick 3 characters that he would sleep with at night and he would tell me that he was going to have a dream about them. Somehow a combination of everything worked out without much kaos. Exercising before bedtime is also a great idea to wear them out. Good Luck
Navy wife here too! I have a three and a half year old with the same thing.
It most likely has nothing to do with his bed - you could have any bed in there and it wouldn't be as wonderful as mom's. It's not about the bed, it's about him feeling secure next to you. Kids with parents in the military go through a lot of change. You're not doing anything wrong. This is just the life.
I think the most important thing is consistency. Even if it's just putting him to bed in his bed at the beginning of the night - if he ends up sleeping with you, you at least started him in his room.
I let mine stay when he crawls in (husband is presently in Iraq). I put him to bed in his bed, but I don't usually move him if he crawls in. I don't mind it, my husband doesn't mind it when he is here. I guarentee your son will NOT be climbing in with you when he is 15!
I'm an AF brat so I definately know how tough military can be on a kid. My husband's ship leaves next Tuesday for 7 months so that's going to be a huge change for him. My husband has been gone quite frequently this last year but this time it will be all at once. I don't know how much change he can take all at once.
He has no problem going to bed and no problem going to bed in his bed. He has just trained himself to wake up sometime in the middle of the night and come in. We've shut our doors and he just comes right on in. I guess I am lucky that he if fine with going to bed. Maybe he does wake up in the middle of the night needing to go to the bathroom. I never thought of that! HMMMMM!!! Well I'm not going to lay down the law so soon after daddy leaves. That would be bad!!
dldbrou~That's pretty funny about your son crawling up on the waterbed and then waiting until it settled down.....I can just see it down! 
My dd stopped waking up during the night also because we let her sleep with music. Now that she's older she let the cd play just once, but still needs it. My 8 y-o son still needs the baby light&music thing he had in his crib. Now he's able to turn it on himself.
My dh isn't in the Navy nor the army, but he worked at a place where he left for 7 days at a time. So all those 7 days the kids were alone with me. He did that for 5 years. Sure glad it's over.
Good luck!
I sympathize with you!
We went through this with our 3 year old. She would go to bed just fine, but her body clock would wake up and she would want to come sleep with us. We did this for awhile, but knew we had to break her of it before our big week long vacation me and my DH were taking. My parents were going to be staying at our house and we didn't think they would appreciate a third party in their bed at 2 am every night!!!
I made her a sticker chart...started out small...maybe 5 squares and if she stayed in her bed all night (from the time we put her in bed until the sun came up) she got to put a kitty cat sticker on her chart. (She is in love with kitties...and since we won't ever have a real cat, her daddy told her he would take her shopping and let her pick out a kitty cat stuffed animal.)
We made it a big deal from picking out the stickers, to her putting them on in the morning, to dressing up to go to the mall with just daddy to get her toy. He even took her to lunch! She was on cloud 9!!!
The next chart we increased the number of squares....and in the blink of an eye, she was in her bed all the time and never gave it another thought.
Good luck...but no matter what, be consistent! 
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