[carolynpep73]

My DD (2.9 years) has developed this sudden desire to sleep on the floor. Tonight we had company and she was VERY overtired (never a good thing). She screamed when I put her to bed. I mean screamed I wanna sleep on the floor!!! So, after some soothing I laid down her sleeping bag and she's in there trying to sleep on the floor. It just sounds so uncomfortable to me. I feel like I shouldn't be allowing it but I also know that it's not that big of a deal. What should I do?

[DDAmasa]

I'd let her sleep in the floor. As you said, it's really not a big deal. My son naps on the floor all the time on his "nap mat". My nieces love the treat of sleeping in their sleeping bags on the floor at grandma's. It's harmless and I'm guessing the novelty will wear off soon enough.

[annaguat]

My two island children prefer to sleep on the floor. Often I come into the bedroom and they are sleeping on the floor. I just encourage them to lay a quilt under them. I also noticed that when it is warm my none island children join the island crew and everyone is on the floor sleeping like sardines in a row. I just let them. My DS 6 will also wander around and might end up sleeping on the couch or in some one elses bed. It is not a big deal at our place. I know from my children's island family some also have a strong preference for sleeping on the floor, despite now owning matresses, and they just have dirt, concrete or linoleum tiles for flooring. Anna

[jerseytoo]

My daughter also went through this. I spent a lot of time trying to figure it out...interesting she was also the age of your daughter. She actually moved herself into the hallway between our two bedrooms. And even if I moved her back to her bed after she fell asleep I would wake up to find her back in the hall so I stopped even trying to move her. I told her that she could stay there, she just couldn't come into my room to sleep. This went on for at least 2 months. We would talk about it and she still chose to sleep on the floor.

As her 3rd birthday approached I told her that everyone was coming for her birthday and in fact we were going to have house guests and 1. she couldn't sleep on the floor in the hall because someone might fall and 2. doesn't she want to show everyone she is a big girl. 3. I picked something I knew she wanted and told her that if she slept back in her bed she would get it. It took about another week and as I did every night I reminded her of the 3 things and asked her if she wanted to sleep her bed...and finally she did. And don't you know the next morning she reminded me that I owed her the thing I promised. She pretty much has remained in her bed with only a couple of lapses.

Good luck. Be patient. As a doctor reminded me, in some countries it is normal to sleep on the floor so for a short time it wont hurt her.

[connorsmommy1999]

I sleep on the floor a lot

It started when I was a toddler - did the same thing your DD is doing, throwing fits to be able to sleep on the floor. My parents finally gave up trying to fight it because I'd just move to the floor once they were asleep! --I dont know why I was doing it...dont know why I wanted to, though I do have a vague memory of wanting to be closer to all my toys all night.

I decided as an older teen that it just wasnt "cool" so I didnt do it for a long time, but then started again around age 30. as an adult I'm doing it because it just makes my back and body *feel* better...I dont have any particular back issues and we have had two very high quality beds to see if that is the issues...but there is just something about being on the floor that makes me feel better when I wake up. It's really hard to explain.

It's kind of fun to be the only one who feels good on camping/backpacking trips ---but seriously, it's a really great thing to be able to sleep on hard surfaces, I cant tell you how many times I've been in situations where I didnt have a mattress to sleep on (sleepovers as kids etc) and while everyone else complains I'm really OK. Being able to be versatile is great thing!

If I were you I'd just let her sleep on the floor. If she SLEEPS then it's not a problem...if she's keeping you up all night because she's uncomfortable then it's a different issue. I have asked Dr's about it and they all have said it's not a problem unless it's painful - so it's possible that it might be uncomfortable to her and she'll just decide that she doesnt want to do it.

[mommytoEli]

i posted a pic a few weeks back of eli doing this too. he likes it. i move him when he is asleep back into the bed. i asked his doctor about it, she said it wasn't a big deal. i think he likes it bc of the shag rug, dr sugested i find a shag pillow and see if that makes him want to stay in his bed.....i'm still looking....so he's still on the floor. lol.

[carolynpep73]

Thanks for the help! She slept fine until 5:50 where she woke up asking to go into her bed. I'm really OK with it, I just feel like it's got to be so uncomfortable. I could never do it. We'll see where she wants to sleep tonight. As long as she's sleeping, I could really care less where it is. Let's just hope she doesn't want to sleep on the roof.

[krafmatic]

OMG, I had forgotten about DS#1 doing that. For MONTHS, he fell asleep on the floor (in his room, in the hallway, on the stairs - yeah really). If he was in the hallway or on the stairs we would move him once he fell asleep. Often times he would wake in the middle of the night and move himself back to the floor of his room or the hallway.

We let it go, there was no harm in it - except for the time that I tripped over him in the hallway in the middle of the night when DD had a nightmare.

[DPline]

All of my kids do it on occassion. In fact my 10 year old does it a lot. Makes my back hurt to see them, but they like it!

[dspakowsky]

My 2 yr 10 mon old daughter sleeps on the floor every night. I tuck her in bed... but within minutes she'son the floor and she stays that way. It started about a month ago.

[EZ2Luv]

This is not as uncommon as you think. Many kids do this. We used to want to sleep on the floor in the summer because it was cooler than sleeping in a warm bed.(we had hardwood floors) I say it is probably only a phase.
Now I think the floor is very uncomfortable. Recently I did sleep on the floor with my sick dog during her final days:-(.

EZ

[KJones5]

I've got one who likes to sleep on the floor too! He jumps out of bed as soon as we put him in. He drags all of his most valued possessions with him and camps out on the floor.

I just let him do it. It's not something I'm going to battle him over! He's been doing it nearly a year now.

[guatparents2be]

LOL. if she's uncomfortable, she'll let you know (and did!)
that kind of stuff, where we just feel it is better for some reason for them to do something that is generally accepted as "normal" is a no brainer for me.
who cares?
enough things safety wise to fight about to care if my kid wants to sleep on the floor (or pee in the shower