How do you keep young kids in their own beds at night?

We have three relatively young children, and almost without fail, at least two (often all three) end up crawling into our bed at some point during the night. It starts out innocent enough — a creak on the stairs, the soft padding of feet, and then suddenly there’s a tiny elbow in my ribs and someone sleeping horizontally across the pillows. By morning, it’s a chaotic mess of limbs, sleep deprivation, and sore backs.

We’ve tried walking them back to their own beds when they show up, but half the time they’re back within minutes. It becomes a full-night operation just trying to maintain boundaries, which ironically leaves us just as exhausted as if we let them stay.

We’ve spoken with the older ones about staying in their beds, explaining calmly during the day why sleep is important for everyone. But logic goes out the window once it’s 3AM and they’re scared, cold, or “just wanted a cuddle.” They’re not trying to be difficult — they just feel safer close to us. And while we want to be there for them emotionally, we also need to be functional humans during the day.

We’re starting to feel stuck between wanting to offer comfort and needing just one solid night of uninterrupted sleep. We've considered reward charts, nightlights, white noise machines — you name it — but nothing really seems to stick.

So I’m throwing this out there to the parents who’ve been through the same thing:

What actually worked for you?

Is there a gentle but effective way to help young kids stay in their own beds through the night? Or is this just a phase we have to ride out, bleary-eyed and exhausted?

Any tips, tricks, or honest stories are more than welcome. At this point, even a few extra inches of bed space would feel like a victory.