Ethan has developed a bad habit. It started with him just climbing into our bed occasionally at 5 or 6am. Then it became 2 or 3am, but Sean would take him back to bed. Then, on the nights that Sean wasn't home I'd let him just stay in our bed (after that initial 2am wake-up call) since there was extra space. Now, it seems, we have a "family" bed and a toddler bed that is just used for naps.
ARGH!!
I want my bed back! With no little body in the middle sleeping diagonally and his elbow, foot or bum in my face.
I really don't want to have to start sleep training again. It's so frustrating, because he's still a good sleeper, he just prefers to be snuggled in between mom and dad right now.
We've tried some "tough love" with letting him sorta cry it out. We've tried sugary-sweet nice with extra stories and back rubs. We've tried a brighter night light and brought in the CD player to give him some "sleepy music". Last night we had the most success of keeping him in his room. Sean and I did almost a good cop-bad cop. I got Ethan his night light and sleepy music and extra hugs, etc. Sean stood guard at the door to halt all attempts at escaping into our room and bed. It took a while, but Ethan FINALLY fell asleep sometime close to 11pm - 2 hours after we'd first said family prayer. Oh, and he fell asleep on the floor. Nice.
Ok all you moms, aunts, grandmas, etc. of toddlers... any advice?? I know consistency will be key. [Which means not letting him sleep all night in our bed when Sean is gone!] But does anyone have any good tricks?
7 comments:
Oh No!!! The same thing has started happening to us, but it hasn't gotten quite as far. He sneaks in around 5ish. I guess I am going to have to put a stop to this before it gets worse! Good Luck!
I am so sorry. That is worst. I am a believer that they stay in their room. Let them cry but eventually they will get it. It sucks all around until then. Good luck!!
When you move, make the change... it's a clean slate. About the first three years of Jonathan's life he slept in our room due to cirsumsatances we could not avoid. So when we bought our house, he had his own room and he was to stay in there. Consistency is key, as you mentioned. You might want to put one of your blankets with him so he has something with your scent on it. It could comfort him. Jonathan stole my blanket and still has it 4 years later. Also having him decorate or decide how to set up his new room might motivate him to stay in there. If you don't do something soon it will only get harder. For example, about 7 months ago I was painting and let Jonathan stay in our room so I could paint his room while he slept. I was trying to hurry in finshing but Jonathan wanted to extend the paint job so he could stay longer in our room. He was 6 at the time!
Hunter is 10 and still sleeps on our floor half the time. The kid just likes to be close to us. Hopefully it's just a phase. Maybe you can really play up that he's getting a "new" room so that when the move happens it can force a change. Good luck!
We had the exact same problem. You are right that consistancy is the key. We also made "deals" with Elijah. We told him that if he slept all night in his own bed (without sleeping in ours at all), he would get to watch Clifford in the morning. If he slept in our bed, then he didn't get to watch anything. This really worked. Then I just had to bribe myself to pull myself out of bed if he woke up in the middle of the night. It is really hard when Matt is gone because it is so much easier to have him in our bed. But he sleeps better in his own bed, and we sleep better, too. It also creates a healthy boundary as he grows older. Good luck!
I cannot help you here. All I can do is reassure you you're not the only one. I think (I hope) most kids go thru this phase. We ended up literally moving Ben's bed in our room right up against the side of ours (I was afraid he didn't want to sleep in his bed because he kept falling out) so now he can't fall out. And he usually falls asleep in our bed then we move him to his. Sometimes he'll fall asleep in his bed as long as one of us holds his hand. Hopefully you'll have better luck than me.
My mom's advice to us when we got married was to get a king sized bed if you plan on letting your kids sleep with you. I think I was like about 10 when I stopped sleeping in my parents' bed. My parents had six kids and some nights I think there were a few of us in their bed (and they didn't have a king bed). I've heard of people making a little bed of blankets on the floor by the parents' bed and letting their kids sleep there. Any how, why don't you want him in your bed? I haven't decided about letting Spencer sleep in our bed. He definately has to start out in his own bed though. I guess as long as I can sleep comfortably I don't have a problem with him comming into our bed in the middle of the night. We'll see. Good luck.
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