Children & Sleeping

[indimom]

OKay I sat down and really thought about all the advice I have received on this and thought about my DD and what would work for her and for me. I can tell you that I cannot just leave her in her room crying for me. Since we first started trying to get her in her bed I have always told her all she had to do was call for mommy and I would come to her. I am not about to break that trust. HOWEVER.....I have come up with a plan. The first part to this is getting her to go to bed in her bed alone without someone with her to fall asleep. So I told her we would get her sleeping in her bed all night every night....but we would do it in steps. The first step is for her to go to bed and asleep by herself. I will still read to her and snuggle for a few minutes, but I'm not staying until she falls asleep. If she does that every night this week she gets a little $5 baby doll from Walmart she is wanting. She did even after all the tears on Monday night - fall asleep in her room by herself so that was night 1. Last night - night 2 - I'm happy to say was a breeze. I tucked her into bed and gave her kisses and her lamby (sprayed with DH's cologne) and she didn't fuss a bit. She went right to sleep. Here's hoping this week continues so well. She woke up around 12:30am and we let her come to bed with us at that point - which I had told her I would. I told her next step would be making sure she stayed in her bed until after a certain time.....then we would extend it. Honestly I think once we get past the first waking and her learning to go back to sleep by herself we will be good as gold. But hey it's early in the process and I expect setbacks. But we will get there.
Thanks again for all the insight and wisdom - I do appreciate it.

Sounds like a good plan that works for you. My only advice would be: do NOT change the plan. Stick with it. If she has a "bad night" a week from now and cries for you to stay in the room when you first lay her down. Don't think the plan is not working, stick to what you are doing. (Anytime you make "behavioral changes" kids will test the waters, so expect this at some point...) Be consistant and I'm sure you'll help her get through this!

 

[WDWorBUST]

Well we had a setback.....she woke up Thursday night and we brought her into our room as usual only to have her puke about 20 minutes later. So I was up all night with her Thursday night and then Friday night she slept with me because I didn't want her to wake up alone puking. The good news is Saturday night we got right back on it (even though there were tears) and last night was once again a breeze. So we are moving in the right direction. Thanks for all the encouragement.

 

[frtchr]

Poor thing! I hope she's feeling better. Glad you were able to get back on track. Fingers crossed that things continue to go well!

 

[shinysparklybubbles]

poor thing! DS had that stomach bug, oh what a nightmare that was! Glad to hear progress is being made! Good for you!

 

[TxRabbit]

OP, I don't have any words of wisdom to impart. It sounds like you have an idea of what will work for you and I wish you well with it. I'd just like to offer a light at the end of the tunnel.

We've had sleep issues with our DS9 since the beginning. At your DD's age, we were at the point where we were staying with him until he fell asleep. He would stay in his bed all night, but he would need help at night. He used to want company when he went to the bathroom? (We have weird stairs, we think it was related to that for a while...we were just happy he was waking up to use the bathroom and out of pullups!) We worked through it. You figure it out for your family.

Today, DS will occasionally come into the bed during the early morning. More like 4 am? And rarely, he will ask to sleep with us from the beginning of the night. We let him. We have a king. It's not the best sleep...but DH and I understand that sometimes he just wants the company. We both enjoy it. He's young and sweet. We know it won't last. He won't be a teenager wanting to sleep with mom and dad.

I'd say that we have a sleep irregularity about once a month now, maybe? Some of that occurs because we travel. Some of that occurs just because something is going on. Hang in there. I know that functioning without sleep is really difficult. DH has to wake up at o'dark thirty too. I get up with him, just because. I understand. Someone somewhere said in something that gets quoted all the time, but I can't remember who, when, or where...but still, it is worth repeating...This too, shall pass.

 

[JUJU814]

There is a great book full of wonderful ideas by a wonderful child psychologist (we happen to have met with her 4 times now for ds!)

"What to do When You Dread Your Bed" Written for parent/child to read together and has some great ideas, specific strategies, and some activities for the child. I recommend it!! by Dr. Dawn Huebner