I used to have the perfect bed time routine.
Scriptures, prayers, bath, books, songs then off to dreamland for the man. It all changed the night he started jumping out of the bed. We moved him to a big boy bed thinking he would go back to his regular habits of sleeping.....BOY were we wrong.
I start to dread my night the moment he gets in the bath. He is telling me no all the time. LM let me have your leg to wash it...
NO!
Let me wash your feet...
No daddy do it.
So because we thought it would be easier, daddy would come in a do it. Now my son has become the boss. Or so he thinks. He is demanding which parent do what throughout his bedtime routine and if we don't comply with his wishes he starts his tantrum. Bedtime is no longer a relaxing slowly ease into sleep time, it is a major battle and often he wins. Or maybe it just feels like it. I am not sure. With baby number two and my husband starting his Masters within the next couple of months I am realizing I cannot take an hour or longer every night to get him to sleep. Especially on the nights my husband will not be here to help me out.
Now that he is in his bed instead of his crib he expects me to lay with him until he falls asleep. Some nights this is 15 minutes others.....I don't even want to tell you. I am at my wits end. I need to know what kind of bedtime routine you have with your children and what I can do to keep him calm at night and in his bed at night. I told my husband we had to wait for baby number two until LM was sleeping through the night and so we had him perfectly trained....now with the baby coming in 3 months my world has been thrown upside down. He doesn't lay down and fall asleep on his own any more and he is waking throughout the night.
I am afraid I will be getting up with two children in the middle of the night and I know that I just cannot handle it.
Any words of encouragement would be nice.
8 comments:
Megan@Just For Me...And You said...
Well, my friend, let me tell you what we do:
Adam gives him a bath, gets a diaper and pjs on him, and then brings him to me. I snuggle with him for about a minute, we say prayer, I give him a kiss and a hug, and then I tell him goodnight.
Adam brings him to bed by himself, puts his blankets on him, says goodnight, and leaves.
It took a few weeks to get Carson to stay in his bed and not cry for one of us, but we just never went back in. Sometimes he would fall asleep at his door or play with his toys and then bring them to bed. Either way, we wouldn't go in and eventually he would be asleep.
WHY is waking up in the night?? Have you tried putting him back in the pack n' play and see if restriction still helps?
Zach 'n' Jack said...
supernanny's methods work pretty well; once you put him in bed, kiss goodnight and leave. if he comes out, don't talk to him, just take him back to bed and put him back in w/little to no eye contact and no talking. It will be incessant the first night, but he will catch on quickly when he sees he doesn't get the response he is looking for. Good luck!
Stacy Christian said...
You can do it!! Sorry, I have no advice for you, just encouragement. Show LM who's boss.
Saint Spencer said...
You need to drop the hammer. You may not like how Mom did some things, but it is time to establish the boss. Get the anger/bossy/seriously-don't-question-me tone in your voice. And if he cries, threaten that Uncle Spencer will show up. And Uncle kills people for a living.
Anonymous said...
Ha!!Ha!!Ha!!Ha!! I'm still LOL!!! My comment before I read St Spencer's was going to be....like it or not you have to stop being so sweet and be a little more like your "mean" Mom and let him know who the boss is, and it isn't a discussion, so don't discuss... because in a discussion he has an equal voice! Remember I went to "Mean School" and made all A's and you went to "My" Mean School!! LOL!! You and J need to be "more" stubborn than LM no matter which method you decide on consistency is the key. (I didn't say it would be easy and sometimes you may think there has got to be a better and easier way....they have been tried thousands of times by millions of parents...then they hear theirselves saying those words that they told theirselves so many times over the years that they would never ever say to their children "because I said so". {Or something like that!}) LOL!! Good Luck you can do it. Remember it's not up for discussion tell him, then do it. Zack'n'Jack's comment was good and I think that sounds alot like what you and J were doing before LM started bossing y'all around again!! Lots of Love Mom
Hannah said...
Yeah, its time to start ignoring him, as rough as it is! I know some parents that switch the locks on doors so they can lock it from the outside! Not sure how safe that is, but if he's escaping it might be helpful for a few nights! Good luck! You're an awesome mom.
Jennifer Eoff said...
My little guy is 19 months old so he's a little younger than LM but he wouldn't sit still for a bedtime story so I moved all his books downstairs & we read throughout the day. Mine sleeps with the door shut so when we moved him to a toddler bed we put a door knob cover on the door so he couldn't escape. He has a small box of stuffed animals in his room but other than that, all his toys are downstairs where he plays during the day. As far as his bedtime routine it's simply a bath (usually by Daddy but I do it if Daddy isn't home), PJs & into bed. Since his door is shut, it doesn't matter if he gets up & roams around the room. Hopefully things will get better. My best advice is to just keep it simple. Leave the prayers, stories & snuggles for the daytime when he's more willing.
Amy Tarleton said...
I agree with StSpence. You know, mostly because it was funny.
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