I need your help and I need it right now. We are in fact in a state of emergency around here. HANNAH WILL NOT SLEEP. It has been a good 3 months since anybody around here has gotten a full nights sleep....not becaue of my baby or 2 year old but because of my 3 year old who has slept through the night since age 7 weeks. It is WAY worse than any newborn situation we've expereienced (which has never been that bad). I feel like I've exhausted all efforts and I've essentially given up. Shortly after we moved Hannah into her toddler bed, we found her sleep walking alot so we switched the lock to the outside of her bedroom door and locked it. (Don't worry, we had a monitor on). And it worked! But a few months ago she started waking up at night and knocking (very loudly and very excessively), waking her roomate and her parents. She worked her way up to doing this for hours despite our going in there and putting her back to bed. I wondered if she had gotten a little freaked out about being locked in so, we left the door unlocked and the girl is fully awake, coming in our bedroom ALL HOURS OF THE NIGHT. I've tried taking away her nap, no fluids after 4 p.m., later bedtime, ignoring it, princess night light, NO SUGAR, taking away priveleges, rearranging the sleeping situation (moving Ellie, who still needs her crib, in with us,etc)......aaaannnnddd NOPE. NOTHING. She starts this controlling, demanding behavior (with stories, brushing teeth, blankets, songs etc)as soon as bed time approaches. So I'm convinced it's a behavior thing and I am about to lose my mind with her. HELP! Mayday, Mayday, Mayday!
Hey Smash! I went through a similar thing with Rylee, although not nearly as bad. Mostly it was a drama queen thing where she was seeing just what she could get away with. I just kept up with the bedtime routine(story, brush teeth, potty, scriptures, prayer, song) and firmly let her know that it was bedtime. BUT I kind of just had to let her get through the stage on her own. She didn't wake up at night though. Ian still does, so I feel your pain. Love ya!
ReplyDeleteEllie
Ok...so Addie did the SAME thing when the baby was born. She would get up 4 or 5 times a night, come in our room, and we would go tuck her back in. She would go back to sleep and then be up a while later. Tired mom and dad. Especially since I do NOT go back to sleep quickly. You would expect that from a baby...not a 4 year old.
ReplyDeleteAddie is also VERY STRONG WILLED. Spanking, bribing, breaking her arm...does not work with her. So, this might seem a little harsh...don't call the authorities on me... but we put her outside on the back porch when she does it. Often when we put her to bed she gets up and plays and messes around...which in turn wakes Kendal up. So we started putting her outside,in the cold, with no coat on. Mean...I know. But it's the only thing that works. She will stay in bed after a time or 2 of that.
So...at night time when she got up, we would threaten her that if she got up again, we would put her outside by herself in the dark and cold. We tried to help her realize that it is a much safer, warmer, cozier place in her bed than it is outside. If you try it...be prepared to follow through a time or two.
Every so often she will still come it and we put her back to bed....but NOTHING like it used to be. Just a threat that we would put her out back on the porch in the middle of the night is enough to keep her in bed.
It's so hard finding what works. And each kid needs something different...that's the challenge. Good luck! Let me know how it goes.
Bless you! I thought a baby would be as hard as it got. I sent your post to Taryn... her 3 yr old Reese wakes up at night sometimes and when Michael goes in instead of taryn, Reese will say, "no! not you!" haha.
ReplyDeleteWe'll see what taryn has to say. :)