Tuesday, November 13

Something's Gotta Give


Right now I have a 2 month old who sleeps through the night and a 2.5 year old who doesn't. Ironic eh?  

Something’s gotta give, and this week it’s going to be this blog.  It’s 11:15pm as I’m writing this, and it took my husband and me two hours to put my son to sleep….yes TWO hours.  He finally got to sleep after 9pm.  Then it was time for me to clean up, shower and get ready for work tomorrow. 

My toddler’s sleep schedule has been a major issue for the past 3 months (starting about 1 month before baby was born). He knows every trick in the book to delay sleep.  He either needs to: use the potty, get a drink, get a tissue, or just runs out!  We've tried this SuperNanny technique. It worked the first few nights, but we’re back to him running out again. We’re going to keep trying to use it to stay consistent.  

Here are some suggestions from others that have tried and failed so far:
  • Gate (he climbs over it)
  • Promise him a reward in the morning (he still runs out)
  • Tell him Santa won’t bring him presents if he runs out (he still runs out)
  • Lock the door (failed because I think it’s cruel – especially at night when it’s dark)
Things that have worked from time to time:
  • Supernanny technique mentioned above
  • Giving him a flashlight to play with while in bed
  •  Reasoning with him…telling him that mommy wants to have a nice bedtime and read books, sing songs and be happy.  Sometimes he agrees J

Some recently suggested that we should try Elf on the Shelf.  I may try it soon!!!

I used to write blog posts after my toddler went to sleep at night, but that hasn't been possible lately. So, hopefully his sleep schedule will change for the better soon and I’ll be able to focus a little more on the blog.

Thanks for your patience as I try to get my life together.  Send me any suggestions you might have for how to get my toddler back on a good sleep schedule!

4 comments:

Kris @ everywhereorange.com said...

Kathryn, i really feel for you!! i have a friend, D, who's son was doing this to her too. she did that same SuperNanny thing and it worked. I will say that she had a few good nights in a row and then a bad one or 2. so it takes time. My other friend, A, is fighting with her 1 year old right now about bed. Turns out just putting her to bed 30 minutes later is making a huge difference.

I am lucky so far, Alex has always told us when it is time for bed. We use the timer on our phone and it is set to the dog bark. So we will ask him, or he will ask for the doggie to bark in so many minutes. He chooses the time. Then when it barks, he runs upstairs. I can't believe it works, but it does.

The elf on the shelf seriously works in our house for everything. And we "text" our elf all year long.

Kathryn @ Mamacado said...

The dog bark is a great idea! Go Alex! And I love that you text your elf...so hilarious.

Jess said...

We have been working on the same issue at bedtime...I agree that reasoning is the most successful strategy thus far. Recently, I reminisced with our toddler at bedtime about how I used to read a story, sing a song, say goodnight, and she fell asleep all by herself! Even though her "eyes keep opening" (in her words) and she claims she can't fall asleep by herself, I told her that I know she can do it...she just needs to rest in the dark until her eyes close all by themselves. She seemed to care about the story from the past and the vote of confidence, and believe it or not, for four nights in a row, she has not come back out of her bedroom to find us!!

Kathryn @ Mamacado said...

Good advice...I'm trying to do this more now!

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