I don’t know what to do with Sam. It’s 10:01 p.m. and he is not asleep. In fact, he’s making some sort of ruckus in his room, one I’m sure does not in any way involve his bed, but that he is even in his room at all is an improvement over where we’ve been for the last hour.
Scratch that, he’s right here in front of me.
I’m losing patience, Andy’s losing patience, this is a recipe for disaster.
He used to be such a good sleeper! I’d read him a book, sing him a song, lay him in his bed and he’d be out. Now? Not so much.
I suppose the trouble started when he moved into a real bed instead of his crib. I hated to move him, but for the love he was three and a half and way too big – he couldn’t turn over! Now it’s like someone slipped him an espresso 15 minutes before bedtime. He instantly has all the energy in the world and bounces off the walls. It’s so hard to settle him down.
This evening, at about 7:30 when we were finally sitting down to supper, he said he was tired and looked like he could hardly keep his eyes open. I knew I should just put him to bed, but I wanted him to eat something. Of course, he found his second wind and now it’s off to the races.
I honestly think the solution is to get him to bed earlier, but when we don’t darken the door until 6:00, it’s really hard to have any kind of semblance of family or relaxation time (or even dinner and a bath) and have him in bed by 7:30.
Now he’s in bed, but repeating “I can’t go to sleep in my bed” over and over.
I am about to shoot myself.
HELP. How can I get my good sleeper back?
Well, if he’d lay off the booze and coffee, the problem just might stop!!
UP
Oh, I’m so sorry! I was just talking to my friend about this yesterday, and we were noticing that between our 4 collective kids that have transitioned from crib to big bed, that there is always a brief honeymoon period when they do fine…. and then after a few weeks or months, the light goes on and they realize that they can party into the wee hours. Then comes the period of complete and total exhaustion for the whole family as they fight the exhausted 3 year old to please go to bed for the LOVE OF GOD. I would get him to bed as early as you can (without guilt that it isn’t earlier) and then I resorted to this if they keep coming out: each night start out telling them that if they come out of the room, you’ll have to put the “door knob thing” on. (you know that baby-proof door knob cover that keeps them from opening the door? on the inside so they can’t come out…I know it sounds cruel but it’s only temporary). So then if they come out, I walk them back up and put the thing on (sometimes they throw a fit, sometimes not). Once they fall asleep, I go in and take it off so they can get up if they need to in the night. Eventually they just gave up on coming out and settled in and went to sleep. (I liked this better than just defaulting to locking the door, because it gave them the option every night to stay in their room on their own choice and not have it locked.)
I have a son the same age as Sam – he went through this when we transitioned him to a bed, but now he’s finally at the point where he goes right to sleep at 8 when we put him in. *shew*
Note to self: never taking Molly out of her crib
Since my son crawled into my bed in the middle of the night every night between the ages of 3 and 5, I think I better just keep my mouth shut on this one! Sorry, cuz! (Benadryl!? Ha. Ha.)
Please, if you figure it out, share it with me. Brady will be three in March. He’s always been a good sleeper. Even when moving him to his toddler bed he continued to sleep like a champ. THEN one fateful Saturday morning we decided it was time to lose the binky. Continually having it in his mouth was causing speech issues. He tried to talk with the binky stuck in his mouth and would get frustrated when we couldn’t understand him. So the binky disappeared, we got excellent speech, and a little boy who refuses to sleep. I’ve considered giving the binky back but that would only be a step backward. I’m looking for an answer … if you find one please do share it with me.
Try the tot clock- I got mine from amazon. It is working great for my two year old!
All my kids went through this. But one thing I found was it always got worse when winter’s bad weather arrived. I finally wised up and realized (especially with Alan) that they needed more exercise during the day in order to be ready for bed at night. I don’t if whoever keeps Sam during the day has somewhere she can take him to run and get worn out, but it might help some.
I’m no pro, but what I’ve learned from having a 7 month old baby is sleep begets sleep. So as much as it will suck to do it, an earlier bed time sounds like the answer. Maybe try it on the weekend and see what happens or over Christmas break. Let me know because I will be having these issues soon!
I know what you mean my the challenges with getting in so late from work and activities it is nearly impossible to get the kids in bed any earlier than we already do. I think the routine really helps but what really helped out my daughter was the music we would play in her room. We used to play one of the Praise Baby CDs only when it was time to nap or go to bed and I really think that association with the calming music helped lull her to sleep fast. As hse got older she liked to listen to stories like Adventures in Odyssey – she would stay in bed just to hear the stories! Now that she is almost 7 she likes us to turn on Delilah on the radio – she falls asleep fast!
Oh girl! I am having the SAME problem! I have to sepatate my 2 boys now and then sneak the little one in when the bigger one is asleep! it is HORRIBLE! i cannot stand him messing with the curtains, opeing up all the drawers, removiing all the wipes, crumbling them back up, replacing them crumbled in the container, taking off the sheets, etc. OMG! I wish I knew the answer for us… Let me know when you find help.. UGH!
well…..as the mother of an 8 yr old that stopped sleeping at the exact moment we took him out of his crib and STILL doesn’t sleep….. (and same thing, before that he took 2 naps a day and STILL went right to bed and slept thru the night!!) Unfortunately the 2nd wind is your worst enemy!! The only thing we found that seemed to help some, is putting him in there with a small nightlight (just barely enough to read by) and letting him read/look at books quietly by himself. Most nights he’d drift off quicker that way and with less fight.
One of the best tips I ever got was from an old school pediatrician who himself had a non-sleeper child. This was his second round as a parent, so he felt older, wiser, and threw some of the previous thinking out the window. Bedtime was set. The rule was they had to stay in their own room, and not come into mom and dad’s. And once it was bedtime, she could not keep coming out with the I can’t sleep story. It worked. She was never much of a sleeper through to adulthood, but she became self sufficient and a self soother, and the light was on. I used this system both as a nanny and a mom. Some of my kids still go to sleep with the light on, and they are way past toddlerhood. No harm, no foul. Turn the light off, when you check on them, and they are usually sound asleep with little fuss. Bedtime rituals are best kept to a minimum. Happy Parenting!
We also use the doorknobber thing. Lukas has had it on the inside of his door for as long as he can remember, so leaving the room during nap or nighttime is just not even something he considers as an option. He has a small potty in his room that he uses if he has to go. Luckily he does not mess up his room too badly, and goes right to sleep at nighttime. He has a little glowing thing (the inner workings of one of those glow seahorse toys) that lights up for 5 minutes at a go; I think he uses it to look at books or toys for a little bit right when he goes to bed, or sometimes when he wakes up at night.