Disclaimer: As I write this my nose is running and my throat is killing me and I'm running off very few hours of sleep, so if this makes no sense blame all of the above.
A few months ago Dutch decided that naps are for suckers. The only problem is that he still needs a nap! There are some days when I can trick him into taking one, but this is every other day, if that. At night it's a constant battle to get him to bed. He'll get in just fine, but then the minute we close the door he'll scream and cry and kick the door, or keep running in and out of the room. We keep putting him back to bed and keep putting him back to bed until one of us snaps. Last night it was me.
I was exhausted and Chris had to work today, so I was in charge of the demon baby. We finally just pulled out the futon and Dutch and I slept on that. Only Dutch didn't go to sleep right away, he just wiggled around, or grabbed my hair or tried to tickle me. FINALLY, somewhere in the haze of my memory, he fell asleep.
But then I woke up at 5am and couldn't get back to sleep because Dutch decided to get off the futon and sleep on the floor and I was terrified that Bo or Chris would step on him.
Anyway, long story short, I have done everything the books say to do to get this guy to sleep and they are not working! Any help is appreciated.
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4 comments:
I am SO feeling your pain right now. Jamison is in the same phase... at least I hope it is just a phase. It has gotten so bad, our downstairs neighbor commented on Jamison's disruptive night-time behavior. What to do!?!?
Marcus was similar when he was Dutch's age. For my sanity Iput the baby gate in front of his door and let him cry it out. Basically caged him in. It worked well. Nap times I would either rock him to sleep or do the same.
We are using the gate method with Luke right now and it is working, so that is my advice.
I say go with the gate, and get some ear plugs.
As long as you know he's safe it really is going to be the best and fastest thing to do to get him trained to sleep in his bed at night. I had a friend who did the same thing at nap time, and after a while her son actually started falling asleep. Don't forget to check for all the things that I know you probably already have, but I'm anal and will mention them anyway - plug covers, corded lamps that he can pull down, or any furniture that is top heavy and not bolted to the wall. Once you know the room is 100 bazillion percent baby proof just go for it.
Oh, and if it takes him an hour to cry himself to sleep just put him to bed an hour earlier, then he'll still get all the sleep he needs. I love you!
What book are you using? I use the Healthy Sleep Habits Happy Child and it works great. At least it does for us. Crying it out sucks but I feel like it works best. And it doesn't hurt the child! They have to learn how to sleep? Ava is going thru a "no naps for me" stage as well...some days are good and some days are not. I put her down and then no matter what she is doing, she has to stay in her crib for an hour. I wouldn't recommend rocking him to sleep tho. Esp. when he's older, he will want to just play with you. ANd if you rock him, he will want that all the time. But all kids are different! But the no sleeping thing really sucks!
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