Sleep: Who needs it?
Betsy of Fluffy Windover's Diary talks about trying to get Edwin to sleep on his own again in this week's Toddler Thursday:
We co-slept with Edwin until he was nearly a year old. This is a somewhat controversial arrangement that is not for everyone (Trust me, I know. I don’t even think it was for us. But I am one of those softie parents and I can’t bear to hear Edwin cry.) And while I don’t exactly regret doing it, I was VERY happy when he finally took to sleeping in his crib without complaint. He became a champion sleeper: we’d put him in there around 7:30 and not hear a peep until 7:00 the next morning. This went on for over a year! I became one of those annoying moms who bragged about how her perfect kid went right to bed and stayed asleep all night. Every night! Until last week.
Edwin has started requesting to come into our room before bedtime. And since we are total suckers, we let him. He comes in to snuggle and read a book for a little while before we put him in his crib. Now it’s becoming a struggle to get him to go to bed in his room. He started pulling out the big guns, saying that there are “scary witches” in his room (Thanks, Halloween!) And once he’s in there, he wakes up a few hours after, crying inconsolably for Mommy and Daddy. Being the softies that we are, we bring him into our room. Which, as any parent knows, is a terrible idea. Super Nanny advice aside, it’s like having a wild boar in your bed, one that talks in his sleep.
Needless to say, nobody is getting any sleep. So, tonight it’s back to independent sleep boot-camp. I told him he could pick out a new blanket and bedtime toy for his bed. I think he may genuinely be a bit scared in his room since Halloween, so I may get him a night light. We were about to transition his crib to a toddler bed, but I’m on the fence about this. It may get him more interested in going to bed, but it would also allow him to get out of bed constantly. (Obviously, we’ll have to transition him sooner or later, but he hasn’t yet climbed out of his crib so I’m really in no rush.)
Any ideas on how to get him more comfortable staying in his own room?
Comments
Our room is located close to our son's room. When he was at this age, and started crying out for us at night (after a long period of "champion style" sleeping!), we would talk to him calmly and reassuringly from our room and tell him that we loved him but we were all going to try to sleep- didn't go into his room or give him any reason to think he was going to get to come in to our bed. It took a couple of weeks, but eventually he realized that he might as well just sleep if we were going to be so boring.
Posted by: The Original City Resident | November 11, 2010 10:50 AM
I'm not sure you can do anyone thing to make him more comfortable in his room per se. Nothing in there is gonna top snuggling with you, at least for now. It's gonna suck but consistency is your only way out of this. Original City Resident has it right. If you fold or give in it will just prolong the agony for everyone. It doesn't mean you have to be cold hearted but set some boundaries and mean it. It'll take a week or so but he'll be fine. Just keep telling yourself that his need for good sleep is very important and you have to give that to him despite what he thinks.
Good Luck!
Posted by: lesley | November 15, 2010 3:22 PM