Although this blog is mostly dedicated to crafts for children I want to share once a week some parenting tips and tricks I have found helpful. This week I want to talk about Sleep or maybe lack of it!! I don’t know about you but my children did NOT sleep for the longest time!! I tried all sorts of things to get them to sleep by themselves. I tried letting them cry, laying with them until they fell asleep, giving them a lovey etc! My children just did not want to sleep with out me next to them. As much as I loved (and still do) cuddling up with them at night and knowing they were right next to me I got to a point that I really wanted it to be just my husband and I in our bed!!
It took some work, but eventually after trying many ways and reading many books I came upon a book that really helped me. It was called The No Cry Sleep Solution by Elizabeth Pantley & William Sears. It really helped me realize what I was doing wrong and what I could try to help them sleep happily on their own. This is not to say that they still don’t prefer me there, but they are ok with it now. The book didn’t give a one size fits all answer, but gave many different ideas. I compiled a few of them and came up with the solution that finally worked for me.
I explained to my kids that it was time for them to go to sleep on their own. They were big enough. With each of them, I waited until they really wanted something (I know bribery! but sometimes it helps them get motivated to start!). I told them they were big enough to sleep on their own and what they wanted was for a big kid. If they wanted that then they would need to learn to go to sleep on their own and if they did it for a week or two, they could get their toy they wanted (actually my daugher wanted a special Booster seat! ).
I told them that I would sit in a chair by their bed, but that they needed to shut their eyes and go to sleep. Everynight I moved the chair a little farther from their bed until eventually I was in the hall. Admitably-I am STILL in the hall (daughter is not there yet), but they lay down and go to sleep on their own, so I am happy with that!!
Let me know how you solved your sleep problems with your kids, or what you did to prevent those problems. If you are having difficulty still let me know maybe we can brainstorm ideas!!
Here’s to 8 hours sleep one day!!
8 Comments
Hi there, Just visited your blog and I enjoyed your posts. I wonder if you’d be interested to exchange links with me? I’m mom to a 14-month-old boy and I love blogging about my experiences as a mom. My blog is at http://www.raisingdaniel.com . You can visit it and then let me know what you think.
Althea
Hi, I emailed you via your blog. Thanks for visiting. I am glad you liked it.
I like this method. We are building a new house and when we get moved, I would love my daughter to begin sleeping in the room with her sisters, but I wasn’t really sure how I would be able to pull it off. She will be a little over two by then, so I think your method might work.
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I bought that book but have yet to really sit down and read through it. It seems that I must revisit it this time..since #2 is already 2yrs old and not sleeping through the night at all
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No trouble getting son aged 3.5 to go to bed but getting him to stay there all night is the problem!! He can climb over baby gate and I do not want to lock him in his room as that feels too much like making him a prisoner!! He just climbs in with us usually around 3 – 4 in the morning but fidgets around keeping us awake. Taking him back to his room just becomes repetitive. Any ideas ?? bribery does’nt work with him
Yvonne-I know how difficult that is-our 6 year old used to do that for a while!! I would get to tired to bring him back too. I had him come up with something HE really wanted and then used that as incentive, letting him know he needed to stay in his bed all night. Another thing I have done, which is a bit of a pain, but got my kids in a better sleep pattern, was I would go to their room when they woke, I wouldn’t allow them to come to my bed and I would go to their room when they woke up. If your son is in a toddler bed then lay down next to him on the floor when he wakes up. If he is in a twin bed it’s a little easier to just lay next to them when they wake up. I do that with my daughter who is 4 now. She mostly will sleep through the night now.
Hi,
I have been lucky with my childrens beds time routine. My eldest child used to have terrible night mares when he was about 4, but they went away as soon as they came.
Sleep bed time routine is so important i think. I have always stuck to them and have been lucky enough to have no problems.
My toddler get sleep late night, is it a kinda habit or something else, i don’t know but i m not worried.
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