My husband, son and myself went on a vacation a few weeks ago and while we were there my son slept in the bed with us. Now he thinks he needs to sleep with us every night. When he does sleep in his own bed he wakes up in the middle of the night realizing he is not in the bed with us and screams until he wakes both of us up. I have tried letting him cry but he screams when he cries and does it until someone picks him up. I am loosing my mind because I am not getting enough sleep. Please help!
Read E. Pantley's book - The No-Cry Sleep Solution - worked for us, but it will take a couple weeks if you do it right! Just remember, it takes about 6 weeks to break a habit! Good luck!
Hey J.
My daughter did the same thing and I tried everything. Finally I decided to sleep on her floor next to her one night and then the next night I slept on her floor while she was in the crib and I think I slept on her floor a total of 4 nights but it worked the first couple times she woke up and realized I was there she was fine and went right back to sleep. Then after a few days she was fine by herself. I know it sounds a little ridiculous but it worked!! Good luck
J.
Does he have a night light?? I know it sound weird, but I always have had this fear of my daughter being affraid of the dark- so she has a really bright night light. When he cries- get him up, hold him, and tell him he has to sleep in his own bed. Put in there- let him cry for a few minutes. he should fall back alseep. This has been my solution in the past- Good luck
if you are set on having him sleep in his own bed, maybe one of you could go lay with him until he goes back to sleep? or move his bed right up next to yours. then slowly, maybe after a couple of weeks, move his bed to the other side of your room, and then back to wherever you have it. or if he is in a seperate room maybe move his bed into your room and slowly transition him back into his own room?
or . . . altho it sounds like you don't want to . . . you could just bring him into your bed when he wakes up.
mom n dads bed is such a nice cuddly place to sleep. in my opinion a gentle transition would be better than just leaving him to cry . . .
Sleep is such a pivitol issue when you have a young child.
I have 4 children. My youngest is now 2 yrs (oldest is now 9).
What was your child's sleep routine before the trip? Were you consistant with the routine? Are you still nursing? Is you child teething?
The bottom line is that most parents will tell you to do "what ever gets you throug the night"
However, we have found that consistant bedtime routines at a specific time works best.
Try to gradually work the infant back to their bed by do the following routine
1. Bath time
2. 2-3 books by their bedside
3. sing a good night song by their bedside
4. kiss good night in their bed
Try this for at least 4-6 nights.
My oldest was my hardest and it took 2 weeks, but he finally got the message. My youngest lives to pick out the books and then falls asleep without a cry.
It may seem like forever, but learning to get a child to sleep in their bed means that you will start to get better sleep as well.
Good luck!
By the way, are there any Lima Parent Groups? We are relatively new to Lima (from Chicago).
C. Geiger
