Need Sleep Help Please - 2 1/2 Yr. Old and 4 1/2 Yr Old (Or Input on Either One

Crazy as this sounds, what if they slept together. If they both have separation anxiety and they both need someone with them to fall asleep then maybe they could rely on each other. My older boys were both the same age difference as yours and they both seemed to sleep more peacefully when they were together. Not only did they go down easier because they weren't alone, but they would sleep better at night because they would wake up and weren't alone.

Another thing you might consider is switching up locations where they sleep. We would start our kids out in the living room on the sofa, one at one end and one at the other. Or we would let them have a pallet on the floor. They seemed to fight it less when there was less of a production. Whatever got them to lay down peacefully. We put them in their jammies and just laid them down. Baths waited until morning or early afternoon. We had to eventually pick our battles and where they slept became significantly less important than how well they sleep.

Hope this helps,

L.

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I was going to suggest having them try to sleep together (which other people have suggested). If you aren't willing (or have the space) to let them sleep with you, that is what I would do! As far as your 2.5 year old, it sounds like 'getting' him to sleep is the problem. I would lay with him, rock him, let him lay in your bed, etc whatever it takes to GET him to sleep but let them both know that they can only sleep in each other's rooms so if/when they wake up, you will let them cuddle with the other brother (this may also wake up the other brother) so maybe letting them choose one room to sleep in and one room to play in for awhile may work better.

Good luck!

My 4 1/2 and 2 1/2 year old sleep together. They both need lots of cuddles and we are happy to oblige. They go to sleep with either my husband and I and my 2 yr old nurses to sleep (so no advice on the bottles) and then most nights stay asleep in their bed but some nights end up in ours or one of us goes in their room. I suppose it would be a struggle and a fight if we refused to do all these comforting things that they love and are used to but why fight it? I've never heard of a teenager that likes to cuddle with their mommy or daddy at night :) Don't make your lives harder than they need to be and just give them what they need so you can get some sleep.

Did you let him throw his bottle away because it was "broke"? All three of my children had a pacifier until the day they turned 2. I began telling them 3 months in advance that their pacifier was going to brake when they had their birthday. The night before their birthday, I cut all the pacifiers except the one they were sleeping with from tip to the shield down the nipple so that when they sucked it, it would pinch their tongue. In the morning as soon as they woke I sneakally swapped pacifiers and cut that one too. I offered them a pacifier. Something I did not normally do, but I wanted the discovery to happen in morning rather than at nap or bedtime to give plenty of time to think about it. They would put it in their mouth and try to suck and pull it out and look at it and then put it back in and pull it back out and say "Passy bok". I would respond with "Oh no, well lets throw it away" and let them actually throw it away themselves. We went through it all over again with every pacifier we had. They never asked for it again. My boys did fuss through the first nap without and through the first night without. My daughter fussed through the first week.

This may be hard to do with another baby in the house on a bottle unless the baby is using a different style bottle. You may damage an old bottle of his and let him throw it away if you have not already done so yourself.