I give up.
I am waving the white flag.
I am asking begging for the help of all you amazing, parents of the year out there.
My kids refuse to sleep. Between the two of them, we have been awake multiple times a night for the past 2 weeks. Not to mention, up for the day long before the sun. I seriously need help getting back into our normal routine. Wait, scratch that. I don't even care if it is our normal routine. I just want them to sleep through the night and not wake up at some ungodly hour. Is that too much to ask!? Every single night, for the past two weeks, one of these scenarios has happened....
Scenario #1. Matthew wakes up SCREAMING in the middle of the night and cries for about 20 minutes. If I make the mistake of actually going in to check on him, it can go on for as long as 2 hours. He is then exhausted from his middle of the night escapades and sleeps until 7:00. However, Jonathan decides to wake up at 5:55. And now, he can open his door.....so he comes busting into my room at 6:00 yelling "I HAVE TO POOP!" Apparently, his new "bathroom time" is at the crack of dawn. This has happened 3 days in a row.
Scenario #2. Matthew actually sleeps all night, but wakes up at 5:20 (as was the case this morning)....I let him cry for 20 minutes, trying to show him that we wake up when the sun wakes up. Unfortunately, Matthew's screaming woke up Jonathan. Now, both boys are awake at 5:55.
And so that you know what we have already tried....I took Matthew to the doctor to check all the normal culprits (ears, throat etc...) and everything checked out. We have tried Motrin before bed just in case some random pain was waking him up. We have tried going in to check on him and not going in. Changing his diaper, not changing his diaper. We altered bed time and nap time, limited nap time sleep and, another time, let him sleep as long as he wanted. Nothing matters. Nothing changes. He still wakes up.
For Jonathan....we have had LOTS of talks about not coming out of his room until the sun comes up. We have shown him to go to the bathroom and then walk back to his room, we showed him how to turn on his light so that he could play in his room until the sun woke up....Nothing helps. He is still in our room at 5:55. Especially if Matthew is already screaming.
So please....PLEASE.....help us. Share your guaranteed trick to get these kids to sleep better. Matthew is 1 1/2 and Jonathan is 3 1/2...I am willing to reward the winning idea with cookies. Or cake. Or cupcakes.....I don't really care. I just want to sleep.
Hi Katie! Not sure if you remember me from WHS, but I stumbled upon your blog and am so glad to have found it!! I have a couple of suggestions, not sure which ones you have tried or are willing to try...
ReplyDelete1) Glow clock -- it's a clock that has a moon during the night and the kid has to stay in bed until the "sun" comes up (the clock turns yellow according to a time YOU set as the parent) Maybe this could help him stay in bed with a visual??
2) Sticker chart?? Maybe some reward incentives (you're a teacher.. you get this!) for staying in bed, going to potty in the morning alone, etc and rewarding good behavior consistently!??!
3) Maybe Matthew is having night terrors? Have you talked to the ped about that? I've heard it's common, though I'm not sure about solutions.
I'm also a big fan of trying and testing out new nap times, sleep times, etc like you've mentioned. But, I've always been told to really stick to whatever I'm trying for at least three days. So, for example, if I"m going to wake him from his nap at 3:00, do that for at least three days before giving up.
I hope this is helpful. These kids are so unpredictable, and it can be so frustrating!!
PS -- I've loved reading your blog, You offer such a funny, and lighthearted perspective to parenting that sometimes is just what the doctor ordered. :)
Hahaha oops.. my comment posted under my husband's name. OOPS! sorry :(
DeleteWhen my son joined the Marines & went to boot camp, they did something I thought was pretty smart (considering it was a government idea). Those recruits were coming in from various states, so their time zones/sleep patterns were different. They kept them awake for 24 hours, doing various things you do when entering boot camp. When they finally let them sleep, none of them had any trouble acclimating to the same schedule. This might be extreme for children but I think it could be scaled down to work for you. Nancy
ReplyDeleteWe have this in Durham's room: http://www.amazon.com/Stoplight-Sleep-Enhancing-Alarm-Sports/dp/B002TKLN46/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1378135888&sr=8-1&keywords=stoplight+clock
ReplyDeleteHe is old enough to "get" it. At first I set it for a realistic goal of a little later than he was waking. Gradually over time I added more time to get it to where I wanted it. Now it's somewhere in between as he started waking earlier but I wasn't ready to drop his naps (was waking at 6:30, i set it to 6:50 then 7:00 etc etc to 7:45, now it's 7:25). I love it because it gives me a predictable start to his day, minimizes the screaming and waking up baby sister at crack of dawn, etc. There have been a few mornings where he hasn't been patient enough to wait for green, but on those mornings, I have let him look at books in his bed quietly until it turns green. He does not get out of his bed at all until it's green and he knows that.
Good luck! Parenting is hard and it's 100 times harder when Mom is TIRED. I really hope this passes for you! Love the blog - and that you confess much of what we all are doing in secret!
Are you opposed to trying Ferber or Weissbluth (CIO) for Matthew? We've used Ferber to great sleeping success for Leighton (who, excuse my French, is a naturally shittastic sleeper). I really liked Ferber's book and it had lots of case studies for older kiddos - not just 6 mo olds. It might even have some tips for Jonathan (but I do have friends that swear by those clocks others have suggested). If you think night terrors might be an issue, there's a whole chapter on those!
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