Here is my little sweetheart. This is his cute baby face, but lately that face has changed dramatically at bed time.
I need your help. Surely out of all you who have kids someone has dealt with this and overcame it and I need to know how.
It all started last Friday when we were visiting Daniel's parents. Chase started refusing to go to bed. We played it off since we were not at home and he was sleeping in an unfamiliar crib, but it has continued since we got home. We lay Chase down to bed with his bottle like we have done for the past 3-4 months and let him hold it himself as he drifts off the sleep. This still works in the day time for naps, but when bed time comes he refuses the bottle no matter how long his last feeding was and cries (read: SCREAMS) until he finally falls asleep.
We usually do a bath before bed, we tried getting him back up and letting him play for a while (thinking maybe he wasn't tired yet). We tried a nightlight thinking that maybe he is afraid of the dark- none of that has worked.
Any suggestions? Any at all? I can't stand letting him scream himself to sleep everynight.
Didn't know eating ice cream can be so dramatic did you? That's what happens when you are trying not to think about the screaming baby in the other room racking your brain for what you could do for him. All I can say is you should have seen Daniel :)
6 comments:
Oh how fun. The thing that worked best with Aiden is having a routine that we do every night. We give him his bath (not every night, but that usually comes first.) then put him in his jammies and read him a story or six, then we say prayers and tuck him in. He likes to sleep with a rag (of course) and a stuffed animal every night, and then he listens to a CD of Primary songs-lullabyes. He likes a certain song, so we put it on that song and leave the room. I think if he uses the bottle to put himself to sleep, it's going to end up being a problem when you're trying to get rid of it when he's a year old. I think you're going to have to let him cry (scream) for a little while until he figures out it's not going to get him what he wants (your attention). Good luck!
I would rock him. I could never feel good about myself if any of my kids fell asleep without me rocking them to sleep. I also could never let a child cry himself to sleep, but all the baby experts say to do it, so if you can stand to . . .
The whole scream-it-out thing works pretty well, and we only had to do it for 2 nights. We would go in and check on him every 20 minutes, sing him a song and let him know we were there (we wouldn't pick him up). The first night took maybe an hour and a half, the second night took maybe 30 minutes and by the third night we wouldn't even make it back in. Now he goes to bed wide awake and he doesn't cry. He needs a stuffed animal, a few songs and a few stories and he's good.
I agree with Jill about the bottle thing too... it can also damage their teeth to go to sleep with a bottle still in their mouth (the formula/milk/juice can decay their teeth).
Good Luck!
Oh I've been there with two kids. Its so hard and it breaks your heart. I tried the rocking to sleep and the minute they were laid in the bed they woke up. I have two really good books I read that helped tons. The solution is put them to bed and let them cry it out. It only takes a few times and then they know thats what happens. Do it before they learn to climb out of bed. Good Luck!
I'm also a cry it out believer--though I cry every second of it. What I do is STRICTLY follow a routine for a while....we do bath,5books, prayer, tucking in, 3-5 songs (I sing with the lights off, I think it's more soothing). Then I say goodnight and leave the room. At first Brennan would cry FOREVER and I would go in every 5-10 minutes and not say a word, but lay him back down and put the blanket back on and walk out. I don't talk to him or pick him up. Just make it quick so they know you are still there--but that you aren't going to give in. And that's what worked for us! Good luck!
ok, so when you figure it out let me know. I am the type who rocks my kids to sleep. I love rocking them. It is kind of time consuming, but I love it. I don't like to just let them cry because they NEVER give up. Just enjoy them while they are young because they grow up and don't want to be rocked.
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