My son has never been a self soother. We tried so hard to just put him down as an infant, but he would just wake up immediately...like he wasn't just sound asleep. Now, he is almost 2, and we still rock him to sleep. Don't get me wrong, some nights this is the best part of my day. Other nights I am just so tired that I end up falling asleep with him. We have tried to just have him lay down in his bed, and rub his back. This works for everyone but us (babysitter, daycare, in-laws). I know, we are just big pushovers and he knows what he can get away with when it is mom and dad.

So, please tell me what night time routine has worked for all of you moms out there?

Thank you!

That's a tough one, Rebecca. My daughter was the same way when she was an infant. From about 1 week old, she would not nap unless I held her. As soon as I would try to put her in her crib, she would wake right up. I pretty much sat in a chair holding my sleeping daughter for hours a day! Luckily she would sleep in her crib at night at least. But at about 4 months, when she was getting ready to go to preschool, we had to break her of the habit because the teachers weren't going to hold her for every nap. She cried a bit for the first few night, but we made sure to go in and check on her every couple minutes. But honestly, it was the best thing we ever did. My daughter has been GREAT about going to bed ever since. We read one book, say our prayers, sing a few songs, and I am out of there.

Is Aidan in a crib or toddler bed?

He is already in a toddler bed...he started scaling his crib at 20 months so we had no choice. He will stay in bed once we have him good and asleep, but not before hand.

When we moved our daughter to a toddler bed, we actually put a gate up so she couldn't leave her room. Our home is pretty kid-proof, but I still didn't want her getting out at night and getting into anything. But the gate actually also ended up having a bonus effect. It kept her in bed as well. When she first starting sleeping in her bed, she would get out of it as soon as we left the room. Then she would go to the gate, see that she couldn't go anywhere, and then just go back to her bed.

That sounds like a good idea. I will have to find a gate that Aidan can't climb over.

...it is just going to take continually placing him back in bed..over and over. Try tucking him in once...do the story thing and say prayers...whichever your routine is. Then tell him night night and go out...if he comes out put him back, if he gets out again ...put him back again...and so on. After the initial tuck in don't talk too much to him, other than ,"it is night night time and you need to stay in bed..I love you"...and after the third or 4th time do not speak at all...just lie him back down and go out.

It may take a week of exhausting repitition but it will work...

Good luck

quote:

Originally posted by klmorg:
...it is just going to take continually placing him back in bed..over and over. Try tucking him in once...do the story thing and say prayers...whichever your routine is. Then tell him night night and go out...if he comes out put him back, if he gets out again ...put him back again...and so on. After the initial tuck in don't talk too much to him, other than ,"it is night night time and you need to stay in bed..I love you"...and after the third or 4th time do not speak at all...just lie him back down and go out.

It may take a week of exhausting repitition but it will work...

Good luck

This is the tried and true Supernanny method

I would love to try this method. I think when I am off for two weeks during Christmas I will make it priority #1.

The hardest part is just sticking to your guns I guess! LOL

Good luck!

My daughter was like some of the others mentioned in that she would never go to sleep by herself. I too sat for hours at a time holding her so that she would nap. Even now, at age 4, if I want her to take a nap, I have to rock her to sleep and then lay her down.

As far as the Supernanny trick -- it never worked for us and we tried it religiously every night for over two months and finally gave up in frustration. She falls asleep in my bed and then I move her to hers once she is good and asleep.

-- Jennifer

Although my two children are teenagers now, I, too suffered from this problem when they were toddlers. I was very successful using "bribery" with both of them. We posted a calendar on the fridge. With each night that they stayed in their bed, they received a star. For the first week, after 2 stars, they got a "prize." Second week, 2 stars, third week, 3 stars, etc. The prizes were small to start but always tangible. By the time we reached three stars, the prizes were more significant. It took less than a month to break their tiring habits.

Music worked for us on all of our three boys. My youngest is 28 months and when he got his big boy bed, we would lay down with him until he was asleep. The one problem with that, is my husband would always fall asleep too and then would wake me up in the middle of the night when he finally decided to come to bed. So I put an alarm clock with a CD player in his room. I can now turn that on at night, let the CD play once and by that time he is asleep. We had to gradually move out of his room, to the chair so he could still see us. But now, he runs and jumps in his bed. If he whines or cries, I turn off the music until he stops.

I wholeheartedly agree with Klmorg. This is what I did with my daughter at 10 months old. She HAD to be rocked to sleep every night. It was ok most of the time, but some nights just drug out...especially when I got a cold and kept sneezing and coughing her awake. That was the last straw for me, it was time for her to put herself to sleep. I did exactly what Klmorg outlined, and in 3 days there was no more crying. She simply went to sleep.

Until my son had gone to live with his dad last year, he never had a problem sleeping on his own. When he moved back in with me he got so used to sleeping with his father (cause he didn't have an extra room for him), that now he wants me to go to bed and sleep with him. I try to explain to him that he is a big boy, and that the only reason he sleeps with his dad is because he has no room. He has finally gotten to the point that he will go to sleep on his own, but about 4 or 5 every morning he will come crawling into my bed. Not that I have too much of a problem with it, but how do I get him to stay in his bed? I love the time we have in the morning to cuddle, however I don't want it to be an every day thing. Any suggestions?

A few months ago, my daughter started coming into our room every once in a while at about 3 a.m. We let her stay with us the first few times, but we realized her visits were becoming habit. We explained to her that we can't get out of bed until the sun comes out. Now, almost every night as I'm leaving my daughter's room, she says, "Mommy, I'll wake you up when the sun comes out!" It's so cute! But the truth is, we actually have to wake her up almost every morning now.

I have the same problem...my daughter comes in our room every single night around 3:00am, and, since she's a restless sleeper, and we have a queen bed, it's gotten to the point where I layed down a blanket and pillow on our bedroom floor (originally hoping the uncomfortableness of it would make her not come in all the time), and she knows to go straight to that now when she comes in, so she rarely wakes us up anymore. This way, it doesn't bother my husband or I, and she feels better. Obviously, I can't help much on the topic of getting your toddler to stay in bed....we've just dealt with it, and I'm offering a suggestion about what can be done if you are OK with that.