What do you do when your children refuse to go to sleep? For the past several weeks, after we put the kids to bed, Daniel decides he doesn't want to be in his room alone so he comes downstairs and lays down in the doorway between the front room of the house and the kitchen. Sometimes he falls asleep there, sometimes not. When we go up to bed, we take him back upstairs, put him in his bed and he goes to sleep. Then sometime between 5:30am and 7am he finds his way into our room - and into our bed.
Well, last night my wonderful husband took the children upstairs and put them to bed (they usually do better about going to bed when he takes them). Before he ws even back downstairs, Emma was screaming and crying because she "didn't want go night night either." Daniel got up from his bed and went into her room and they played for awhile. Darrell finally went upstairs and put them in their respective beds. They would not go to sleep! Finally, at 11:00, I went upstairs and told them they needed to get some rest and go to sleep. Emma stayed in her bed but still took awhile to go to sleep. I went into our bedroom to put away the clean clothes, hoping that having a parent upstairs would be enough to keep Daniel in his bed; and therefore in his room. Not so! He got out of the bed, went into Emma's room and tried to get her to play with him. She would tell him, "No, Dan-l, you need to go to bed." I went in and gently helped him back to bed. By the time I got back into our room, he was out of the bed and either heading downstairs, or just standing in his doorway. I popped him on the bottom and put him back in the bed, crying for his daddy. This continued constantly for well over half an hour! It didn't matter if I left the hall light on or off, or if I left his door open or closed. You could tell by looking at him that he was exhausted, he just would not go to bed! I'm not sure if he finally wore himself out, or if he decided I was more stubborn; all I know is that he finally stayed in the bed and fell asleep. I hoped that since he didn't fall asleep until after 11:30, he would stay in his bed all night until time to get up for school. But to no avail, he was in our room about 6:15am again this morning.
If anyone has any suggestions on how to get kids to go to bed, go to sleep, or stay in their bed until mommy or daddy comes to get them up, we'd be glad to hear them!! Hope everyone has a great weekend!
7 comments:
Peyton joins us every single night of the world. It's typically between 4 - 6 am. He says he wakes up and doesn't like to be alone. I am such a sucker for that, because I don't like to be alone in the night either. When I was little, I always crawled into bed with my brother. A lot of times Peyton falls asleep in the den and we carry him to bed. It's easier on all of us. I obviously have no advice for you!!!! It's a struggle here as well.
yowsers! we have had nights like that at our house, too. this doesn't always work, but... when i put trip to bed, (after he is already laying down & tucked in & i am sitting by his bed) we usually talk about all of the fun things he did that day & the things he'll get to do the next day. but i always tell him that he can't do any of those things until the morning, so he has to stay in his bed & rest until it is light outside again. i also tell him that if he doesn't sleep he won't have any energy to do anything the next day. i don't think he knows what "energy" is, but he always agrees with me. sometimes i tell him that he doesn't have to go to sleep, but he has to stay in his bed & rest. it never fails, he always falls asleep even if he says he doesn't want to.
i hear duck tape works
Would he freak out if you locked him in? I have heard of people turning the doorknobs backwards to keep kids from roaming at night and getting hurt. Maybe if he couldn't get out of his room he would just give up???
In fact, wasn't it Sally Brass who said she did that? Or she knew somebody who did?? It was somebody from the "old SS crew".
Sorry, I don't have any suggestions, but I love to hear all the Mommy advice:)
It's proving to be very helpful.
Good Luck!
Nikki
i don't think that Jonathan will get a "big boy bed" until he is 20! I love the crib!
Post a Comment