For MY CHILDREN!!!!! I'm going crazy with bedtime craziness! I love my children, but they are awful at bedtime. I have no idea what to do! I have tried everything:
*We read books
*We have tried routines that they would become familiar with
*When they don't sleep or stay in bed, we spank
*When the above happens we have tried to bribe them (yes, bribe...remember I said I'm going crazy)
*When they don't stay in bed and/or cry for an hour, we ignore until they are sleeping AN HOUR OR MORE LATER!
*We try to calmly go in their room, put them in bed and exit without talking to them (saw it on some show, Super Nanny or something)...we have done this several times in one night and then we give up and spank (remember I'm going crazy)
*We up their bedtime and then we move it back trying to find the right time (there isn't a RIGHT time, I know I'm understanding that now)
We have very little time with them during the week. We leave the house around 7:15 every morning and get home around 5:45-6. The bedtime was always 7:30 ON THE DOT, but that gave me 1.5 hrs with my kids each night and I needed more time with them. So bedtime is 8 for Shay and 8:30 for Conley. They are gated in their rooms and both in full size beds, so they can get in and out of bed at anytime, but are forced to stay in their rooms. They both fight bedtime and Conley has every excuse or request formulated and ready to go each night. I'm exhausted and dread bedtime each night.
I would love any suggestions!!! I don't care if you do not know me personally or not, I NEED HELP!!!!! I want my children well rested to start their day and I want bedtime to not be stressful. I believe my children need more sleep. I don't think they are one of those types of kids who can operate on less. Their day is packed with activities and learning at daycare and they crash for naptime and can be whiny when not enough sleep is had the night before!
2 comments:
I always turn to my trusty sleep book when we run into problems: Healthy Sleep Habits, Happy Child by Marc Weissbluth. He would suggest moving their bedtimes up, which as a working mom myself, I know is really hard to do. In terms of them getting out of bed, he suggests continually putting them back in bed until they eventually learn to stay. He has stories in his book of parents who have had to put their kids back hundreds of times, but it eventually works. He even suggested staying in their room with your back to them and gradually moving until you're sitting right outside their door.
We have battled these same issues with our kiddos as well, which makes me wonder if it's just a stage. I remember having problems with Abbie when she was about 3 1/2. Now she hardly ever gets out of bed. At one point, we were letting her stay up until 8 or so, but that seemed to backfire so now she's usually in bed by 7.
Hang in there...it will get better. It sounds like you guys are doing the right things, it just takes time.
Our kids are really close to the same ages as your kids and we let them sleep in the same room. We put them both down at 8 and they stay in bed. They each have their own rooms but LOVE the company at bedtime. They go to bed pretty easily every night. Once in a while we hear them talking to each other but usually they just follow each others example and fall asleep. I don't know if it will be a difficult transition in a couple of years when they are school age and they need to be in their own rooms but so far so good! And we really like the Heathly Sleep Habits book too!
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