Wednesday, September 24, 2008
HELP...
Bedtime has become an absolute nightmare. We somehow along the way got stuck into a bad habit. We would stay in his room until he went to sleep. So a couple of weeks ago we decided that enough was enough. He was going to learn to go to sleep without us in the room. The first couple of days weren't bad. He hardly cried at all. Maybe for a total of five minutes. I remember thinking to myself, boy this was a lot easier than I thought it would have been. Well things have gotton worse and worse. He now cries and screams---it sounds like someone is trying to kill him (it's horrible)--- every night and tonight was the worst. It lasted an hour and he kept climbing out of his crib... AHHHH....what do i do... I've tried to make his bedtime routine as soothing as possible, but it doesn't help.. As soon as he sees that crib coming closer he starts crying and screaming. So any suggestions of any kind would be greatly appreciated. thanks muchly.
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2 comments:
Sounds like you have a creature of habit on your hands - we have one too!
The only thing I can suggest is to stay consistent... if you decide to leave him "cry it out" then stick to it. If you decide to go in every 10 mins to comfort him, then stick with it. The more they can break you, they will!!! LOL!
There are lots of books out there that I've heard great things about, but I haven't tried them... like No Cry Sleep Solution (?).
I feel your pain... Matthew needs everything "just so" in his room, blankets, stuffed toys, night light, books,etc... all have to be in place and any change causes him stress.... we gave into it a while back and it's soooooo hard to break!
With Jack we learned, he goes to bed and stayes there! LOL! (for mow anyway.....) He's a different kid though.
Maybe it will just your little one more time to get the new routine down!
oh, charlene, that could have been me writing this post a few weeks ago! i got into the habit of keeping my hand on tristan's back until he fell asleep while we were in canada. i did it for a week at home and then got tired of sitting there (sometimes for an hour) until he fell asleep, so i went online to www.babywhisperer.com and they really have some great ideas.
i started with "Gradual Withdrawal" where every day i'd move further and further away from his crib. but when he cried, i'd comfort him for a second, then again move away. after a week of that, when i had moved to the door of his room and was sitting on the floor so he couldn't see me unless he stood up, i started the "walk in Walk out" method, where i'd leave the room, count to 15 while he cried, go in and lay my hand on his back saying "its okay, its time for night night" and then leave the room again. i'd do that over and over and over again. of course, if i left the room and he didn't cry, i wouldn't go back in, but the idea is showing him that you're not abandoning him, you're right outside the door, but he has to go to sleep without you right there.
tristan did surprisingly well with this method and i can breathe a sigh of relief and say that today he goes right to sleep without me having to go back in the room at all. i personally am not strong enough emotionally to handle letting him cry it out, so i knew i wouldn't stick with it if i started. this method may have taken longer, but it was much easier on my nerves.
email me if you want to know more
heidiruthie(at)hotmail(dot)com
i really feel for you...hugs!
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