Bed time

Hi there!

I desprately need advice about my situation. It is a challenge, Every. Single. Night. To get my daughter to bed. My husband and I are exhausted with this and are out of ideas how to peacefully transition her to sleep. We have rocked her, we have read to her, we have stayed by her bed until she falls alseep, only to have her wake up and realize we aren't there anymore and the whole process starts all over again. We have sung to her, we have set a kitchen timer and lovingly told her 'When the timer goes off, I'll come back in to check on you' (that worked for a couple of nights and it's no longer working). The only way she seems to fall alseep on her own is when she falls asleep in our hallway. She used to be a great sleeper until we removed the side rail from her crib (she was crawling out so putting it back on is not an option). She will also have night terrors every so often. I have read that this can sometimes be caused by their back molars coming in but everyone seems to have a different opinion on the whole night terror thing. Any advice or thoughts would be greatly appreciated

[MegMarch]

How old is your little girl?

She turned two in March.

[Allison]

That does sound exhausting.

Are you opposed to letting her sleep in the hallway?
It sounds like she doesn't feel secure enough to sleep on her own right now.

I suppose not, just thought it might not be a great thing to do & that she might be uncomfortable. My husband does get up early for work & would walk right by her in the mornings. Those are the only two reasons. I guess it can't hurt to try it right

[mamacat]

2 is still a very young age to sleep by themselves in another room.can you set up a little bed for her in your room? My kids have always know they could come in if they need to at night at any age

[Kiara.I]

Go with the hallway!
If she's uncomfortable--she'll move.

I should point out here that my 5-year-old sleeps on the floor. He has a mattress. He has specifically asked to stop using it.

Originally Posted by mamacat

2 is still a very young age to sleep by themselves in another room.can you set up a little bed for her in your room? My kids have always know they could come in if they need to at night at any age

We have never done the co-sleeping thing or let our kids sleep in our bed (past baby/newborn stage) If they are sick we do allow them to sleep in our bed (to keep an eye on them etc.) My husband does not want it to become habitual for them, so I feel like I have to honor & respect him first, giving her her own space in our room is a little different though, maybe I can ask him about it.

---------- Post added at 04:19 PM ---------- Previous post was at 04:18 PM ----------

Originally Posted by Kiara.I

Go with the hallway!
If she's uncomfortable--she'll move.

I should point out here that my 5-year-old sleeps on the floor. He has a mattress. He has specifically asked to stop using it.

Lol! Glad I'm not the only one I will stop being so stubborn and try letting her sleep in the hallway tonight!

[Kiara.I]

Originally Posted by Sarahgoog

We have never done the co-sleeping thing or let our kids sleep in our bed (past baby/newborn stage) If they are sick we do allow them to sleep in our bed (to keep an eye on them etc.) My husband does not want it to become habitual for them, so I feel like I have to honor & respect him first, giving her her own space in our room is a little different though, maybe I can ask him about it.

If you need a talking point for your husband, you could encourage him to dig into why it's fair for HIM to get to co-sleep, but for her not to.

We found that a sound machine, in combination with a double bed that we could lie down with her in (a twin would work too), helped with bedtimes and with her staying asleep. Also the reminder that we are lying down with her to help her to sleep but will be leaving once she's down. She still wanders down to our room if/when she wakes up, but I think it helps her go back down sometimes because she's not shocked that we're not there.

We have always been pretty easy about co-sleeping. Hubby will comment sometimes when the kids are in their own beds "I just want to go and get them for cuddles!", but he's away a lot and we know our time together is precious (and one or both will end in our bed by morning anyways). But we did go through a phase where we thought that our DD was getting to an age where she needed to know how to sleep in her own bed and fall asleep on her own or she'd be 'wrecked'. So at about 18m when we transitioned her to her big girl bed we also started sleep training. We were against CIO so it was us in the room repeatedly putting her back in and slowly moving out until we could go into the hallway and she wouldn't get up out of bed after we left. Well that lasted for like 2 weeks and then she started refusing to go to bed unless we lay down with her. So we have, mostly, ever since, or we just let her co-sleep still. We basically just don't let bedtime be a battle. If she's comfortable going to sleep in hers with us there or not, we do that, but if she wants to sleep in our bed, she's welcome to.

Our DS is a totally different creature. I wanted to co-sleep with him again and he just does not love it. Will pull away from nursing and lie on his back and cry, no matter how I snuggle him or try to encourage him back to the breast. But if I scoop him up and carry him to his room he will fall right to sleep in his crib without a peep. Likes his space apparently!