I’ve been doing even more and more research on “bedtime battles” and “bedtime tantrums”. Talking to experts, reading materials, etc. The suggestions are not brain surgeon type of materials/advice. We are following everything almost to the exact wording. There are a couple of slight tweaks I’ll be trying tonight. (I’ll discuss all of that later.)
However, I’ve yet to find ANY information that includes the apparently mind-boggling concept that you might have OTHER sleeping children in the house during this time period.
So that’s my biggest issue…while I let Charlotte cry it out, get angry, yell and scream; while I ignore her so that there aren’t any “giving in” situations; while I tune her out when she throws things into the hall and slams her bedroom door repeatedly…what the heck am I supposed to do with the other two kids that are trying to sleep? And one of them is supposed to share her room?
“Don’t change the environment” – um, oops, we move Stella to the guest room when it gets really bad
“Don’t remove the child” – um, oops, we take Charlotte down to the basement to quiet her at times
This is the area that I struggle with…all of the sleeping books…for people with ONE kid.
UGH.
So I’m going to write more about this, but need your help. Are we the only ones with this issue? What do you do when one of your kids won’t go to bed, but the others are similar in age (can’t let my 18-month-old stay up until Charlotte decides to quiet down…it’s not like he’s 8) and trying to sleep?
What has worked for you? Or have you caved? Do you give in and sleep with the child? Are you losing the battle in order to SLEEP (I totally understand why)? Am I silly to attempt to “win” it??
PLEASE comment here, comment on the FB page (wow, lots of comments yesterday!), or private message me. I want to anonymously add others’ input. Because there are a lot of mommas out there with more than one kid.
And crying it out…affects everyone under the roof!
PS. If you ever tried to discuss this with me in the past and I wasn’t very responsive…I just didn’t get it. Stella was ALWAYS a great sleeper and even Charlotte has had her cycles, but never been this bad. Now it’s almost every night and longer than ever. Often tied to the full moon…seriously was waiting for her head to start spinning around last night. That bad. Can’t find anything else different. No change in routine, etc.
Claire had bedtime struggles for other reasons (mainly anxiety) so we started giving her melatonin about half an hour before bed. It is safe for kids and is a natural supplement. Won’t cure the battle of bedtime but may help regulate Charlotte’s body to WANT to sleep more. Good luck!
We had months of problems with CM and I was going crazy. We tried different roommates with no improvement. Then we started putting her to bed first and alone. She asks when J is coming in and I say, “when you are calm And sleeping.” I try to be very matter of fact and give very little feedback to her no matter what she did. At one point one of us sat in her room silently and put her back in bed without talking each time she got up but she pushed every button. She does better with NO audience.
It disrupts the others bedtime for a little while but it was the ONLY thing that helped. I feel for you.
One word: melatonin.
I can give you lots of details if you want to hear more. We were hesitant to try it, but it’s the best thing we ever did for our family’s nighttime sanity.
I have been blessed that even though Maggie never slept well she was a dream to put to bed… hopefully Avery is just as easy as she gets older. Not to rub it in because even though Maggie goes down fine she was nearly 2 before she slept through the night!
funny the prove youre not a robot caption? dozer!
So… Mom of 3 year old twins AND 1 two year old. Here is the thing… Have you ever lived near the RR tracks? Or been to someone’s house that did? Eventually they don’t even notice when a train goes by. We have 2 huge barking dogs, crying kids, and… they sleep through it. The first couple of nights are tourture – I would try it over a break with school…. but – eventually, they will just drown her out. My twins can fall asleep while the other one screams. But, let me open the door- and they are both wide awake. Because that is a noise they are not used to. Sort of like the trains thing. IF it were me – I would put the two that sleep well in a room together. Put Charlotte in a room by herself. Then I would give her something special and a night light that turns off in 5 minutes. I would tell Charlotte – that “frogger” (that is ours) is going to sleep in 5 minutes. I would tell “frogger” to go to sleep tonight… in 5 minutes. Shut the door and walk out. Good Night. That is my advice. Good Luck
We had a tough transition when my boys starting sharing a room before their baby sister was born. What we ended up doing was having one of them start in our bed and the other in the kids’ bedroom. Being in mom and dad’s room was a treat and that one always went right to sleep. The other at least had no distractions in the kiddy room. This bandaid solution had to stop when our daughter was born since she had to share mommy and daddy’s room for the first 16 months of her life until we moved. But, if you’re desperate, that’s my offering for a temporary divide and conquer option.
Forgot to mention that my husband moved the kid sleeping in our bed before we came upstairs.