Isabella has become the anti-sleep.
(which is like the anti-christ of big girl beds)
she hates her bed.
actually, that’s not true. she loves her bed. she loves to jump on it. and read books in it (her new favorites are Franklin books.) and cuddle with her mommy and her blankets. she loves to play with her dolls in it. (all her dolls are called "Molly". weird, i realize, but funny at the same time)
she just doesn’t like to sleep in it. for more than 20 minutes at a time.
which, if you are doing the math, means that i’m up, pretty much all night.
it’s like having a newborn again.
actually, it’s worse, since i can’t just stick my boob in her mouth. (i mean, i guess technically i could, but um, it wouldn’t exactly bear the same results, and, erm, it would be all kinds of strange.) what i mean is, i have no way to pacify her to get her to go back to sleep. i go into her room. put her back in bed.
and then she kicks and screams.
until i leave. sometimes she goes quiet. sometimes she laughs. mostly she just kicks and screams some more.
i refuse to bring her into my bed (at least not until 6am)..because that’s a habit i don’t want to start and have to break her of later on. also, she doesn’t actually sleep in my bed…she just watches Dora and Diego and Wonderpets.
please tell me i’m not the only one who is kicking herself for switching her toddler to a big girl bed???!!!
(also…i’m accepting tips of any kind. the monetary kind will work, of course, but mostly i’m looking for some suggestions as to how to get my kid to love her bed again. we had a great three days there in the beginning…)
For both of our kids we put a twizzler on the inside of their door so they couldn’t open the door themselves. They both transitioned to a big bed before they were potty trained so it gave them quite awhile being confined in their room before we had to remove it so they could get out to go to the bathroom in the night. Worked like a charm – if they ever needed us in the night they would just call and they rarely did. They quickly realized they couldn’t get out so would just go back to bed. Good luck – there’s nothing like having a disrupted sleep this far into the parenting game.
Ferberize! It works at any age….Dr. Ferber, How to Solve a Child’s Sleep Problems. Three nights and you will be back to a full night’s sleep.
The only way that Matthew actually goes to sleep fairly quickly in his bed is if he is really tired (like Haley said). On weekends it’s so easy. He just goes to bed because we don’t let him have naps. But, weekdays he naps from 1-3 so it’s ridiculous.
I’m not suggesting no naps, but maybe later bedtime? shorter naps? Also, matt will fall asleep in our bed – even if we’re not in it because he loves our bed. But, it’s a habit I kind of wish i hadn’t introduced.
POOR YOU!!!! The monkey always seems to end up in my bed … at naptime … whether I’m there with her or not. At night, though, she MUST stay in her bed. Which means we ALL have to be downstairs until she falls fast asleep. Maybe give her a later bedtime, so she’s good and tired? That’s all I got. Sorry!!!!
sorry Ali i hope someone puts on some tips i can use too.stinkerbell was recently diagnosed with asthma.now for last month she REFUSES to sleep in her bed.she always wants to be in mine or on the love seat in my room.and yes i usually let her sleep in my bed .she sleeps great!and i toss and turn all frikkin night.so i sure hope someone helping you can also help me.
you could by the planet type light from IKEA that shines stars/moon/saturns of light on the ceilings and walls. Or glow-in-the-dark stars, put them on the ceiling. I always put a cd on for Scott – not kid one though, usually something soft like Norah Jones or Sarah Mclauglin, worked like a charm