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Parents of Toddlers

Bedtime Wars !!!!!!!

22 years ago

My DS is 37 months old, and is having a terrible time of going to sleep! Any suggestions on how you get your little ones to stay in bed & to go to sleep?

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Comments (3)

nadastimer
22 years ago
Is he on a schedule or anything? My son is 31 months old now and up until the past couple of weeks he went to bed when I could tell he was ready for it. He would be tired and go right to sleep. These days he's now in bed at 11pm and it's working. For some reason he can be totally awake when I put him to bed and he'll argue but will stay in bed and fall asleep. Could you tell him it's bedtime and that's it and leave and if he gets out of bed keep putting him back until he gets the idea? I think it takes some time to get them to get back into it. It's a stage or something. I think after a few stern talks and you being persistant, your son will get the idea and go to bed. I hope this helps. I hope it makes sense, too, I seem to be rambling a lot tonight! LOL

~Leslie~
notme_home_com
22 years ago
I agree that having a routine is important... Having a few things that you do every night before bed will help them get the idea that it's time to settle down. Here's ours:
7:00 Bathtime
7:30 Story time with Daddy
7:45 Bedtime -- I take him to his bed, and either sit and talk to him or read another short story.
He gets a glass of water and his teddy bear. He's pretty good at staying in bed, but if he gets up I just put him back down and tell him goodnight again. For a while there we had to do this several times a night, but being firm and consistent seemed to do the trick.
Hope this helps!
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Wow, for a daughter that wants to be with nature she sure is acting like her zen is being lazy on the couch. Sorry, I'm not sure how to put it more politely. It's lazy parenting to let the children rule the roost. Being a nature geek or free spirit, doesn't mean the kids get to run free to destroy grandma's house. Now that you've mentioned your medical predicaments, she should be even more mindful of your simple wishes. Sure there will be times the kids might run, or take food into the wrong room or even forget and jump on the sofa but she should be thoughtful of your desires as you are of hers. Your following her vegan rules as far as the kids go. Your doing what should be her share of the house work it seems. It's time for her to grow up and respect your space. It sounds like your willing to be a super grandma if she would only respect the house rules. Being safe from falling objects, respecting your property, I don't see how she can argue against this. Sounds like your in between a rock and a hard spot right now. I suppose it would be good if you could get her to return and implement your rules on your own. When they bring food into other rooms,quietly tell the child to return to the room where the food is eaten. When the run tell them the rule politely with the suggestion of a time and place they can run. After dinner in the back yard. I personally think they should follow your rules without a reward, although a reward for another reason might tempt them and be acceptable to you. They can be the one who picks out the movie or the one who picks out a game first or a walk to the park. Maybe make smores for a really good day of being good in the house. Your pick of rewards but they have to behave (most all of the time) to get it. Stick to your guns but do it yourself. Quietly, sweetly, & use lots of honey. Mom will have to see, that's the way it is. And the deployment excuse doesn't cut it for me. If anything they need more structure and order. (with out a doubt all of this has crossed your mind, so good luck these next few months)
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My 16 month old grandson is down to one nap mid day from about 11:30 till 1. He's up at 6:30 and goes to bed about 7pm. I think he would take a morning nap about 9:30 for a half hour or so as he yawns about this time and sometimes gets really still and then he could still sleep in the afternoon from maybe 12:30 till 1:30 but his Mom does encourage the morning nap and since there are 3 of us that care for him we all need to do the same schedule. However, if he were to ever just fall asleep in the morning on his own, say while playing, I would let him sleep. Just hasn't happened yet. When I taught kindergarten we used to have a rest time - kids didn't have to sleep but they could lay on their mats and listen to music or look at books. It was usually only long enough for the teachers to get papers checked and ready to go into backpacks. This was for full day kindergarten, not half day. Some kids would fall asleep every day. When it was time to get up, usually it would be center time or free play time. When a child would still sleep through all that noise, you knew he/she really needed the sleep. They would be upset that they missed playtime but it would still happen the next day. With one kid, I had to make a deal with him - if he fell asleep I would have one of the other kids go over to him and tickle his ear to wake him up. He hated someone calling his name or shaking him. If he didn't wake up with the tickling - we left him alone. It only took a few days and he would wake up in a fairly good mood with just a little tickle whereas if we shook him, he would get mad and pout.
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no_no_com
22 years ago
We had a sleep problem with our almost 3 yr old. Not exactly the same as yours, but every night after 20 minutes in bed he started yelling for us, and then in the middle of the night same thing. It was always like that once in a while, but gradually it became the nighly routine. We always had a bedtime routine.

We tried many things, but this is what worked for us. We put whatever toy seemed to be his favorite on his dresser and before going to bed, said "If you yell and scream for us to come get you, we will take that toy away". Therefore, it was right there by the bed and he had to make the decision himself whether to yell or lose the toy. For each night he did not cry out, we said we were proud of him for being such a big boy as soon as he woke up in the morning. We told him if he does not cry for 1 week we will get him a present.

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