I am going crazy trying to figure out the best way to get my 3 year old son to go to bed at a decent hour and fall asleep on his own. I know the problems he has now are my fault for not setting limits and laying down with him while he falls asleep, but something has to change and I just don't know what to do. I have been reading sleep books that suggest he might have to just cry it out for a couple of nights and as awful as it will be I might have to try it. For the last month or so he will not fall asleep before midnight. Has anyone had a similar problem with a preschooler? Any advice is really welcome. Thanks!
Never had that problem but from watching Nanny 911 they showed this one lady that put the kid back in bed for almost 3 hrs and sitting outside the door. I am not sure how many nights it took for it to finally work but I swear I don't have the patience for that. Good luck!
I have recently advised his childcare provider that he does not need naps anymore. Instead of going to bed between 10-11 he now falls asleep between 8 - 9. LOVE IT!!!!
Does he take naps? Tough Love... Try classical music when you put him down and force him to go early, they will cry themselves to sleep if that is a problem.
Girl, I feel your pain. DD#2 will not go to sleep by herself in her bed. As of right now, she crashes in the living room, usually sometime between 830-930 and we pick her up and put her in bed. I tried Nanny 911's technique one night, and I bet I put her back in her bed 50 times. I finally just put the gate up at her door and let her scream. And I would have left her there, but my DH couldn't take it, and he went and got her. (So guess who gets to get up with her at night now? LOL) Have you tried giving him some tylenol to make him sleepy, and then sitting in his room with him till he falls asleep? LOL
Whew! I don't envy you there! Whatever you do, you just have to be consistent. That's the hard part. When DS was a bit younger than that, I had to break him of being held in my arms and rocked to sleep. You go in every so often and reassure them that you are still "there" but don't pick them up, turn on the lights or any of that. Keep your interaction to a minimum and be very calm and quiet, but stand firm, because it will try your nerves. I think it took about 3 nights before he gave it up and went to bed without a fuss.
What time is he going to bed? Believe it or not, sometimes they're going to be too LATE, and getting overtired. You might want to try putting him to bed earlier, if nothing else works. Just a thought, it's worked for me before, believe it or not!
Jen, I am going to scare you straight! My SIL let her son do that as a small child, problem is, now he's in his teens and STILL won't sleep in his bed in his room. CRAZY!! Every night, they make up the couch like his bed! I love my SIL, but they ain't no way! :lol:
This is our plan pretty much except we have to use a gate that he is tall enough to not get over and since he's already figured out how to open it we have to try and keep it shut somehow. If we were to put him back in everytime he came out we might as well just stand at the door! The consistent thing is the biggest thing that I don't cave after 1 night. Everyone send up some mommy prayers for me tonight because we are going to try and see how it goes. He does take one nap a day at my inlaws during the week but since he doesn't get enough sleep at night I didn't want to take it away. We need to consider everything though. Seab - we have the classical music covered although the book I read said to turn it off once they fall asleep so nothing like going in there and waking him up again when I trip over something :lol:
Also, try a fan .... both of my kids sleep great with "white noise" ... hey, I even use one for the noise.
we are going to do this because I know he is overtired. tonight we'll probably have him in bed about 8:30 or so.
PBR was really about the only beer a true Milwaukean would drink (by the way that crap they made in Georgia was not really PBR).
It will be tough on the in laws at first but they will have to just work through it with you. Take away the nap and he will be so tired he won't put up as big as a fuss. It will be tough no matter what you do but you can do it!!!!
I agree with stopping the nap ... or have him watch C-Span before bedtime, which should knock him right out. :jester:
Well they're not the ones up all night with him so they will have to work through it!! I'll report back tomorrow.
First, remember that all children are different. What works for one might not work for another. I have 2 and they were opposites on just about everything. My daughter was one who stopped taking naps at an early age, between 2 and 3 years old. My son is grown and will still lay down for an hour after working all day.
