WWYD? DS waking up a lot at night.

[khalloc]

My 3 to DS is waking up a lot lately in the past 2 weeks crying for me to come back and sit in his rocking chair while he falls asleep. I am so sick of it. He is very irrational and demanding when he comes into my room screwing at me to come back and sit in his chair while he falls asleep. I do sit I his chair at bedtime and he falls asleep quickly. He is afraid of monsters and we've reassured him that there are none but it's not helping. Would you get up and go to his room? Even if it's multiple times a night? Usually I try to talk him into sleeping in our bed, but then DH and I both get bad sleep too. He is a total mommas boy which kind of makes it worse. I would prefer everyone to be in their own beds.

[LMPC]

I am right.there.with.you! DD started the whole monster/nightmare thing about 5 months ago, and it's been a struggle ever since. The plan is to work on her sleeping by herself after the first of the year, but currently I am in the habit of sitting with her while she goes to sleep and then lying in her bed if she has a bad dream in the middle of the night. She tends only to wake up once a night but still I am exhausted. Unfortunately, she does not do well sleeping in our bed (DH snores). We have tried the whole telling her there aren't monsters (she's not buying it), spraying "monster spray" (didn't really help), and now we are leaving her bathroom light on (the jury's still out on that one). I keep telling myself this is just a phase and my friends with older kids keep reassuring me it will pass.... hopefully soon!

[crl]

I would try to wean him of having you in his room when he falls asleep the first time. Lots of kid's need/want the same conditions to fall back to sleep as they had when they went to bed the first time. I would try moving the chair to the door way and then gradually out into the hall and then not be sitting with him at all.

Catherine

[rin]

YMMV on this one, but a friend of mine had success giving her DD a picture of an angel over her bed and telling her that the angel would keep the monsters away. I think she may have also included some little "prayer" or special monster-away words that her DD could say in case of, you know, a monster attack. In any case, she says that it worked, so it might be an idea? If you're not religious, of course, the specifics on this could vary, but I could see modifying this into a secular thing, maybe using a picture of something/someone that the child finds comforting and protective (a picture of you and your DH?).

[fumofu]

DS is still young, so we haven't encountered your situation. But, I bought these superhero-themed wall decal for his nursery on gilt.com when I was still pregnant. I can't find them anymore, but the story behind the decals is that the artists' son was afraid of monsters. She used these decals so that the superheros will fend off the monsters and protect her DS.

I thought that was very cute, and if DS starts this phase, I'd whip out those decals! This may be a possible solution for your situation.

We finally got DS to nap in his crib during the day time, except I would stay in his room until he falls asleep. Before this, we would leave his room at night while he was still awake, and he would fall asleep in his crib without a peep. But with the inconsistency during naptime, he now has trouble falling asleep at night in our absence. We're working on having him fall asleep on his own both during naps and at night. It'll take time...

Good luck!

[KpbS]

What about introducing your DC to Sesame Street (if he doesn't know it already)? Lots of friendly and non-scary "monsters" singing and playing.

Also, I remember when DS1 was that age we explained to him very casually, mommy and daddy have a rule, no monsters in the house--he bought it and that was the end of that. It might work!

[Green_Tea]

I would try to wean him of having you in his room when he falls asleep the first time. Lots of kid's need/want the same conditions to fall back to sleep as they had when they went to bed the first time. I would try moving the chair to the door way and then gradually out into the hall and then not be sitting with him at all.

Catherine

:yeahthat:

A big yes to Catherine.

[elephantmeg]

we ended up using a pretty bright night light and melatonin. DS goes in and out of episodes like this, usually after a few weeks we can go off the melatonin again. We found the children's chewables (5 mg) at walmart and give him 1/2-1 of them (was 1/2 at that age) by recommendation of his pedi. We've also cut down on wii playing and cartoons after supper.

[khalloc]

See he used to go to bed fine by himself, but saw that I stayed in his big sisters room. then he wanted me in his room too. Then this crap started. I recently tried sitting outside his room on the first step but he was taking forever to fall asleep. So the past 3 nights I have been back in his room. I guessing need to be a hard ass and not sit down in the room or outside at all. I am sick of bedtime being such a process

[crl]

It took me nearly a month to go from lying down on the floor in ds' room to being in my bedroom while he went to sleep. And I had to be really stubborn about it as he protested every step of the way.

Catherine

[fauve01]

OP, in addition to all the ideas you already got, i was wondering what your DS' nap situation is? Sometimes if dc sleep too much during the day they wake more at night. just a thought...

[khalloc]

He takes a nap during the week at daycare, but I do not have him nap on weekends. He wakes regardless. Bt falls asleep a lot faster when he hasn't had a nap.

Last night I laid down the law. The 2 kids had to go to sleep without me in their rooms or sitting in the hallway.i left dim lights on in their room and left the hallway light on. I also bribed the with the promise of a surprise in the morning (dollar store stuff). They both did it! DS even woke this morning at 6, came into my room and started to climb into bed, then stopped and went to the bathroom, then went back to his own bed! I will be stocking up on dollar store toys today.

[crl]

Awesome!

Catherine

[khalloc]

Ok, so its been a big bust.

Sunday night he slept all night long. Woo Hoo!

Monday I had to keep putting him back in his room at bedtime. Finally he stayed in there and fell asleep. Then he woke up about 1.5 hours later. He had slept on his hand funny and it got numb. I stayed with him for about 5 minutes till his hand felt better then left and promised I would come back to check on him in a few minutes. He fell right asleep like I thought he would. But then at about 2am he comes into my room and yells at me for not checking on him. So I assure him I DID check, but that he was sleeping. Then he just climbs into bed with me (I am too tired to resist).

Tuesday night he is awful at bedtime (keeps finding excuses to get out of bed). He finally falls asleep around 9:40 or so (he was in bed since 8:15). He wakes up at midnight or so and comes into our room to sleep the rest of the night.

So obviously I need to stop letting him sleep with us. this kid is so persistent though. He whines and cries when he wants something like nobodies business. And DD sleeps right next to his room.

So I CAN put a doorknob lock on his room at night. I dont really have a problem doing it. He HATES when we do this though, so he will spend a long long long long long time screaming and banging if I do this. And if its in the middle of the night he will surely wake up his older sister. Should I let her come into our room to sleep? Even then we will hear him because its not that far away. Last night we tried this at bedtime when he would not stay in his room (with the door open and light on) and after about 5 minutes I went in and told him I would take it off if he promised to stay in his bed. He lasted about 3 minutes before he was whining and coming out of his room again. My DH is pissed that I took it off. He thinks we just need to lock him in his room when he starts whining and climbing into bed with us. And that after 3 nights he will get the message and will stay in his own room on his own.

I know I can try just bringing him back to his room 500 times a night. But I am not a patient person and I end up aggravated and yelling. being able to lock him in there saves my sanity. And to clarify its not a real lock, just a cover for the doorknob so he cannot turn it.

WWYD?

Oh, DD has been great. Last night she even came in at 3am and asked if she could still get a surprise if she came into our bedroom then and I said no and she left and went back to her own room. So at least one kid is following the rules. I am giving out dollar store toys in the morning if they stayed in bed all night.