How does your DC fall asleep?

[jiggaman]

I have an 18 month old DS who was a fantastic sleeper. We had a bedtime ritual, read some books and then turn the lights off. We'd sing him some songs while holding him and ask him if he wanted to go to sleep. When he was ready he would wave goodnight and we'd put him down and he'd fall asleep on his own.

Recently though he is refusing to sleep no matter how tired he is. Starting to scream and not wanting to go down.

How does your DC go to sleep? Do they play in the crib and fall asleep on their own? Do you hold them until they're tired and then put them down? Do they tell you they want to sleep?

We were thinking of putting a strict 2 books and 3 songs or something like that so he knows exactly when we're going to put him down. How structured is your bedtime ritual?

He won't play in the crib before going to sleep. Maybe b/c we didn't train him to do that. He plays in his room and when he seems tired we turn the lights off and pick him up to sing him songs before putting him down.

Any other methods of trying to get him to sleep?

[♥ms.pacman♥]

both my DS (2.5) and DD (almost 1.5) fall asleep on their own in their cribs. DS for one, never wants to go to sleep (especially for naps) and often fights it. After brushing teeth etc we turn off the lights and I sit with him a rocker and sing songs, etc and he is good and when we tell him it's time for night-night he protests and says he doesn't want to sleep. But once we put him in his crib he's totally fine. He has lots of stuffed animals and loveys in his crib that he plays with...he sometimes will play in there for half an hour before going to sleep.

with DD after brushing teeth and turning off lights we rock her for a little bit and often she points to her crib, we put her in and she just goes to sleep, babbling to herself. Sometimes she will scream and if she cries for more than 5 mins i usually go in and rock her for a bit. For naps she has a crib piano that plays music and lights up, sometimes she plays with that for a bit before drifting off.

I would try putting some soft toys, stuffed animals in the crib for him to play with. Also, with both of mine i rock them, sing songs, cuddle etc in the dark for several minutes so they adjust before putting them in the crib (and then they still have nightlights, projection music players that turn off after a while). I think if i rocked & sang to them and then turned off the lights and then left the room, they'd freak out.

[MamaInMarch]

On the boob. :D I have no suggestions and by all accounts of most I know I am a miserable parent because of this. Good luck, though. Sleep is more precious than diamonds.

[jiggaman]

He's not that fond of things in his crib, he likes to throw them over the side and then get comfortable to sleep. He had a mobile that lit up and played songs but he would play with it for a long time instead of sleeping so we took it out. Maybe we need to retrain him?

Do you use a nightlight? We have a low glowing blue light but was thinking maybe he could use a brighter nightlight. We were also worried this might keep him up but I think with anything new he just needs to get used to it. Just wanted to make sure we got down what we wanted to do instead of trying new things all the time.

[magnoliaparadise]

On the boob. :D I have no suggestions and by all accounts of most I know I am a miserable parent because of this. Good luck, though. Sleep is more precious than diamonds.

That's hilarious - me, too. Great for my baby. Makes life complicated for me!

[maestramommy]

Hmmm, we've done different things at different times. When it was just Dora, we had a CD of sleep songs that we always turned on before leaving the room. That way, she'd have some music, but she couldn't keep turning it on. She also did have an aquarium toy on her crib. There were nights where she'd keep hitting the play button over and over, but it wasn't a regular thing.

All the kids have a nightlight now. Can't remember when it started, but it was when all 3 were in the same room. Suddenly Arwyn decided it was too dark. So we put one in. Then when Laurel went back to her own room, we put one in there too.

[joonbug]

I have a terrible sleeper...sigh. It got slightly better once we dropped naps (she's 3.25) and we start the bedtime at 8-8.15. Bath (or not ;)), brushing teeth, pjs, book. Then it's lights out but either DH or I sit down next to her bed reminding her to calm down, shhhhhh, be quiet, lie down, it goes on for 30-45 minutes sometimes. She usually falls asleep by 9.
Before dropping naps, it was a nightmare, she'd fight us till 11 sometimes!

[♥ms.pacman♥]

He's not that fond of things in his crib, he likes to throw them over the side and then get comfortable to sleep. He had a mobile that lit up and played songs but he would play with it for a long time instead of sleeping so we took it out. Maybe we need to retrain him?

Do you use a nightlight? We have a low glowing blue light but was thinking maybe he could use a brighter nightlight. We were also worried this might keep him up but I think with anything new he just needs to get used to it. Just wanted to make sure we got down what we wanted to do instead of trying new things all the time.

each DC has a night light in their room. it's the one sold at TRU that can change different colors (TykeLight). During the wintertime, DS also has a Thomas train humidifier near his crib that has its own light.

[jiggaman]

If BFing would help him sleep we'd probably try it but he weaned himself long ago. We turn the lights off before singing to him but right now he likes to run around and fight being picked up or held. I'd say he wasn't tired but he's super tired, you can tell.

It's almost like he thinks he's going to miss out on fun if he sleeps no matter how tired he is.

[Philly Mom]

If BFing would help him sleep we'd probably try it but he weaned himself long ago. We turn the lights off before singing to him but right now he likes to run around and fight being picked up or held. I'd say he wasn't tired but he's super tired, you can tell.

It's almost like he thinks he's going to miss out on fun if he sleeps no matter how tired he is.

Maybe you are waiting too long to put him down? For DD, there is no playing in her room. We don't put toys in her crib either. At approx. the same time every night we do a bath, two-three books, and put her in her bed. Maybe once a week she screams for more than 30 secs and most nights she just goes straight down. When she screams, we ignore her. We have a monitor. Sometimes she is standing in her crib screaming, but eventually (within 5 minutes) she lays down and goes to sleep. Once in the past three months has she screamed on and off for 10-15 minutes, and that is because we made her over excited right before bed. We still did not go to her. She would scream, lay down and be quiet, repeat. She did go to sleep and slept her 12 hours.

[BabyBearsMom]

DD1:

Go upstairs, take a bath (if bath night), put on PJs and brush teeth. If she is cooperative she gets 2 books. If she isn't, she loses one book. If she still doesn't cooperate, she loses both books. Then I sing her a certain set of songs while I rock her in the chair with me. I put her in the bed, cover her, stroke her hair, say goodnight and leave the room. She only has a teddy bear in bed with her and she usually talks to him or sings to herself until she falls asleep. I Ferbered her, so she is really good at going to sleep on her own. She is usually out in 10 minutes flat. I will say that she periodically goes through difficult stages but returns to this routine regularly.

DD2:
Go upstairs, take a bath (if bath night), put on Pjs (no teeth to brush yet). Nurse her, then when she is done give her a paci and rock her until she is 99% asleep. Put her in bed and turn on her noise machine which plays crickets chirping for 15 minutes. I sit in the room while she falls asleep and replace the paci if she loses it. Usually takes her 2 or 3 minutes before she is out. Haven't done any sleep training with her, but don't plan to as she is easy to put down.

[jiggaman]

He seems to want to play and read books so we let him, maybe he's overtired. We've thought about him being overtired before and tried putting him down earlier but that wasn't much better.

It's almost like there's a 30 min window of just tired enough between not tired and overtired.

The frustrating thing is he used to go to sleep just fine so we're trying to figure out how to get him back on schedule. (We've also checked teething, stomach issues, etc and he seems to be okay).

[mackmama]

DC is 19mo and a pretty good sleeper at night. We prep DC that it's bed time about 10mins before starting the routine. "We're going to go have a snack, then it's time for night-night. We'll change your diaper, get into your pajamas, brush your teeth, and read a book." We then go do those things. After the final step in the routine (reading only one book, which is a book about going to bed), I say "ok, let's go night-night with (I name DC's two favorite small stuffed animals waiting in the crib)." I then put DC into the crib. There is also a crib soother on the side of the crib although DC doesn't use it much anymore.

I've also found it helps to wind-down to calmer, non-stimulating activities about 10-15mins before starting the bed-time routine. I read DC books, play quietly, etc.

ETA: We also stick to a pretty strict bed-time even if DC doesn't seem tired. DH often says "but DC doesn't seem tired" and tries to push the bed-time back -- but it almost always ended up with DC becoming overtired and overstimulated. So now we stick to the bed-time!