Wednesday, January 9, 2008

Advice anyone??

Help me! Can someone give me some advice on getting your toddler to bed around the same time every night???!! Bryce the past few nights has been going to bed at midnight or LATER! I try putting him to bed several times and he cries and cries and cires.. I've heard that letting him cry himself to sleep is okay but he doesn't go to sleep. He stands there and cries for Mommy and Daddy over and over again. It's getting really miserable because we can't go to bed. He's still awake. Victor is in there trying to rock him to sleep.

Advice please!!

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

This is tough one. It sounds like his sleep routine is out of whack and he's gonna need to be retrained. First off, I would look at his daily routine. What time is he getting up in the morning? How many naps a day and for how long? I would try getting him up by 7:30-8 am and only allowing him one nap for an hour long at first. He should be pretty tired by night time and go to bed easier. Although, by easier I mean he may only cry for 45 min-1 hour since babies can be VERY stubborn. You as parents just have to be more stubborn. Don't let him get out of bed, even though I know it's a pain to have to get up every 5 min. to put him back in and let him cry. You NEED to let him know this isn't acceptable. It may mean a couple more rough nights, but hopefully, in the long run he'll understand bedtime is bedtime.
Eventually when he learns this, you can adjust his morning and nap routines again.
Hope it helps!

Leah said...

However, only an hour long nap may make him so exhausted that it is hard for him to go to bed.
Try to establish a bedtime routine as well. A daytime nap for a toddler should still be around 1 1/2 to 2 hours.
Mandy is right, you have to be MORE stubborn than the child here. My fourth child would cry for an hour every night before finally realizing we weren't coming to get him.
Despite what others may feel, if rocking him to sleep gets him to sleep, and he'll sleep through the night, do it. At some point, he wont want your rocking, and you will miss it. For now, do what works.