My 18 month old is still not sleeping through the night. We have tried the letting him scream until he falls asleep, but it has nto help. We have now put him in toddler bed due to trying to climb out of him crib. What else can I do? Please help.
What I did with my daughter is i gave her ran her ragged let her just paly till her little heart desired then come 8:00pm I give her her bath and at 8:30 she gets to watch her favorite show Dora that about 20mins then after that she knows it time for bed we go in her room read a story and then lights out and we do the same thing every night. Hope that this help good luck
I have five kids from ages 21 - 13. I don't think they slept through the night until around age five. Some tell me now that they still wake up several times a night. And I just tell them "So do I."
Everyone has a different sleep pattern, as long as you teach him to stay in his bed it's ok to wake up during the night.
try rubbing chamomille on his pillow or makeing him a herb pillow with lavender and chasmomile it wont hert him, also try giving him a lavender bath and rubbing him down with some lotion if all else fails there is always the ginger water of course asking the pediatrision first. i have done all these thangs becouse my doughter at thataage would not sleep and so i went to a herbal docter and it works great
If he takes a nap during the day, he might need to nap earlier, and not as long. Usually a warm bath after dinner, helps.
Set a night time routine and stick to it. Dinner, bath, brush teeth, dressed for bed, night time stories, prayers, and then sleep. You can tell by the cry if there is something seriously wrong. Get a monitor with a camera so you make sure he is not hurt.
Obviously this little guy has figured out that his crying annoys you and will continue this behavior to manipulate the situation. They are so smart, and they pick up so much at this age. He is capable of learning to fall asleep on his own. The key is routine and consistency. The more you go in to check on him the more he will continue to cry. I promise that you will get over the hump. It is very uncomfortable for you, because you want to comfort your son. It is so important to discipline yourself and your son so that he learns to fall asleep on his own. I don't mean discipline like spanking or anything like that. Discipline- let him cry himself to sleep. He will get the hang of it. My son has been sleeping through the night since he was 7 weeks old. He is now 2 1/2. We were very consistent, and he knows now that when it's time to go to bed, he goes to bed with no arguments
Check out the book called The No Cry Sleep Solution!
I hate to say it, but my little one just turned 23 months and he just started sleeping thru the night. I have not put a baby bed out, but that is the next step. I can honestly tell you, it was tough..I only had been getting maybe 5 hrs of sleep a night, if I was lucky...then on weekends I would take naps...with help of husband...I really thought it would never end. He began eating more at night and I have been giving vitamins....it really helped. I also am taking him outside to run and play more..and to the park more...seems to be able to get alot of exercise that way....He is also asking to go to bed. He has gotten so big, I could not hold him to rock him like he loved. nap time, I sometimes rock him but it doesnt seem to effect him in a bad way. I really liked rocking him every night and miss it alittle. I also always did a nightly ritual with him and just lately he understands when after bath time I tell him " Mommy is going to read to you and then it is night night time by yourself" I also told him "Barney wants you to go night night like a big boy" Elmo also is one of his favorites..I also assure him that we are in the next room waiting for him to wake up. I also tell him that he needs to go night night so that he can play all day and feel strong. I think he would have understood sooner, I just never thought to tell him. If you have put a toddler bed out, put a baby gate up at the door...this will help with his adventure thru the house when everyone is sleeping...hope this helps....good luck
Keep him on the same nightly routine. I used to to give mine a warm bath, read a book and cuddle at the same time every evening. Letting them cry it out does not work for every child, sticking with a routine is usually best. All 3 of my boys were so different, finding what works best is sometimes the hardest task.
In order for the "crying it out" to work, you have to have a good bedtime routine and be very consistent with it. If you ever give in or vary the routine, the child will hold out hope that he can avert that final step of settling down to sleep. If co-sleeping works for you, go for it, although I would never have gotten a wink of sleep that way. (That was how I always knew I wouldn't roll over on them in my sleep when I nursed my babies in bed - any little movement from them, or any movement from me to feel them next to me and I was wide awake.) If you don't want to co-sleep and you have already been quite consistent with the bedtime routine and letting him cry to sleep, I have two other suggestions. First, try letting him cry to sleep Super-nanny style, meaning that you stay in the room with him, but don't give him any eye contact or interaction unless he actually gets out of bed and to put him back in. That way he has the security of your presence but the firmness of your resolve that yes he must go to bed now. Each night you move a little further from his bed until you are out the door and eventually behind the door where he can't see you. The second suggestion was given by another mom on this site, I wish I could remember who to credit her with it. Put a rocking chair in his room and rock him to sleep when he wakes up, but put him back in his own bed every time. That seemed like a very gentle but firm and consistent way of communicating that mama is here but you must sleep in your own bed. Sweet dreams - they will happen someday - hopefully sooner rather than later!
J.
Christian homeschool mom to three beautiful grown girls, one wonderful son-in-law, two terrific teens, and one rambunctious, first-class boy
Have you tried co-cleeping? I'm not sure what your thoughts are on that, but it is what we do around here! And it works! Or maybe just have a big boy bed and lay down with him until he falls asleep? I can't imagine letting him scream his head off until he falls asleep from the exhaustion would be constructive in any way.
Girl i have a 2 1/2 yr old daughter and an 18 mo old son and neither one of them sleep through the night unless they are sleeping with me. I used to fight both of them on it because i didn't want them in my bed. You hear bad things about never being able to get them out again. But i was getting absolutley no sleep and i became a tired dragon, constantly spitting fire at them and my husband. Finally, i tried it! They start out in their beds, but by 2 am they are all in bed with my husband and i. They don't even wake us up anymore. They just climb in get under the covers and go right back to sleep. As a parent you have to learn how to pick your battles and this is definatley one i let them win.
Hope it helps. God bless!
D. mattern-muck
the mom team
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We have had the same problem!!! Our son is now 2 1/2....ugh!! He still wakes up during the night. We finally have gotten him into his toddler bed. The way we did it was....are you ready to laugh!! We put a small 20 inch plasma tv in his room with a single bed on the other wall. We call the single bed his couch and he can sit on it and watch a video before bedtime. I went and found some little 20-30 minute DVDs and he loves it. He begs to go to bed now. He still wakes up at least once a night but it is nothing like it was in the past. We tried the letting him scream it out...did not work either. I feel your pain.
I now have another son..well he is almost a year old now...but he is great!! I think it is a trial and error thing.
I pray you find a solution that works for you soon.
my son is five now, and i went through 5 years of no sleep with him - he would wake every 2 hours, he would come into our bed,then fidget and toss and turn and keep us awake all night - at least he got to sleep!
i am afraid to say i let him do it, and it was a rod for my own back all this time - i just was not firm enough with him, and in the middle of the night its easy to give in.
when i got pregnant this last year i knew it couldnt go on - i couldnt be up with two children half the night, so i decided i had to get really tough on him - and he is a very strong willed child, so it had to be something that would get his attention.
my friend told me to get a paint stirrer from home depot and tell him he would get a switching if he didnt stay in his own bed - i had to do it for two nights, if he came into our bed, i spanked him until he went back to his own bed - it was really hard on me, i hated doing it - but thats all it took - 2 nights.
i felt a little sorry for him and i gave him a bed on our floor, so if he feels scared he can lie in his "special bed - only if he doesnt wake us up doing it - he comes in maybe twice a week - and he tries very hard not to wake us up!
i do hear him walking and dragging his blanky down the hall, but i pretend i cant!
anyway if you are against spanking this may not work for you - but really the paint stirrer doesnt hurt - i tried it on my hubbie first lol.
Most people laugh at me when I tell them the key to my son sleeping through the night since he was 6 weeks old. We use a sound therapy machine. We have only used the white noise or the rain. I just purchased a new one yesterday at Wal-Mart for $15. The one I had before (I have had for almost 10 years) finally gave out the other day. We were forced to go one night without it and my son kept waking up! I went to a few stores yesterday to find a new one that had white noise. It sounds really annoying if you just sit there and listen to it, but we started using it when our son was newborn and sleeping in our room. It really helped us sleep too! Every child is different, I guess you just have to try different suggestions until you find one that is right for your child.
Best of luck to you and your little one.
