I made the rookie mistake of giving my son (19 months) a little security blanket to sleep with when he was having trouble soothing himself several months ago. Well, this has turned into a fun game for him - at least 3-4 times a night he will throw the blanket out of his crib and scream "uh-oh" over and over until someone comes in and gives it back to him. How do we stop this? We have tried ignoring him, but the uh-ohs turn into hysterical crying that wakes up my 4-year-old, and then we're all up. He is the most stubborn child alive (this is the same kid who never took a bottle despite my working full-time), so I am not sure ignoring him would work, even if we didn't have our daughter to consider. I have tried saying "no uh-oh" and "no more" in a stern voice, but he thinks this is hilarious. I admit it is a little funny, but my husband and I really are tired! Any advice?
Thank you all so much for the advice - these are great ideas. Hopefully one of them will work!
Sew a piece of fabric or use one of those rings and attach it to his crib. That'll keep him occupied long enough to fall asleep and leave you alone :)
Good luck!
I'm not sure what type of crib you have, but is there any way for you to attach the blanket to one of the slats each night...........maybe a corner of the blanket? A heavy duty safety pin may still be a little dangerous if heaven forbid he found a way to open it. So, what if you sewed on a very small loop of heavy duty thread and then just zip-tied it to a crib rail each evening? You know....those little plastic zip-ties....you can buy them anywhere in bulk. That way, even if he tosses it, it will still be right there. LOL sometimes all it takes is a little creativity and we can out smart them!!! =0) Good luck! I hope you figure something out!
they make those mesh tent covers that go over the crib so they cant climb out..buy one of those and then he will not be able to throw it or anything else out of his crib! hth!
You might try telling him that he is now too old for the blanket.......if he throws it out, then he must not want it, so Mommy is taking it away to give to someone else. If he gets upset, give it back.....ONCE.......if he throws it out again, put it up where he can't find it or see it........
Good Luck........He will try to train you later in life too.....so hang in there...... :-)
Unfortunately it sounds like you are going to have to get tough and suffer through a couple of nights of no sleep for your entire family. Tell him before he goes to bed and again when you are putting him to bed that if his blankie goes on the floor it will have to go into the washing machine (or dirty clothes bin, etc) and he will not get it back. Then, when he does wake up and throw it out, go in, pick it up and tell him that it is now dirty cause it was thrown on the floor and has to go with the dirty clothes. He will cry and scream and wake everyone up. Feel free to sooth him - don't make it a punishment, just that this is the way it is now - blankie is thrown out of crib then it is put in dirty clothes for the night. He will eventually settle and go back to sleep but may test you again the next night. You will probably want to do this on a Friday night so everyone can sleep in on Saturday and on Sunday. I know you will feel horrible listening to him cry but he will understand and will stop playing his little game so everyone can finally get a good nights sleep! Good luck! (PS - I had to do this with my daughter who would throw binkie out of the crib as a game and it did work!).
I promise he is not the most stubborn child alive....he's just a boy! Both of my sons did this. With my first, I attached his blankie to his crib. I hooked one of those oval links that attach toys to strollers, etc. to his blankie and then to a crib rail. If that won't work for you, I would buy the crib tent. Although they are expensive (@ $80), it will totally solve this problem and will prevent him from climbing out of his crib (which he is bound to do soon).
Good luck!
Try practicing what you want him to do during the day, while sitting on the couch, maybe, or at naptime when you don't have to worry about your 4 year old waking up. Set up the situation so he does the uh-oh, tosses the blanket, and loses it. It should help with the night situation, especially if you can practice in the bed some times. Good luck.
My son did this with his binkies. We even tried giving him several of them, he still would throw them all out and yell uh oh, making it a game.. until he didn't get a response. Finally we told him, we will go in once to give them back, after that, he will have to sleep without them. There was a lot of screaming the first night, but after that he figured out that he wouldn't get them back.
You have to handle it like you would if he were in a high chair throwing his cup. The first time you pick it up. After that he doesn't get it. If he doesn't share a room with you or your daughter, then close the door if he starts screaming. Your other option is to stop giving him the blanket. When he turns his back, take it and get rid of it.
I can't think of any other option. It will take a few days, but then things will settle down.
My son is 4 and will still have the security blanket. :) We also went through this phase. My solution was to have more than one on hand - hopefully you can get some more. I just put him to bed with three or four of them scattered around. When he stopped throwing them out when he was awake, I slowly started removing extra "gankets". When we were down to one and not having any more issues....which didn't take too long, I started sneaking and extra one in his crib when I checked on him before he went to bed. I did this because one would get "lost" in the bed and he would wake up panicked. If I put an extra one in there he would go back to sleep on his own. My son is strong willed too, ignoring him didn't work and neither did just telling him no. I just wanted to find a way to get some peace and some sleep! And through the years we have lost a blanket or two or three :), so the extras come in handy. And now he just uses it when he's sleeping so we can switch out blankets when they need to be washed. GL!
