From these pictures, you would think that Carter was a great sleeper, right?Wrong!
He used to be a fabulous sleeper. Than, when I was in the hospital on bed rest (yes, over 20 months ago...), he started sleeping with Ace in our bed. No big deal. Poor kid was away from his momma!
When I came home from the hospital, I gave him a few nights, then started the process of moving him back to his bed. In essence, I bribed him. I bought him a few much-coveted pieces to his Imaginext Jungle (by the way, jungle is out and Bakugan is now in), by rewarding him every few nights if he stayed in his bed. And it worked for a good while!
Then, somehow, I don't know exactly how, he made his way back into our bed. I rarely even wake up anymore when he comes in!
But that isn't even the full of it. Nope. The kid now has the hardest time actually going to sleep! It does not matter what time I put him down at night - 8:00, 8:30, 9:00, 9;30 - he will not fall asleep prior to 10:00 p.m. He's been known to still be awake at midnight on occasion!
That is problematic when you consider that he has to wake up by 7:00 a.m. (ideally). At his age, a child should be getting 9 to 13 hours of cumulative sleep. He rarely ever naps during the day anymore, so his 9 hours at night just don't cut it. So, to compensate, to the detriment of my own schedule, I usually let him sleep in. The kid will sleep until 9 a.m. some days if I let him! Since I aim to arrive at work by 9 a.m., and preschool starts at 9 a.m., that obviously does not work as a matter of course.So, what to do? I've tried putting white noise in his room, music, a nightlight, no light, no books, books, threats, conjoling, bribery. I tell him "you only grow while you sleep, so if you want to be as big as your Uncle Mike [the tallest member of our family], you better go to sleep fast!!!" Nada.
I don't so much mind if he is in our bed every once in a while. I realize he is growing up all too fast, and I rather enjoy cuddling with him some nights (when his toes aren't up my nose...). But the kid does need more sleep. I just don't know how to get him to achieve it!
Advice????
i felt the same way about bailee, her sleeping and her eating habits. she is a night owl too. school knocked her off her toes though - there have been a handful of nights, including last night where she comes home and crashes at 7:00pm and is woken up at 7:00am - she'd sleep another 2 hours if she could.
ReplyDeletebut i figured, just like with eating, if she's sleepy - she'll sleep. if she's hungry, she'll eat.
while i know that doesnt mean much or fix it, i guess you can rest assured that it'll catch up to him and fortunately at his age he has the opportunitites to make up for it.
i used to have an issue sleeping in my own bed - due to nightmares and giving myself panic attacks about aliens and the devil under my bed before falling asleep (lol i still do that to this day) and i remember we did a sticker chart for each night i stayed in bed and a reward at the end of the week. i think that worked pretty well....
another thing i do NOW to turn off my mind is to wear it out - so i talk to God before bed - not scripted prayers, but talk and talk and talk and then my mind drifts and wanders - usually right into a dream lol. now to get a kid to focus and talk to God? not likely to happen, but it's worth a shot to try and wear his brain out before bed in some way???
Let's replace our very comfortable bed with something not so comfortable!
ReplyDeleteI'm going to have a nightmare about aliens now because Lizzie reminded me that I'm afraid of them.
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