Monday, January 26, 2009
Trouble in (sleep) paradise
I'm not really sure when it began, but slowly my toddler is reverting back to his infant sleep pattern at night. Lately, it's felt more like September 2007 than January 2009! Every night, without fail, Chase wakes up anywhere from 1-4 times during the night. At first I was so surprised by it, that I went it to check on him every time I heard him saying (with that cute little whiny voice), "mommy, mommy." He's always okay and usually all he needs is for me to open the door and say, "Chase, mommy's here... go back to bed now." And he says, "Yep!" and lays right down and goes right back to sleep. So last week, I decided that maybe he just needs to cry it out. That was the solution way back in 2007 when he didn't sleep through the night until he was 8 months old. I finally just had to break down and stop going in there, and after just 1 night of him crying, he has slept through the night ever since. Well, up until a few weeks ago! So anyway, last week I decided to try it one night. I refused to go open his door. After about an hour, I couldn't take it anymore. I'm not sure where I got my resolve from last time I did this. But I'm so glad that I DID go in because what I found was a little boy completely undressed and shivering in his crib! In his anguish he had removed his pajamas and it was COLD that night! I felt so bad!! So I haven't tried the "crying it out" again. Last night he woke up 3 times. It's not so much that I mind getting up to take care of him... if he actually needs taking care of. If he was sick, or hungry, or thirsty I wouldn't mind. It just seems crazy that all we have to do is open the door and say, "go back to bed!" And the ironic thing is that just a few days before he starting doing this, Eric and I had decided that we were going to go ahead and convert his crib to a toddler bed. We were just waiting on Eric to get back in town and we had even told Chase all about his "big boy bed" and gotten him excited about it. Now we're not sure what to do... but it doesn't seem like the right time to make the transition. Anyone else had the same problems with their toddler? I would LOVE to have my sleep back... especially since I just have a few months left before I have no choice but to wake up several times a night with a sleepless baby!
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2 comments:
:-( Good luck. I don't have any advice, but it shounds like he might be stressed about "the big boy bed" or the new baby.
Aaah...this reminds me of my au pair days! The girls slept soooo badly - they were constantly crying and, even worse, getting up and going into their parents room. And they did it from about age 2/3 thru until I left when they were 4/5. I don't know, Shannon...I think it's a phase most, if not all, kids go through. I've always been of the mindset that you should just let them cry it out, but I'm not a mom so I guess it's not my place to say.
I will say that you're probably just going to have to tough it out for a while. And once he's in his big bed, definitely DON'T let him sleep with you. That's a terrible habit to break. But he'll get better. In a couple of years. :P Just kidding!
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