Sudden Night time issues...

[~Debbie~]

Aiden (25months) has been great at going to bed, until about 2 or 3 nights ago, when it has suddenly become a huge drama.
Normally, the evening routine is as follows..
6pm - Dinner, 7pmish - bath, 7.30/8ish - bed.
We give him a bottle, kiss him good night, and walk out. Generally, about 5min later, he calls one of us, and we go in to get the bottle. He either rolls over and goes to sleep, or, jabbers to himself for abit, and goes to sleep when he's ready. Rarely need to go back in to comfort him.

All of a sudden, it has got difficult. Going to the bath is abit of an issue, but, not to bad, and then, once into bed, he cries, and screams abit.We try staying with him to comfort him, (laying in bed with him, stroking his forehead, rocking him, standing beside the bed, tried it all..) to walking out and letting him cry. Sometimes when we go back in, he will start being silly and jumping on the bed, and when we tell him to lay down, he gets hysterical. He stops instantly if he thinks he's going to get his way etc.

Baby brother arrived a while ago, so, i'm not sure if its a sudden 'delayed' reaction to that, or that when Aiden first started to get abit unsettled, we had my brother staying with us, and to avoid a scene, we let him get back up, so, perhaps now created a little routine that he wants to stay in.. He has also just finished cutting the last of his molars, but, i think they are finished?

Tonight we tried giving him something to help calm him, which has help somewhat, but, still not the nice little reliable sleeper that he normally is.

I dont think he's having night mares, cause, once he's asleep, he stays asleep till the morning. Generally, he wakes about 7.30 -8ish.

He still has a day nap, generally anywhere from 1.5 to 3hours. Today i woke him once he had been asleep for just over 3hours..

Any suggestions? even just to know that other with kids this age have gone thru, or, going thru the same thing.

On the bright side i guess, he never actually gets out of bed, i guess thats a bonus

[rhyb]

Hmm when I have issues with Aiden (sorry our DS' share the name) I sit with him but I dont touch him or interact. If he gets up all I say is 'lay down Aiden sleep time' Im consistant and Aiden knows he isnt leaving the room so he gives in. Have you tried no physical contact?

[~Debbie~]

thanks.. i guess we really havent.. we have tried abit i guess, standing beside the bed, but, not for any great lenght of time. perhaps where we are going wrong, is trying lots of different techniques on the same night.. he's possibly getting confused as to what we're doing?

[naomi54]

would love to hear what others have to say b/c we are having same dramas with DS1, although it started about a month or so before DS2 came along, day time naps are great and work fantastically, but night time grrrr, your story seems like my life Deb......hope we both can get sum answers.....

[~Debbie~]

Naomi.. we stumbled across a new idea, and it seems to be working brillantly.. touch wood.
New routine..
5.30pm - bath or shower
6pm - dinner
7pm bed. (with his bottle)

What was suggested in a book, is that some toddlers get to stimulated by a bath/shower after dinner, so, perhaps doing it before dinner, or earlier, so, that when they are tired in the evening, you just pop their pj's on, and put them to bed. It does create more washing thou, as we put clean clothes on after the bath, which gets dirty during dinner, so, rarely can be put back on the next day.

But, its working a treat. He still had a 3 hour day nap yesterday, (i woke him after 3hours!), so, i was abit concerned how he would go last night, as lately, he is either haveing very short day naps, or no naps at all, so he generally has been tired, but, nope, he went to sleep brillantly.

The best part is that lately, we have been managing to get Aiden to sleep at 7, and, once he's asleep, i fed Brody to sleep, so, by 7.30pm latest, both boys are sound asleep... BRILLANT!

[bubno.3]

Morning

Sounds like you have figured DS1 out good for you.... i was getting worried there as we have a youngest who is 13 mths and we want to try for another soon but that would mean DS1 would be 24 mths and i was thinking oh no i dont want too many drama hahah

Does your 25 mth go to daycare?

Ours will be as i just wouldn't cope and i do work occasionally as well

[~Debbie~]

nope, no day care. I dont work thou.

all i can recommend for you, is, once you're pregnant get DS1 into a routine, and stick to it. Make sure that he can be put to bed by either yourself, and/or your partner.

I know that bottles at Aiden's age arent recommended, but, he wont take milk out of a sippy cup, and, for us, its a guaranteed way of putting him to bed, for both day and night sleeps. Rarely, until this recent issue came up, do we have to put any effort into him going to bed, just, give him his bottle, his bears, and put him to bed. We dont do any form really of controlled crying, so, having a nice little calm enviroment works.

I now spend lots of time at home, keeping things the same, and consistant every day helps alot in getting them both to bed. It also helps in keeping my sanity, as i am not stressing about having to go out, all the arranging to be done, and then getting home, and rushing around trying to get over tired, and over stimulated kids to bed, shopping away, etc etc.