DH and DS have a bit of routine at night - just a funny little thing that they say every night. DH says to DS "No crying, no play, no yelling out, just sleeping" then he repeats "No..." and DS says "crying" etc. It come about after we went through a bit of rough patch of DS not wanting to sleep without someone in his room.. It is DS's special thing that he does with his daddy and he loves it and it seems to work on him. If we have a night when he does mess around, then DH will go back in and repeat it, and then leave the room. He also has a music box that plays a light show on the ceiling and a song for 10 mins, which for us is kind of good indicator of time to go back in etc.
And although DS sleeps really well (*touch wood!!*), every Friday night DH will actually lay down on the bed with him and listen while I do the stories and then Dh will lay with him until he (yes, both DS and DH most of the time ) falls asleep. DS loves it - he is learning his days of the week so he knows Fridays are creche day and sleeping with Daddy in his room.
Mel: I think it's bad sleep hygine to spend so much time in the bedroom trying to get him to sleep. You should only try for 20 mins at time (this goes for adults too). My sister is a psych and she says one of the worst things you can do while you're trying to go to sleep is stay in bed and get frustrated. We do all our night time routine in the lounge. We read books, have cuddles chat about what happened today and what will be happening tomorrow. Then we walk him to bed, tuck him in, give him a kiss and promptly leave. This works really well. He knows bed is for sleep and that's all. If he calls out we go in say 'head on pillow, close your eyes mummy loves you' then turn around and walk out. We just repeat this over and over with cuddles if he is upset.
I hope this helps an you guys get a bit of your night back.
) falls asleep. DS loves it - he is learning his days of the week so he knows Fridays are creche day and sleeping with Daddy in his room.
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