Ok, I am now reaching out to those of you who are reading this. My daughter has always been a great sleeper. She has always slept in her own bed and since she was just over one, was willing to go to be at bed time on her own. Recently, she has decided that not only does she not want to go to bed, when she does finally collapse from exhaustion; she wants to do it in our bed. Luckily we have a king size bed and can accommodate her, but I don’t want this to become a habit. Neither I nor my husband sleep well with her in the bed. We are each worried that she will fall in the crack between the headboard and the mattress (she is a sleeping wiggle worm and moves all over) or that one or the other of us will smother her in our sleep (this is mostly my husband). All in all it is just a bad situation.
I have tried everything to get her to go to bed. I even, sad to say, drugged her with Tylenol! She is teething, so I did have a reason to give her meds, but I was hoping for a good night’s sleep too! We have rocked her, put her to be crying, allowed her to cry herself to sleep, you name it; all to no avail because we inevitably hear that midnight call to Mommy or Daddy to ‘come get me!’
If I ever figure out the secret cure to this I will be sure to share, but in the meantime, if anyone else has some infinite wisdom to share, please do! I can’t be the only one with this issue!
I had this problem with Ashleigh but she was a few months old, and it was letting her cry herself to sleep, it took several nights but it worked. Andrew was closer to 3 when I moved him out of my bed. No it wasn't three years straight, he started sleeping with me when Randy moved out. First I have a nightly routine, bath, snack, story and so on. I ALWAYS keep the lights down for at least 30 minutes before bed if not an hour all over the house, lamps, the light over the stove and so on. I also turn the radio on or one of the music channels on TV, you would be surprised how much it slows and calms the mood of everyone. Once it's time for bed, that's it, put her to bed, kiss her and walk out. If you believe she is not hurt, dirty or anything else, DO NOT go back in there. You are the parent, you set the rules. It doesn't mean you don't love her it means you, her and Mark all need sleep, and you two need your bed to be your bed! Once you have her in "your" routine then if you want you can do a special "sleepover" night. Once a week or month, whatever works for you. I'm pretty cut and dry when it comes to bed time but all of my kids are great sleepers and I don't have any issues, when it's 8, they all know the drill. And I get my time to think straight and for a little while be me. Hope this helps
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