MoonDancer
New Member
This is where I say that easy child#1 is "almost a difficult child"....
easy child#1 will wake up sometime between 1AM - 3AM crying. We've been struggling with this issue since he was a baby. We had the baby monitor set up and husband would always answer his cries because I can't hear the monitor. I finally convinced husband to remove the baby monitors two years ago, because husband needed to get sleep! But that's when easy child#1 started just crawling into our bed in the middle of the night. Now that he's starting kindergarten tomorrow, it's absolutely annoying and is no longer cute.
We've done everything we can think of from rewards to bribes. We even tried "the Nanny" method, where we would silently escort easy child#1 back to his bed each and everytime he got up until we would hope he'd finally learn. We gave up after spending 6 nights in a row fighting with him for two hours. He'd wind up SCREAMING, waking up the entire house and sending all the dogs howling. We'd try to console him, but he'd wind up just passing out from exhaustion of fighting us. He can be just as stubborn as we are, if not more!
This has gotten dangerous for husband because he is a truck driver. Would you want a sleepy trucker driving a big *** truck on the same road as you? Now I'm afraid to go to sleep, because I want to intervene before easy child#1 gets into our room. I can't hear, so I have to stay up like a watchdog to catch him.
husband & I have a bedtime routine that we do with all the kids. Showers, jammies, read a book, small talk, ILY's, hugs/kisses, fives, goodnight, sweetdreams, and we walk out. Just like the girls, easy child#1 goes to sleep almost right away.
I've got thoughts on maybe a type of sleep disorder? He doesn't sleep walk. husband & I have asked all the "whys" and everytime it's a different story that seems like made up excuses. He doesn't seem to be scared of anything. He's not having nightmares or night terrors.
He demands to have the nightlight, heaven forbid that it burns out in the middle of the night. He doesn't like the silence, so we got him a radio. At first we were able to just put it on the one hour timer, but then he'd wake up when the radio shut off. Now it's on all night. But he sleeps fine when he crawls into our pitch-black dark and silent room. He has a security blanket and a stuffed animal that he likes as well.
I don't allow my kids to have caffiene, so I don't think it's that. I also don't allow junk foods in my house, so it isn't an issue with sugar hyperactivity (as my mom would say). I think scientists have busted that one anyway? easy child#1 eats good at supper time, so I've ruled out hunger.
easy child#1 gets pretty cranky sometimes because of this sleep issue. I stopped the naps last year because then he would be up all night, even if it was just a 45 minute nap.
If anyone has ANY ideas or suggestions on why this might be happening, or what I can do - please please respond. I'm so sleep deprived now that I've got zombie beat.
easy child#1 will wake up sometime between 1AM - 3AM crying. We've been struggling with this issue since he was a baby. We had the baby monitor set up and husband would always answer his cries because I can't hear the monitor. I finally convinced husband to remove the baby monitors two years ago, because husband needed to get sleep! But that's when easy child#1 started just crawling into our bed in the middle of the night. Now that he's starting kindergarten tomorrow, it's absolutely annoying and is no longer cute.
We've done everything we can think of from rewards to bribes. We even tried "the Nanny" method, where we would silently escort easy child#1 back to his bed each and everytime he got up until we would hope he'd finally learn. We gave up after spending 6 nights in a row fighting with him for two hours. He'd wind up SCREAMING, waking up the entire house and sending all the dogs howling. We'd try to console him, but he'd wind up just passing out from exhaustion of fighting us. He can be just as stubborn as we are, if not more!
This has gotten dangerous for husband because he is a truck driver. Would you want a sleepy trucker driving a big *** truck on the same road as you? Now I'm afraid to go to sleep, because I want to intervene before easy child#1 gets into our room. I can't hear, so I have to stay up like a watchdog to catch him.
husband & I have a bedtime routine that we do with all the kids. Showers, jammies, read a book, small talk, ILY's, hugs/kisses, fives, goodnight, sweetdreams, and we walk out. Just like the girls, easy child#1 goes to sleep almost right away.
I've got thoughts on maybe a type of sleep disorder? He doesn't sleep walk. husband & I have asked all the "whys" and everytime it's a different story that seems like made up excuses. He doesn't seem to be scared of anything. He's not having nightmares or night terrors.
He demands to have the nightlight, heaven forbid that it burns out in the middle of the night. He doesn't like the silence, so we got him a radio. At first we were able to just put it on the one hour timer, but then he'd wake up when the radio shut off. Now it's on all night. But he sleeps fine when he crawls into our pitch-black dark and silent room. He has a security blanket and a stuffed animal that he likes as well.
I don't allow my kids to have caffiene, so I don't think it's that. I also don't allow junk foods in my house, so it isn't an issue with sugar hyperactivity (as my mom would say). I think scientists have busted that one anyway? easy child#1 eats good at supper time, so I've ruled out hunger.
easy child#1 gets pretty cranky sometimes because of this sleep issue. I stopped the naps last year because then he would be up all night, even if it was just a 45 minute nap.
If anyone has ANY ideas or suggestions on why this might be happening, or what I can do - please please respond. I'm so sleep deprived now that I've got zombie beat.
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