Giveaway: Two $150 Sleep Consultations with Pickles & Ice Cream
It's been three weeks since my Adventures in Sleep Training. If you'd like to follow my sleep training experience from the beginning, click here.
I am now out the other side and couldn't be happier. Truthfully, we were out the other side after only four days but then we went away on vacation for a week and I wanted to make sure it all stuck before I posted the results.
So now it's official. Harlow is sleep trained. Mazzy's sleep has improved drastically. The girls are sleeping in the same room. Mike and I have our evenings back. Believe it or not, I'm walking on air. I never thought I could feel so freeeeeeee! Flying away on a wing and a prayer, who could it beeeee??? Believe it or not it's just meeeeee…..
Sorry. I got a little carried away. This is what happens when you are able to go to bed at night and then SLEEP STRAIGHT THROUGH UNTIL MORNING.
You know who else is happy about sleep training?
Harlow.
Yep, the baby we tortured for almost a week now also realizes the benefits of NOT FREAKING THE F' OUT when her head rests on a mattress.
FYI- I think sleep training Harlow would have been over even sooner if it wasn't for Mazzy (aka The Three-year-old Who Couldn't Whisper If Her Life Depended On It).
Last weekend, a friend of mine came over who hasn't seen Harlow in over a month. She commented that Harlow was being super smiley. "She never used to smile!" Harlow also let my friend hold her. "Harlow never used to let me hold her!" And she didn't cry whenever she was on the ground. "Harlow is a changed baby!"
It's hard to look back and realize how exhausted Harlow must have been. I thought she was a happy baby who was just a little needy sometimes. But now I realize her constant need to be held and her resistance around bedtime (what we thought was her bedtime) were both byproducts of sleep deprivation.
I think I secretly liked that she would only go to me. I also kind of liked dragging Harlow into my bed at 3am because it was the only way to get her to go back to sleep. I loved snuggling with her in the wee hours of the morning. I loved her head conking down on my chest so hard it was almost audible. Those were hard things to give up.
But the great thing isโ now that Harlow understands "lying down" is an enjoyable experience, she does it voluntarily. She might take a second to rest her head on a soft pillow. Or cuddle with me at a random moment of the day. In fact, I owe the magnificent picture at the top of this post to my new best friend, Sleep Training. That never would have happened a month ago.
So here's the rundown.
Harlow goes to sleep between 6-6:30pm. I know that sounds early to some people but she is clearly tired at this point and wants to go to bed. She rubs her eyes to let me know. One night, she even rested her head on the side of her high chair during dinner to let me know she was ready.
Bedtime routine is two seconds.
I carry Harlow into the nursery, put a pacifier in her mouth and put her in the crib. There's a song I like to sing but usually Harlow hurls herself towards the crib before I've even finished the first line. Once down, she curls herself around one of her many blankies and closes her eyes. There is no crying whatsoever. I exit the room. We don't hear a peep from her until twelve hours later.
I was scared when we went on vacation the week after sleep training, but Harlow adjusted just fine to being in a Pack and Play away from home. It was a one night set back but we kept to the routine and she was over it the very next night. When we came back home, we had no problem transitioning back into her crib.
I've put her down for a nap at a friend's house. I put her to sleep at a relative's house during Rosh Hashanah dinner. Mike has put her to bed. Our nanny has put her to bed. My mother has put her to bed. She'll go to sleep for anyone anywhere as long as you put her down at the right time.
Mazzy has been a little trickier. But after working with Erin (our sleep training consultant), we adjusted the plan so it works for everybody.
Originally, Erin had me put Mazzy and Harlow to bed at the same time, which she maintains was the best way to get through the first week. But when we went away on vacation the next week, it felt too early to put Mazzy to bed at 6:30pm. Plus, Mazzy had a harder time sleeping in a strange environment.
We ended up putting Harlow down at 6:30pm and then starting Mazzy's bedtime routine as soon as Harlow was in her crib. I thought we would go back to putting them to bed at the same time once we got back home, but after talking it through with Erin, I realized this plan actually works better for us.
When Harlow is tired, she wants to be put in her crib immediately. Whereas, with Mazzy, the last thing she wants is for us to rush through her bedtime routine.
So, after Harlow is in bed, we change Mazzy into her pajamas and read her a bedtime book out in the living room. This gives her some much needed alone time with mom and dad, without her sister sucking up the attention.
It is my favorite part of the night too.
Mazzy is in bed before 7pm every night and usually falls asleep pretty quickly. She's been sleeping later too. Lately, she gets up around 6:45pm (about fifteen minutes after her sister) which is a big win around here.
I should note, that since we started putting the girls to bed earlier at night, they are both waking up later in the morning. Erin says "sleep begets sleep". It's a magical thing.
As for naptime, we stopped Mazzy's naps since her new preschool is in the afternoon.
Harlow's naps are going much better than before but have been harder to establish. She takes a nap at 8:30am, a nap at noon and a stroller nap at 3pm. The times don't change but the length of her nap is inconsistent. They are anywhere from a half hour to an hour and a half. Erin says that's ok since she is sleeping so solidly at night.
For those people who think sleep training is just for the parents, that couldn't be farther from the truth. Don't get me wrong, sleeping through the night is lifechanging for Mike and me.
But a super happy baby is even better.
Today, as promised, I am giving away two sleep consultations with Erin from Pickles and Ice Cream Sleep Consulting.
A sleep consultation includes a written sleep plan for your child, a 45 minute consult over FaceTime/Skype and two weeks of email support. It costs $150, which is less than most sleep consultants and well worth it. I consulted with Erin daily and having her support was invaluable to me.
I also want to stress that Erin designs a different plan for each family. She considers the needs of the kids and the lifestyles of the parents. The plan she designed for me took into account the age and personality of both girls, Mazzy's schedule, two working parents, siblings in the same room and several other components unique to us.
Erin is also offering $10 off a consultation to anybody that likes her facebook page before September 25th (the duration of this giveaway). If you sign up for a consultation and happen to win the giveaway, she will gladly refund your money.
As you can tell, I cannot recommend Erin highly enough!
Here are the rules.
GIVEAWAY
1) To enter, you must be a fan of both a Mommy Shorts fan and a Pickles and Ice Cream fan on facebook. Then give a brief description of your sleep issues in the comment section below.
That's it. I'm keeping it simple.
Winner will be announced Wednesday, September 25th.
Good luck!
Note: If you have any questions about the sleep training, please ask them on my facebook page. It's hard to reply to comments on a giveaway because it messes up picking a winner based on the number of entries. Thanks!
UPDATE: The winners are Loran (who has a 1yo that needs to be 'mom bounced' several times to go to sleep) and Kate (who has a 1yo that messed her 3yo's sleep). Congratulations! Look for an email from me!
We have a 4 year-old and an almost 2 year-old. The 4 year-old typically isn’t going to sleep until almost 9 pm (we put her in bed between 7:30 and 8 but she reads until 9), sleeps until about 6:30 and doesn’t nap. I feel like this isn’t enough.
My 2 year-old is more of a problem. We do bedtime routine and put him down around 7:30 pm, but if you don’t stay in his room with him until he falls asleep he cries and throws a fit, and we have to lock him in his room so he doesn’t get out. He usually only cries for a few minutes each night, but I would LOVE to be able to have a night time routine that doesn’t involve us locking a crying toddler in his room.
HELP!
My six month old son hasn’t slept for more than two consecutive hours since he was six weeks old. Because he is breastfed and refuses to take a bottle, the sleep battle is one that I have to fight alone. I am the epitome of a zombie mom! To make matters worse, in a moment of weakness a few months ago, I let the baby sleep in my bed so I could try and get a little extra rest and now he won’t sleep ANYWHERE else except right beside me. I love my son more than anything, but I am exhausted and I miss sharing a bed with my husband. If I win this sleep consultation, you won’t just be helping my baby, you’ll be saving my marriage!
Fan of both, of course.
Quinn just turned two and still has to be rocked to sleep most of the time. She also still wakes up multiple times a night. Sometimes it’s for water and sometimes she wants me to lay with her. Even though she wakes up multiple times she also wakes up TOO EARLY. That’s the biggest problem. I can’t function that early!
I just have to say thank you! While you were going through sleep training with Harlow, it helped me to realize why our two year old was such a mess in the evenings, so we moved up bedtime and man, what a difference! Dinner, bath and bedtime is peaceful and happy again. Thanks so much for sharing your experience with us!
We have a solid routine with my 22mo, but will soon be adding her little sister into the mix. I am massively paranoid about ruining our good sleeper when they start sharing a room. I have been trying to come up with a plan and am utterly overwhelmed.
We’re all so tired in our house! Help! Our little guy won’t sleep for more than two-three hours at a time. Ever. He won’t adhere to a schedule and I’m not sure what to try next. Add to that, we’re a house with two under two!
My daughter will be 3 on friday and we struggle with naps and bed time. She thinks she “needs” to play with toys in her bed for an hr before each and I just let her lately because I’m due with baby #2 in 39 days and I’m too exhausted to fight it. I’m not even sure she still needs a nap during the day but the days she doesn’t nap bed time is worse aaaand she sleeps WAY less. My husband has been away in the Military for my whole pregnancy so it’s up to me to correct her sleep if I want sleep. This would be an awesome thing to win with #2 coming and sleep will be most precious to us!
My son turns one tomorrow. (Where did that year just go?) And we are still rocking him to sleep every night. The routine is this: give him his bottle, go into the nursery and do the “mom bounce” back and forth until he passes out. Then ever so carefully, lay him down in his crib and pray that his little head doesn’t pop back up the second it touches the mattress. Usually it does and the process must be repeated a good 3 times before it sticks. Then, he wakes up around 3, 4, or 5 and gets brought into bed with us before he will fall back asleep, if we are lucky, until 5:30 or six. Woof.
Have to lay down every night with 3.5 yo to get him to go to sleep, otherwise he gets out of bed. Have tried just putting him back in bed…stopped counting at 50 times, and he just gets more and more hysterical. We obviously need a sleep consultant.
Our 20 month old hit some kind of sleep snag more than two months ago (and we just kept hoping it’d stop on its own…HA!). We used to be able to do our dinner, run around naked a little, bathtime, bedtime story/song routine and put her down and she’d be out for hours – if she DID wake up we could go in and give her a drink and she’d lay back down and go to sleep. Now, her bedtime is a range, depending on when I can get her down for a nap because otherwise she doesn’t want to fall asleep at bedtime (7:30). At night, my husband is doing basically ALL of the nighttime wakings because I’m pregnant and exhausted. Usually all he has to do is go in, ssshh her and give her a binky. But she usually ends up waking up and refusing to go back to sleep until she comes to bed with me or with my husband, who has been (Sadly) sleeping on an air mattress in the living room to make sure I have the maximum sleep I can get. Her naps are anywhere from an hour to an hour and a half usually, although sometimes it’s only 40 minutes. And she won’t just lay down and go to sleep – I have to rock her to sleep again and then lay her down ever so gently. We’re not exhausted but we are worried because we’re getting ready to move and the baby will be here in April and we’d like to be able to know that one child will (mostly) sleep through the night. A sleep consultant would be awesome.
We have a 5 year old, a 3 year old, and a 9 month old. Both my husband and I work outside of the home and nights are pretty crazy. The bigger boys frequently come into our bed in the middle of the night, which my husband would like to stop. The 9 month old used to be the best sleeper until he reached about 6 months. We’ve been trying to let him cry it out, but his crib is still in our bedroom and he just sits and stares at us sobbing in the middle of the night. So, then I bring him into our bed and cuddle with him just so that he will sleep. But, I’m not getting much rest that way.
I’m so glad Harlow is fully sleep trained.
My 16 month old is still waking up at least twice during the night, and I think part of it is because we co-sleep part of the night. When he wakes up, he nurses back to sleep (I know, another issue). He goes down easy for his nap (down to just one, around 1-3pm), and bedtime (6.30-7pm) in his crib, but he wakes up once at around 11.30pm and I’ll bring him to my bed (and yes, I love the snuggles too), then a couple more times after that. He’s up for the day before 7am.
Needless to say, I am exhausted. I want to first, be able to get him to go back to sleep in his crib, when he wakes up at 11.30pm. Then stay in it all night. Ultimately, I want him to sleep through the night and be moved to his brother’s room. He is currently in our bedroom. The second part, I’m a little anxious about because his older brother (3.5 years old) sleeps through the night, and his bedtime routine is 5 minutes and straightforward. I don’t want to disrupt that.
I have a three year old and a five year old who (should) share a room. What really happens is the five year old falls asleep but the 3 year old wakes her up, and keeps waking her up util she is either banished to my bed or 10:30 or later. Whichever comes first. The five year is hysterical with exhaustion in the morning and the three year wants to take a 3 hour nap, probably to make up for no sleep.
Did I mention I am pregnant? And that I need like 12 hours of sleep. And that my mother in law just moved in with us, and she could do with sleep training too (pacing all night, GAH!)
please please please let me win!!!
We have a 3 year old little boy and an 8 month old little girl. The 3 year old goes to sleep way too late and wakes up way too early. The 8 month old is still rooming with us (2 bedroom house) and still insists on waking up every 3 hours to eat and then gets too hyper to get back to sleep for atleast an hour to an hour and a half.
We would definitely be grateful for some advice!
(I have liked both pages on facebook as well!)
I have an 11.5 month old who goes to sleep very easily – and early! – but can’t seem to stay asleep. About a month ago, she started sleeping 7-8 hours, waking and then would sleep another 3-4 after I nursed her. She just cut two top teeth and that good sleep went out the window! She isn’t nursing each time she wakes, either. I’ve tried everything!
I have a 2 year old and an 8 month old that I want to be in the same room. My 2 year old has a decent routine but I need to figure out how to get then down at te same time or close times. My 8 month old is really spotty at sleeping through the night and liked to be held to be put down to sleep. Both my husband and I work and my 2 year old goes to daycare and my 8 month old stays at home for now with my MIL. She can’t physically walk to the crib while holding the baby so they usually nap together while she is holding the baby (I know this is the root of the holding problem). I would like my 2 year old to not freak out at bed time and my baby to sleep through the night and ultimately to have them in the same room.
My EBF 5.5 month old is still waking up 2x+ a night. Sometimes popping the pacifier back in her mouth will suffice, other times she needs to be rocked, and other times she needs to be fed to go back to sleep. Her bedtime routine starts at 7pm and goes like this: bath, pj’s, swaddle blanket, book (2 stories), feed/rock. She’s typically asleep in her crib by 7:30 (even if she’s awake after her feeding). Her wake up times are sporadic (could be 12:00am, 2:00am, 3:00am). I’ll change her diaper and feed her at around 5:30am (whether she’s asleep or not) before I go to work and she’s back to sleep and wakes up for the day between 7:30 and 8:30am.
For us it was our older child who needed to be trained ๐ We all got into a routine when he was young and he slept in our room…in a toddler bed. His brother is in love with his crib and tells me when it’s nuh-night time! My biggest fear of getting them both in their room was messing up my almost 2 year old b/c his almost 5 year old brother didn’t know any different! Two week ago before school started we went for it. We also started with putting them to bed at the same time, but 7pm was just too early for my oldest and made it more difficult. We ended up letting him stay up until the baby was asleep. After 4-5 nights of chaos, they are now happily and quietly sleeping the in the same room….and it’s NOT my room! It was fun to read about your sleep training as I was doing my own!
We sleep trained at 10 months after months and months of bedtime non-sense and multiple night awakenings. We also got a different baby from it- I feel bad that we let it go on so long- that baby was tired! Anyway, out issue continues to be that he wakes up too early a lot of mornings- obviously 4:30 or 5 is too early for us- but it is also too early for him, he is a crab when he wakes up too early. I’m a St. Louis person so I would love to work with Erin!
A three year old who once was a great sleeper now wakes up at 2 or 3 am and wants in my bed or someone to snuggle her in her bed!!!
I have a 2 year old who doesn’t like bed time. She never has. We have to sit in her room until she falls asleep. Otherwise she will scream and cry hysterically and climb out of her bed. We also have to sit with her at nap time. She hates anp time and IF she does fall asleep, its only for a VERY short amount of time!
She also has issues with nightmares or night terrors, I don’t know which. She wakes at night screaming and crying hysterically. She climbs out of bed to come into our bed. In order to get her back to bed, my husband has to take her back to her crib and then lay on the floor until she falls asleep. This usually just ends up with him sleeping in her room most nights.
I need to get her sleep straight as we also have a 3 month old who will eventually share a room with his sister. I can’t have her waking him up all night once I move him into her room!
PLEASE PLEASE Pick me!! <3
My daughter is 2.5 and has never been a good sleeper. Recently, she wakes during the night hysterical and will wake up at 5am every day. Her 11 month old brother isn’t any better. They share a room and while I have attemped sleep training with both, it never works. He wakes up between 3 and 4AM every night and she is up at 5. It is an insane cycle and I haven’t slept in 3 years! HELP!
We are stuck in the nursing to sleep vicious cycle! My 20-month old daughter will stay down for a significant amount of time at night but always needs a nursing session before falling back asleep. And for nap time she won’t even let me get out of the bed and can typically nurse for the entire two hours straight! Help!
Our 3-year-old Rosie has had a tough time adjusting to Eastern time after we moved to MI from NM (2 hour time difference) this spring. It seems like she’s read to stop afternoon naps except that she’s too tired not to nap – but she naps late, like 2:30 or 3. Sometimes she won’t nap, then falls asleep at 5:30 or 6:30 and sleeps through the night, which makes me wonder if that’s a better bedtime than the 9:30 we’re managing right now.
Getting her up in the morning for preschool is hard, so I really want to shift her whole schedule back at least 2 hours but I don’t know how!
Glad to hear your sleep training worked so well.
I have two babies-youngest turned one on Saturday and oldest will be 3 in October. Youngest is great–goes to sleep between 7-8 and sleeps through the night. He shares a room with his older brother, which can pose problems. My oldest has had sleeping issues since watching Monsters Inc. at my sister’s house (I wish I was joking). This was in July. He hasn’t slept well since. He tells me he is afraid of monsters and Mike Wozowski. He refuses to go to bed by himself and doesn’t fall asleep until 11pm. We go through bedtime battles for at least 2 1/2 hours a night. There are nights where my oldest will scream loud enough to wake my youngest and then they are both awake and upset. Desperate for some help.
My 3 year old was a fantastic sleeper – consistent night time sleep and naps since she was born. That stopped after the birth of her brother. Our little guy turns one next month and wakes up every morning between 4 and 5 a.m. We have tried putting him to bed earlier/later/etc. He always wakes up and refuses to go back to sleep, but then falls back to sleep around 8 a.m. His afternoon nap varies from 1 hour to 1.5 at the most. That said, our 3 year old daughter now wakes up periodically throughout the night crying, refusing to stay in bed,etc. She use to fall asleep instantly, but now it has been a battle for a year. I suspect that sleep deprivation on the part of our daughter is the cause for her new behavior issues at school and home. With all of this craziness, my husband and I could be officially classified as zombies. SOS
My son is 18 months and my second son will be here December 8. AND I AM EXHAUSTED! My son cries for a bit when I put him down at 7/7:30, then wakes up screaming between 5am and 6am. Yes, he finally is sleeping through the night but he’s getting up too early! He can only take one nap a day at daycare, from 12-2ish, but he’s so tired by 9am every morning! And I, of course, am so tired by 7am ๐
I’ve got a Hatlow! We started sleep training about the same time you did and it helped to limit the wakeuos, but the last 3 days (teething I’m guessing) she wakes up at 4am, much better than multiple get ups, but not so easy. I think it has to do with her daycare and when she doesn’t nap well there, she wakes up early at home. Help! 10 months is long enough to wait to be human!
Oh my gosh. I need this like bad. We have a four-year-old, two-year-old and one on the way due in April. Momma needs sleep now more than ever, and especially when baby comes. I think the 2 y/o would be easy to train, but it’s her older sister that causes pandemonium at every step. She even resists bath time because she knows it’s right before bed. And she has an overactive imagination, hearing and seeing “monsters and ghosts” in every possible location in her room. HELP!!
Oh Lord PLEASE. I have a six year old daughter and a 2 years, 3 mo. son who “share” a bedroom. We have long since stopped trying to get my daughter Maggie to go to sleep in her bed because Sam, my son, is just screaming if you don’t put him to bed just as he wishes. Here’s how things have to go down, or else. Read 2 or 3 books to Sam in the rocking chair. He then wants to get up and go get water or say “Night night” again to Maggie and her dad who are reading in our bedroom. Then I turn on the “stars” (turtle nightlight that projects stars on the ceiling), and some lullabies. I rock him for about 5-10 minutes and then I tell him I’m putting him in his bed. At that point he says, “Sit, Mama. Sit.” I sit in the rocking chair next to his crib and just rock for a while. If I try and get up before he’s asleep, he goes nuts. So I sit and rock some more until he’s asleep or near enough to sleep that I can sneak out. Then I go get Maggie, who has fallen asleep in her bed and take her to her bed. No easy task since she weighs 50 lbs. now. So…our bedtime ritual is nearly an hour long. I work full time as an admin. assistant and can’t get home until about 6:00 p.m. every night. I cook dinner every night (we eat between 7:00 and 7:30) and rarely have any time to play with them in the evenings because getting ready for bed takes so long. Both of them usually get to sleep around 9:00 p.m., which is far too late I believe. My husband is 50 and works HARD physically every day. I am 42 and sooo tired at work every day b/c on top of Sam having a hard time getting to sleep on his own, he also wakes up once or twice every night and only on very rare occasions will he fall back to sleep on his own. I am at my wits’ end because my husband is dead to the world at night, so I’m dealing with these sleep issues alone. Sam won’t let his dad put him to bed OR help get him back to sleep at night anyway. The few times I’ve been away at night, Sam wakes up calling for me, and will NOT let anyone else touch him or hold him. He just walks through the house screaming my name and crying, finally collapsing on the floor when he is exhausted enough. Please help! We could never afford to hire a sleep consultant, but I TOtally believe it would be worth every penny if we could.
I have a 22 month old that has never slept (not even 15 minutes) in his crib. He was a preemie and had some breathing complications at birth and because of that, once we were able to bring him home from the hospital, there was no way I was letting him out of arms reach at night just in case something happened. I was inspired by your sleep training experience and attempted to do the same with him, but I failed.
He goes to sleep (in my bed) at about 11pm, wakes up once or twice during the night and is up and at it before the sun comes up.
It has been 27 months since I have been able to sleep through the night…I need HELP!!!
We have 2 year old twin girls. One of them was and still is a horrible sleeper. We know that she is overtired and that is why she keeps waking up at night. We have a consistent bed time routine but even if we put her in bed at 8 pm, she will be up until 9.30-10 pm. No matter what.
She also wakes up in the middle of the night and ask for milk. They go to daycare 3 times a week and when they are home, they do not nap.
I slept trained her twice already. At 4 months worked out just fine. Then we moved to USA from South America and everything went down hill. Tried again after their 1st birthday and she was climbing out of the crib and refusing to go back. They share a room and keeps waking up her sister. I really need help ๐
We have a very wonderful, but very tough, 2.5 year old daughter who will NOT go to sleep on her own. I made the mistake of not doing any sleep training with her when she was younger, and now she can not fall asleep on her own. I was always so against it – until I read about your experience with it! I begged my husband to hire Erin, but secretly I think he likes that my daughter comes in our room every night around 2am and sleeps the rest of the night with us. He’s also very frugal (or cheap, lol). We have always had a good bedtime routine (I think) and we put her down around 7-7:30, but she has always needed to be rocked, or you have to lay with her. Most nights it takes me an hour to get her to sleep. I work full time, and I’m often home alone at night with my daughter because my husband is a cop, so most of the responsibility falls on me. We are currently trying to have another baby and I’m SO nervous about bedtime with 2! I will definitely sleep train my second, but I’m not sure what I’m going to do on the nights I’m alone and I have to lay with my daughter for an hour! I would LOVE to win this, I really feel like it would change my life!
My three year old battles us every night about going to bed. He’s either afraid of the dark despite 3 night lights, or just wants to be with Mom & Dad. We tell 2 bedtime stories, then massage (aka Parmesan my back) or rub and cuddle. It can take two hours to get him to sleep! If he wakes up to go potty, he wants cuddles and rubs all over again. Another hour we don’t sleep. Please help!
My son Grant had terrible colic as a baby. He never slept unless he was nurses or held and carried around by me. My husband was a CPA at the time and was working through tax season and I was alone with two small children. My parents and inlaws still comment about my patience and how dark that time was for me. No one could help me, help Grant.
Fast forward, 2.5 years and Grant still has sleeping issues. He is bothered tremendously by the time changes and the seasons, and even the day to day temperature changes. (Yesterday it was 97* and by Friday it’s supposed to be a high of 60*) He has allergies and has been tested, but no results came from the first round of scratch tests. His allergies cause his eczema to flair and then he spends all day scratching his beautiful, milky skin until it is bloody. It is especially bad at bedtime when there is nothing else to do but lie there awake and scratch away because he C A N N O T S L E E P.
This summer we sold our old house, moved in with my parents, and now are settling in to our new house. There is no schedule any more. If he naps, then he wakes every two hours at night screaming and crying and destroying his bedroom, while waking everyone in the neighborhood. If he doesn’t nap, I’m lucky if the house is still standing by bed time and then sometime after passing out in bed, he makes his way to our bed and takes over the joint.
He’s tired. My husband and I are tired. Grant’s sisters are tired. We can’t continue on like this. So…I sincerely hope to win this fantastic sleep consult because we could use some help over here. Pretty please, with a cherry on top! Thanks for the chance to win!
I have a 2 yr old girl and a 6 yr old boy.
We have such a busy schedule and my husband and I both work full time. I see the effects every day of my kids being tired and us parents being tired.
We currently live with my mother in law and the kids share a room. the struggle I have is that the kids seem to get wound up right as we start their bed time routine, which leads to frustration and getting into bed later.
My son ends up in my mother in laws bed a couple of nights a week and the 2 year old ends up in our bed 5-6 nights a week and still has a pacifier (I would like to see this gone, but worry about the loss of sleep it may create). I too cherish the snuggles in the middle of the night, as I know in a few short years it will all change, but I know how important it is for us all to get good sleep and wish I knew how to change it.
You give me hope!
I am a single mom with no real support system — just three sweet friends (who are busy with their own kids!)
I sleep trained Tristan around his 1st birthday, but had to go through it over and over again. Although he slept through the night most nights, he would wake at 4:30 or 5 AM! BRUTAL.
Then, we moved. He wouldn’t sleep in his new room at all. He has now been in my bed every night for 4 months. He doesn’t sleep through the night most nights. On the bright side, he wakes up at 6:30 now.
Help!
I have a ten month old son who goes down around 730 pretty easily but still wakes repeatedly through the night for feedings. His nap schedule is also really erratic. Some days he takes 2 naps, some days 3…the other day he only took 1, and it can be really difficult to get him down for a nap.
We share our bedroom with our 14 month old son. We wakes 2-3 times a night, and we rock him/bottle him back to sleep. Our sleep as a family is in terrible shape. Help!
I work from 9am to 6pm every day, and don’t get home with my 10 month old until at least 7pm. Then I cook dinner, eat, play with baby, bath time, nurse baby, sing and put to bed between 8:30 and 9. Some nights she goes to bed just fine, other times she’s fussy and screaming and it takes up to 30 minutes for her to sleep. She’s usually awake by 1:30 in the morning, and is up every 10 to 15 minutes from there. I try not to pick her up, because that makes her stop crying but then she cries harder as soon as I put her down. Because I work so much and need sleep too… I usually will bring her in my bed at about 4am when I start to see things and realize that I need to be getting ready in two hours. She sleeps fine when she’s with me, but dad is against it. I have mixed feelings about it because I feel like I only get to see her on the weekends with my work schedule, but I do want her to be able to sleep in her own bed, in her own room. She does not take a pacifier, and i’ve tried finding her a lovey and although she plays with her toys and stuffed animals she hasn’t shown any real attachment to any of them besides dear ol’ mom!
Omg. You have just described my life to a T. Please let me know if you come up with a solution. My little guy is now 20 months and we still have the same issue.
I have a near 16month old who HATES being in his crib. Usually (98% of the time) once we start getting him to bed I am the ONLY person who can settle him down–if Daddy or Grandma tries to settle him, I spend two to three times as long trying to get him settled back down. He goes to bed fairly reliably about 8 pm, and will sleep through the night about half the time. The other half the time he wakes up between 10:30 and 12:30 and starts crying. If I hear him as he’s waking up and just starting to fuss, I can get him back down in 20 minutes or less. If he’s full blown screaming, it takes longer. He wakes up most mornings between 6 and 6:30, and is “snuggly” with his Daddy for another hour or so before he’s ready to get up and run around. Daddy stays home with him, but has problems with naptime. No matter how obviously tired he is, my little man WILL NOT settle down for a nap easily. The best method for getting him to nap is about 15-20 minutes of Ronnie James Dio music videos on youtube. He’ll sit in your lap and watch the videos, and will fall asleep on your shoulder and can then be put into his crib. He’ll sleep about 40 minutes to an hour before he wakes up. Occasionally he’ll snuggle back into your shoulder when you go get him, and fall back asleep. We also struggle with night terrors that include lots of throwing himself around as if throwing a tantrum and what is likely going to be a sleep walker when he gets bigger–he’ll stand up in the crib and bang his head against the rails fussing, while totally asleep.
We have a 5 month old who has begun fighting sleep at every turn. It takes us at at least an hour to get her to sleep at night (with all kinds of bouncing, rocking, jiggling, shushing that I swore I’d never do) and often, she’ll wake up 15 minutes later. She is such a light sleeper that we’re constantly tiptoeing around the house attempting (and usually failing) to avoid the creaky floorboards. Despite all of my attempts at a regular nap schedule, she almost always refuses to sleep when the sun is up, despite the room darkening shades we recently installed. And she is TIRED (so are we)!
I’m so excited for you that sleep training went so well!
My sleep problems with my kids are similar to yours, mostly. I have 4 kids (but 2 of them are ages 6 and 11, and the older ones are fine with bedtimes). My 3 year old girl is just starting to be okay with going to bed in her own bed (we’d been laying down with her every nap and night to help her fall asleep since birth) but she wakes up most nights and climbs into our bed until morning.
My 9 month old son is breastfed and, though he will stay asleep once he is done nursing at around 7 pm (then put into his crib), he wakes up around 11-midnight still and refuses to sleep unless he is a) being nursed and b) able to touch me in his sleep. This is a problem because no one can put him down for sleep except me. Also, our bed at 3 am is starting to look like a bad comedy, with the parents slowly being pushed off the mattress completely.
We need some help, some structure, some advice. Mostly, I need some time back for myself once in a while! (P.S. I’m working slowly on weaning the baby, though his intense need for me at bedtime is making this hard).
I have a (almost) 13 year old daughter and a 7 1/2 month old son who have rooms right next to each other. Our sleeping arrangements are NOT ideal in any fashion. My daughter has her own room, my husband sleeps in the nursery and the baby sleeps in bed with me. Yep – totally stinks. My little guy is still not sleeping through the night, will only sleep at all if I am holding him or next to him (this includes naps). The minute I go to put him down, he cries. I have tried putting him down early – 6 ish – he cried for about an hour and a half, I went in there to console and left – did this every 10 min. When he finally fell asleep he woke up an hour later. I went in, gave him his blanket (he is a thumb sucker – no pacifier) and he went back to sleep – repeated this ALL NIGHT every hour. Needless, gave up and he is back in my bed. OMG. I need help! I need a night of sleep and my poor husband wants to sleep in our bed again!!
My 16 month old is a rockstar sleeper…it is my four year old that is a nightmare. My 16 month old goes to sleep around 7pm and sleeps until 7 or 7:30am. Super great (and takes a long nap at mid-day). My four year old isn’t going to sleep until around 9pm each night and wakes up around 7am each day to get ready for preschool. It’s very clear that he isn’t getting enough sleep, but getting him to sleep is a nightmare. He is refusing to sleep alone in his room. He wants to sleep in our bed. In order to get him to sleep, I have to lay down with him in his room until he falls asleep…which some days isn’t until 9:30 or close to 10. It’s very clear that he isn’t getting enough sleep. I have tried just putting him back in his room…over and over again. We went on that like for over five hours one night before he literally passed out in the hallway at about 1am. In the process, he woke his brother up multiple times. We tried again the next night and he went until 1:20am before again, passing out in the hallway. Our pediatrician actually suggested locking him in his room (turning the door knob around). We are concerned that he will hurt himself if we do that. It is utterly exhausting and I have no time in the evenings…when I really need to be doing things around the house, catching up on some work, and just taking a little time to relax. My husband and I are both at our wits end. We need help!
I see that many of us have sleeping issues with our toddlers. I would like to include mine in hopes of winning a session with pickles & ice cream.
We have a 2.5 year old and 6 month old who should share a room, but don’t right now. I desperately want to move them into the same room, but have tried and failed every time. Both have sleeping issues and I put the blame squarely on my husband and I’s shoulders, I just don’t know what to do at this point.
My 6 month old goes down very easily, but has gotten into a nasty habit of nursing herself to sleep. She then wakes up every 3-4 hours to be fed. I give in because she sleeps in our room so crying it out is difficult. I would let her cry if she was in another room (her’s where she is supposed to be!) but then the boy would wake up too.
ahhh the boy- 2.5 years old and a master bed time staller. We start the process at about 7pm and it is usually finished around 9pm. You read those times correctly- 2 hours. Every night. We have tried starting later (maybe he isn’t tired yet the doctor’s said) but then he is just up until 10pm or later. We have tried earlier (maybe he is overtired they said) but that doesn’t seem to work either. He is up and out of his bed for TWO HOURS EVERY NIGHT! I am slowing being driven to insanity. On a positive note, his room is upstairs, so I do get a solid workout in going up and down the stairs for two hours.
We are exhausted. I am willing to try ANYTHING.
My 3.5 year son has only slept through the night a handful of times. In the beginning, the only way he would fall asleep and stay asleep was while he was being held. I brought him into my bed just to get some sleep, which I regret now. For the past 3.5 years, my husband has slept on the couch! He has napped at daycare/preschool, although at this point he is starting to give up on them. He still is required to at least rest and read quietly at school. At home, it’s a battle to get him to stay in his bed. If he does fall asleep in his room, he wakes up a couple hours later and comes into my room. It’s been a bone of contention between my husband and I and I don’t know what to do. His sleeping habits are taking a toll on our marriage. I dread every evening. I am truly desperate for some help.
Mommy to three boys – 9, 6 and almost 9mo. My baby is ebf and not a paci fan. He’s not a great napper and freq wakes at night to nurse. I’d love to sleep thru the night!
We have a 2.5 yr old who sleeps pretty well in her crib and still naps once a day. We sleep trained her and have no problems, other than she will only sleep in beds (no car seats, no strollers, etc). We now have an almost 4 month old son who I think needs some sleep training soon as naps are terrible (constant nursing and rocking) and bedtime takes about an hour of him nursing and me holding him before he can stay down for a good stretch.
My biggest problem is being at home alone and trying to deal with my toddler’s dinner and bedtime routine while trying to put my infant to bed as well. My toddler currently goes to bed at 8:30pm and I know my son is getting very tired around 7 or 7:30pm — which is around my daughter’s dinner time and bleeds straight into her bedtime.
How do I do this????
A 4 year old who just started K4 and isn’t napping there. She’s tired. The tough? Her bed is in our room due to space limitations. She wakes up at night. We’re all tired. Pick me.
I have a 20 month old who is still breastfeeding at night and usually to go to sleep. I am able to usually get him down in his crib, but then he consistently wakes up around 11 (sometimes not until 2 am) and comes into bed with us. I am happy to co-sleep to get my sleep as I work full-time. But the whole bedtime routine just isn’t working and I know if he stays in his bed all night and me in mine everyone will be much better off. Help!
We have a 5 year old and a 3 year old, and are expecting a baby in March. The 5 year old sleeps like a champ, but it is horrible with the 3 year old. We put her to bed at 8:00 each night, but she won’t stay in bed. She continues to get up until 10:00 some nights! We just want her to stay in her bed. Also, these two will be sharing a room when the new baby comes, and we don’t want little sis to disrupt big sis when she’s trying to sleep. This has been going on for at least a year (since she’s been in a toddler bed and realized she can get up!) and we have tried everything to get her to stay in bed! She usually gets up about 3am and comes into our room, and I take her back to bed. This pregnant mama is tired and at her wits end!
I’m a single mom with an nearly-20 month old daughter. We share a bedroom. My daughter will not fall asleep unless I am near. I have to hover near her crib from 5 to 45 minutes each evening waiting for her to fall asleep. If I’m not near, she screams, not just any scream, but the “I’m terrified!” scream. If she’s mad crying/screaming, I can handle it. But I can’t handle her being afraid. I don’t know how to help her! Help us!
HELP! A two year old who needs someone to help him fall asleep, and who wakes between 10:00 p.m. and 1:00 a.m. every night to either have mom or dad come back to bed with him or come into bed with us (think screaming like he is attacked by bee’s if someone does not come to him.)
And a two month old who weighs enough to sleep through the night, but is still getting up once or twice which is slowly killing my brain as I am now back at work. Side note: I don’t think my husband and I have slept through the night in the same bed for 8 months.
My daughter is 2.5 (3 at the end of January) and she recently started taking a nap by herself (before, I had to lay down next to her – and sometimes I still do [she’s not consistently putting herself to sleep at nap time yet]). She also requires me to lay next to/go to bed with her at night. She likes to fiddle with a gummy bracelet that I wear, as she falls asleep. Her bed time is 9 p.m. and I would move it up, but *I* don’t want to go to bed at 8 p.m. Lately, she has been wound up when we get into bed, and has been staying up until 10:30 p.m. or later. Unfortunately, do to our living situation, she sleeps in bed with us, but she has her own toddler bed that we haven’t put together yet (just moved). We finally cut out drinking milk before nap/bed, so she could be potty trained, but she is also dependent on her pacifier. She usually wakes up between 7:00 a.m. – 8:00 a.m. I have been thinking about sleep training, but with our current situation, I’m not sure if I can afford it. I’d love to win! Thanks! ๐
We have 5.5 year old daughter and an almost 8 month old little boy. Like everyone told us it would be, each of our kids are completely different! We really lucked out as first time parents with our daughter. She was sleeping through the night consistently at 11 weeks. We were able to lay her down awake, anywhere, at bedtime or naptime and she would go right to sleep without any fuss.
Our sweet baby boy is a little different. I am a work at home mom, he is my last baby and we shared a room up until last month when we moved into our new house. All of those things have contributed to his “only letting mommy hold him, rock him to sleep with a bottle every single night for 45 minutes and waking 2-3 times each night just wanting mommy to hold him” habits. My little girl just started Kindergarten and is really craving some one on one time with me at night (since we are no longer together during the day) but I am usually holed up in the baby’s room for a good hour between 6:30-7:30 and then usually have to go back in around 10 or 11 to get him to sleep again. It’s not just her that’s suffering. My husband wants time with me and I need to have a few minutes to myself before starting work at night (on the computer). I haven’t had a full nights sleep since early January 2013. I am completely exhausted. We/ I tried CIO a couple of weeks and on night 3 (after 3 nights of crying for 1 hour, crying through naps and middle of the night, I gave up. Win or not, I think I’m going to consult with Erin anyway. We need help!
My daughter is 3 and won’t go to sleep without me lying in bed with her. Sometimes this takes over an hour. I also think she goes to sleep too late, it used to be after 9 but lately it’s been around 8:30.
I have a five year old and an almost 18 month old. My five year old has slept with me her entire life. The problem is that I go to sleep and she stays up for hours. I wake up early and she is super cranky all day if she doesn’t get to sleep in. This was fine, but now she is in school all day and I’m afraid she isn’t getting enough sleep. My almost 18 month old also has sleep problems. I rock him while feeding him a bottle (we’ve given up bottles during the day and at nap, but I don’t know how to get him to bed at night without one)and then put him in his crib once he passes out. He usually wakes up and cries for what seems like an eternity, but usually is anywhere from a half to one hour before falling asleep. Some nights we get lucky and he sleeps until 5 am, but most of the time he wakes up between 12:30 and 2 and is awake until at least 5 am. There are many days where he only sleeps a few hours total a night. I need help. I work full time, am awake half the night, and my children are either clingy or cranky during the quality time we should be spending together after work and before bed time! I am mentally and physically exhausted and would be super happy to have a professional help!
Hello-
We have a 3 year old who definitely needs more sleep. She goes to sleep around 9pm and it awake around 5am. Now she’s refusing a nap at preschool and has red puffy eyes and rubbing her head and eyes when we pick her up from school. I’m wondering if she needs an earlier bedtime if the pre school is not enforcing nap time. Also, I’m sure her bedtime routine is what causes the extreme neediness and crabbiness. ugh!
Congrats on your sleeptraining success!! Sounds awesome. My 3-year-old used to be a champion sleeper, but the last couple months have been awful. Bedtime is now a two-hour struggle with her refusing to stay in her room, let alone her bed. We’ve tried negative consequences (taking away toys if she gets up) and positive (sticker in the morning if she stays in bed). Neither has helped.
my 9 year old sleeps fine… however, our 5 year old just began kindergarten…. he needs the sleep. he used to sleep fine until he was sick one night 2 yrs ago and fell asleep on the couch…. now he wont go into his bed (if he wakes up in the middle of the nght hes good about falling back to sleep) he falls asleep on the couch and i have to carry him up 2 flights of stsirs to his bed ๐ please help!!
I have a 3 y/o and 17 month old. I don’t think I have had a full nights sleep in over 3 years! Most nights both boys end up in our bed. My 3 y/o usually doesn’t fall asleep until 10ish regardless of what time bedtime routine starts.
My almost 3 year old was literally the easiest kid to get to fall asleep until I made the move to a big girl bed! GRRR! WISH she was still in her crib! Ha ๐ It’s an hour routine of “lay with me mommy, pat my back mommy, come closer to me”…I LOVE the cuddle time but HATE missing out on my evening because half the time I fall asleep with her! I need to rip the band-aid off and just put her to bed and NEED help with how to do so!!! We go to bed at 8 (which turns into 9) and I have to wake her up at 6:45 to leave for work at 7. HELPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPP!!! ๐
Hello.
I have a six year old son and a 14 month old son. My oldest is sleeping in his room and doing well. It’s the youngest that we are trying to transition out of our bed and into his crib in their room. We coslept with both, but my youngest is waking up through the night.
My apologies if this is a double post, but I’m not sure if it worked last time.
This post gives me hope. We have tried and failed to help my 13-month-old daughter sleep through the night so many times, and nothing has worked. The No-Cry Sleep Solution just hasn’t helped us, nor have other gentle methods we’ve tried, or letting her cry. She is capable of soothing herself to sleep, but she’s a frequent – and irregular – night waker who seems to just WANT help, rather than need it. We are still nursing, and I know she takes advantage of that in the middle of the night even though she is eating plenty of solids throughout the day to get her through the night. I’m at my wit’s end. I can tell that she is a crabby, sleep-deprived mess, but I don’t know what to do. Thank you for this opportunity.
Hi, I love your site!!
I have a daughter who just turned 4 who is still in our (mine and husbands’) bed. It started with falling asleep during late night breast feeding sessions and we have just never managed to get her out again. I think that like you, I liked it at first – snuggling with my babe. But now it’s just a nightmare – I have to put her down, no one else, I have to lay there until she falls asleep, and of course, then she’s there, taking up more space than you would think possible, all night long. There isn’t much I haven’t tried to transition her to her own bed, and nothing has worked. My husband hates it. It’s really a problem. Help!
I have a 9 month old little boy and and a almost 3 yr old little girl. They do have separate rooms. My little girl gets home from preschool at 5 every evening. Bedtime at our house consists of baths every other night starting around 745 or 8. My 9 month old hates to be rocked but almost requires his swing to fall asleep in. He is a chunky monkey and his days in the swing are numbered ๐ Then around 9 or 930 we carry him back and place him in his crib. He is still waking up at night 2-3 times and we give him a bottle each time. Some times he drinks all 6 oz other times only and oz or two. I believe we need to let me cry it out a little but we have never done that to try and not disturb our little girl. He naps a few times a day anywhere from 10 mins to and hr at a time in his swing. During the day I cannot seem to lay him in his crib without him waking up and screaming. He has got to be exhausted. He is a very happy baby but is clingy and wallers us a lot. Our little girl is in a toddler bed and I sing her to sleep every night. I have to stay back there beside her bed until she falls asleep. She is usually asleep by 9 or 9:30 and sometimes wakes up crying out 1-2 times in the middle of the night but falls back asleep quickly. She usually wakes up around 7 am and is for the most part happy. Takes a nap at preschool everyday. I need help with our 9 month and getting a plan with getting them to bed. My little girl doesn’t always know the meaning of whispering. HELP PLEASE ๐
Oh my where to even begin! My daughter and son are exactly to the day 18 months apart. Averi is 3 now and Carter is 18 months. Averi slept great in her crib, we switched to a “big girl bed” at 16 months thinking the new baby needed a crib and we didn’t want any resentment issues. She slept great until Carter was 6 months old and we moved him into their bedroom, enter sleepless nights of hell! Carter is great goes to bed like clockwork between 7-8 if too late it’s all over! He takes one nap for 2-3 hrs between 11-12 he lays down. He is usually fussy starting at 6pm until bed. Now for Princess Averi and her royal sleepiness, naps? Who needs a nap at 3years old is her thinking. She is always sleepy, cranky, grumpy, and did I. Mention her screaming and meltdowns ALL DAY LONG?! Now for bedtime pshhh what is a bedtime?! She goes to bed when she is finally done fighting mommy or daddy and literally passes out! This happens anywhere between 7p and midnight! And did I mention she sleeps on the couch for fear that her screaming fits will wake our light sleeper 18 month old. We then carry her to her bed and go to bed ourselves. During the middle of the night she sneaks into our bed. Then no more sleep for mommy, the kicking, flailing arms, pushing and heat begin! Somehow daddy sleeps thru it all! We are both exhausted and as you stated in one of your earlier posts I would have broke up with her by now! Sleep training would be amazing but we can not afford it as of now.
HELP!!!!!!!!! Please!!!!!!!! I have a 7 month old boobie lover who will NOT take a bottle from anyone and also wakes up 2-3 times a night. We are not functioning!!!!
We have a 4.5 month old and a 2.5 year old – both boys. Our older son has ALWAYS been a bad sleeper – it takes a ton of “hand holding” (singing, patting, etc.) to get him down for naps and night time, and he seems to be giving up naps now, though he clearly still needs them! It still takes up to an hour to get him to go to sleep at night, and we need to stay in the room until he’s fast asleep! Sometimes I only have an hour to myself before my own bedtime. Not good.
We are determined to not allow this to happen with our baby, who also happens to be a much more agreeable sleeper. We’ve been sleep training him (Ferber method) for about a week, and my husband and I are sleeping in the livingroom on couches while he stays in our room. It’s working okay, though he continues to wake up crying in the middle of the night most nights. The problem is: how are we ever going to put him in his brother’s room, since the older boy needs so much noise (music, stories, etc.) to go to sleep? We can’t stay in the livingroom forever! And the baby can’t stay in our room forever, either. We’re at a bit of a loss.
The baby goes down, fairly easily now, at 6pm. The toddler goes down at 8pm. We could really use some help ironing out this duo’s sleep routine! Thank you!!
Baby (age 1) will not nap unless on the boob. Screams at the sight of her crib but happily sleeps there at night. Would love some help with this!!
Our 2 year old was doing great with sleeping from 7:30 until 6:30 and then all changed in early July. Now he refuses to sleep in his toddler bed, only wants to be in the quest bedroom which has a queen bed and wants me/mommy to sleep next to him.We follow the same bedtime routine of books… each night. I sneak out when he is close to being asleep but then he wakes in the middle of the night, gets down from the bed and calls my name in the hallway until we start the process all over again. I think we both are now sleep deprived from going through this routine every night all summer. Help!
There are newborns sleeping better than our one year old. Waking up at 1am to eat? Check. Waking up at 4am to party? Check. Waking up at all ungodly hours of the night for any ol’ reason? Check, check and check. My husband and I both work full time and go into work everyday looking like zombies. And then our one year goes to the sitter everyday and sleeps. Help, please!
I have a 3-yr old who has never been a great sleeper. He was, just yesterday, officially diagnosed as having moderate to severe obstructive sleep apnea. In the next few weeks (I hope it is that soon, for his sake), my baby boy will be having his tonsils and adenoids removed. I would LOVE a session or two with a sleep specialist once he has recovered in order to get him on the right track to healthy sleep habits. Perhaps she can also convince my husband that it is not ok for our son to go to bed at 10pm! ๐
My son turns a year old on Saturday, and has always been a terrible sleeper. He sleeps through the night, but gets up very early every day. Naps are a nightmare!
OK here goes. I have three children four and twin 20 mth olds. The four yr old is clingy and wants to be near us while she falls asleep. The big issue is the twins who at 20 mths sleeps in a crib side-carred on our bed. They always end up in my bed and always nurses a few times a night. I don’t know how to get them asleep without nursing them but together because all three girls theoretically share a room with the twins sleeping on a bed under the loft bed. Help!
We have family with four children. An eight-year-old, a six-year-old, a 3 1/2 year-old, and a 10-month-old. My husband and I have had children in our bed for eight years!! We have chosen the cosleeping route, because of nursing. My 10-month-old now refuses to go to sleep unless I’m laying next to her. The minute I get up she wakes up and I have to return to lying down with her to get her to go back to sleep. In addition to my 10-month-old sharing our marital bed, my three and a half-year-old also refuses to sleep by herself. The girls are sharing a room. Sometimes I can get Sophia to go down in her crib for short intervals But it’s always with her falling asleep in my arms before trying to do the transfer. My husband just wants his wife back! And I have to admit although I love the cuddles from my girls, I would like to have that intimacy back with my husband without four people in our bed!!!!!! Ms. Sophia is our last baby & this mommy is definitely ready to claim her restful sleeping and her bed back!
We have a 21 month old little boy, named Mason, that sleeps through the night (Thank God because he didn’t for the first 16 months of his life!). However, he does not fall sleep on his own. We have a process that we go through each night and if one thing is skipped or does not go as planned, meltdown ensues.
Here’s our process:
-bath/brush teeth/change diaper/put on PJs
-watch the Pajanimals
-read a story
-let Mason “read” us a story
-turn on radio/dream lite/humidifier
-let him turn on his fan
-give him his sippy cup of milk
-let him fall sleep in my/my husband’s arms with his blankie
-carefully put him in his crib
-pray and tip toe out the door
I didn’t realize how involved and ridiculous all this was until I had to write it out for someone who was to watch him at bedtime the other night.
I would really like to be able to get rid of the sippy (as he’s starting to so signs of readiness for potty training) and be able to put him in his crib after this story without him crying so hard that he makes himself vomit (which has happened too many times).
My two year old has always struggled with sleep. Every time I think she’s getting better, she regresses. Lately she’s been waking up about 3 nights a week just screaming. We can’t find a reason for it and when we finally go in to check, she’s happy and just wants to play. I’m sure we’re doing something wrong so a consultation would be awesome!!
I have a 2.5 year old and a EBF 7 month old. My baby fights every nap like his life depends on it & I waste hours a day trying to get him to sleep. All while trying to convince my toddler to play quietly & not come in the room right as im laying the finally sleeping baby down. If we start bedtime at the right time ( unfortunately usually right in the middle of when I make dinner) he’ll usually go down pretty quickly but still wakes up multiple times to nurse in the night. The past week he has only gone back to sleep if I walk him so I’m like a zombie wandering the halls through the night!
My toddler has always been a great sleeper once he’s actually asleep. Since the baby I can only get him to fall asleep on a walk in the stroller where he will sleep for about one hours. At bedtime my husband has to lay with him in his bed until he falls asleep, often up to an hour.
And no matter how the night goes, somehow every morning all four of us are in our wueen size bed! (That part I do not mind though)
We would love our evenings back!
We have “sleep trained” our 7 month old boy 2 times now. The first was at about 5.5 months and he did fabulously. But then we went on a trip around 6.5 months and it all regressed very quickly. He was back to waking up at 1 and then 4 to nurse. This past week we did some sleep training reenforcement and he is back to sleeping 9-10 hours. I am breastfeeding so at 4:30 its all me. I am having a real hard time letting him cry it out after 10 hours of sleep because I feel like he is hungry – so I nurse him. Is he still too young to make him wait 12 hours? This morning I let him cry for 20 minutes and there was no sign of calming down, so i fed him and put him back in his crib totally awake and he went back to sleep on his own til 8! That was wonderful, but 12 strait hours would be even more so. I know I shouldn’t complain but over the course of a month we regress to 2 feeding a night. How do I prevent this? Also, I am taking him out of town again and I’m so worried it will affect our sleep.
My bedtime and naptime routine involves bouncing my 26 pound 1 year old on a yoga ball for half an hour until he passes out, taking the paci out of his mouth, putting him down, placing the paci back in his mouth as he stirs, and praying that he doesn’t wake back up again. Our big stickler is that he pukes when he cries too much. He has puked multiple times in the crib when we tried to let him cry. As of a month ago he was still waking up every 1 or 2 hours. Wish I was joking. I don’t know what to do. I want to sleep train, but I don’t want to have to clean up puke and wake him and start all over again. He only naps 30 minutes unless it’s with me. I need help. Everyone says sleep training and then I say he pukes and they’re like oh…well…I dunno. Putting him to bed is aggravating. He’s starting to sleep better throughout the night, but when we put him in the crib awake the crying gets so bad we’re scared he’s going to puke.
We have a 6 month old and a 3 year old. Our 3 year old is usually pretty good about going to sleep but her baby sister wakes up almost every hour (seriously – I don’t know how I’m still standing!).
We give her the paci back and she usually goes back to sleep for another hour but lately that’s been changing and now she wakes her sister who takes FOREVER to fall back to sleep. By the time the 3 year old is finally back to sleep, the 6 month old is waking up AGAIN.
We haven’t had anywhere near a full nights sleep in 6 months!! Help!
I thought I had sleep problems until I started reading all these comments. good luck mamas!
My 5 month old will go to sleep at 8pm and wake up at 11pm and again every 1-2 hours all night. She is keeping my older kids and hubby up along with me. I end up bringing her in bed around 2 just to give everyone else a break while I nurse her all night long. Since I’m not sleeping my anxiety issues are out of hand and my dr wants me to stop nursing so I can start medication. There has to be a better way!
We have 9mo old twins in the same room and a 3 year old across the hall that has been in a big girl bed for about 3 months. The twins are exhausted when I put them to bed, but they go to bed easily without fussing at 7:30pm – based on schedules it is hard for us to get them to sleep much earlier in the night. They sleep through the night without a peep (unless gassy, teeth, etc). Their biggest issue is I wish they slept later – one or both are usually up at 5am. Wish they slept till 6-ish as 5am is when I get up for work and would prefer to focus on me for 45 min before tending to them. I presume the theory is if I get them to bed earlier they will sleep later – however, I have done this a few times and they instead get up at 4-something. Biggest issue is the 3 year old – she wants my husband to stay with her until she falls asleep. If we do not, she will get up 5-10 times and although we have said “goodnight” after our routine, it takes her approx 45 min to fall asleep. I know our bedtime routine takes too long and she is in bed ready for lights out at 8, but doesn’t fall asleep until much later. She naps at daycare, but we wish she did not as that adds to the length of time it takes her to go to bed at night.
My 4yo refuses to fall asleep unless one of us sits in the room with her. Which means our nights are gone – we don’t wrap up bedtime until 8:45pm. One of us has to sit with the 4yo while the other reads to the 7yo. What makes this really difficult is when my husband travels. The 4yo has a harder time falling asleep without Daddy home, and I end up reading too late to the 7yo. Everyone ends up exhausted. Help!
Our 20 month old was “sleep trained” when he was an infant and slept like a champ. However, around 10 months he regressed and seems to have stay regressed. He generally goes down fine, but requires a bottle. He wakes in the night, requiring a bottle, sometimes being rocked/held. And is up at 5:30 crying. He generally wakes from his nap crying too.
You know… I bet my son being so needy for the first six months of his life was due to sleep deprivation… he also hated sleep. He would nap for maybe fifteen minutes. It was dreadful!
He only wanted me the entire first year. He’s 18 months now and the last six months have been a HUGE progress for us and him.
I have a 9 month old baby who will only sleep in bed with us. The big problem is that we are currently in a studio apartment (in Paris) so she can see us and wants to be picked up/brought in bed with us. Is it possible to sleep train a baby that is in the same room as you?? PS I can’t find her facebook page.. When I click the hyperlink it just takes me to my facebook home page.
We have 2 boys — 3 years and 14 months. Our 3 year old had major sleep issues. Didn’t sleep through the night until 18 months, and then only after we consulted a sleep specialist. The younger one is a bit better. We’ve “successfully” trained him to sleep through the night at least twice, only to be derailed by (1) early wake up times that become earlier, and earlier, and earlier, until I can’t stand getting out of bed and he ends up sleeping in our bed most of the night and (2) travel where all four of us are sleeping in the same hotel room and I feel like I have no choice but to nurse/sleep with the younger one to keep everyone quiet and asleep. This past week, we took a vacation and the scenario played out. I got no sleep whatsoever. Our younger son also was tired beyond belief, having nursed all night, every night.
Vacation mishaps aside, both boys wake up mighty early! I would love to get my kids to sleep until 6:30 on a regular basis!!
I’m not really sure my brain can process a full paragraph, but here goes… WE NEED SLEEP! I have two boys, 10 and 2. My 2 year old is the caboose on this baby train, so I allowed him to cuddle and completely screwed up his sleep schedule, and probably his diet and teeth brushing ability for the rest of his life! (I’m sure I will learn of all of this in the psychiatry appointments he will drag me to in 20 years to point the finger at me!) Hubby works for NASA so we never know if he will be home, or if he will be called away on business, so it’s me and the bambinos. We eat dinner at all hours, do homework in the car on the way to school, and did I mention we are in the process of a remodel on our house?!? I work full time,we have separate rooms for the boys, but we can’t get a schedule to solidify our sleeping arrangements. The 2 year old keeps the 10 year old up as he scream periodically throughout the night for bottles (yes, I know). Against the pediatrician’s advise we still give him bottles before bed, and during the night, and lately it’s been 3-4 times per night. We usually offer water bottles as it’s not the content of the bottle throughout the night, rather the comfort. I know I have screwed up all of our sleeping habits, I accept it! My 10 year old was sleeping through the night at this age, so I hoped the 2 year old would as well… I was wrong!!! HELP… sincerely Sleepless in New Orleans.
I’m a day past my due date. No “sleep issues” as of yet but we want to start out on the right foot! Any help for these newbie parents would be greatly appreciated! ๐
Help! Our baby is inconsistent but happy, but the two year old is close to being kicked out. He shares a room with our eldest while the in-laws are living with us. He screams bloody murder if you leave the room. He wakes up wide awake in the middle of the night to play. Screams if you even suggest he go back in his room.
He used to sleep quite well but got waaaay off track during my last pregnancy. So I’m not sleeping, eldest isn’t sleeping, screaming is actually giving her nightmares and my husband and I are fighting. Nothing seems to work and I’m not a good person with no sleep.
Our 11 month old won’t fall asleep if he isn’t on the boob. He also wakes religiously every night a couple times for a little snack. I am therefore on my own for getting him to bed. I don’t know what we will do when I am no longer nursing. To top it off we have 5 year old twins who also have no idea how to whisper. Ugh- Im tired!
OMGosh I am so glad to hear Harlow did so well. I first commented on the first day you started and I had started sleep training also. Well I was doing good for like 3 days and then it’s just not so great:/ You however have given me hope that I can still do this. It’s hard for me to let her cry because she will wake her brothers and sister. She sleeps in a separate room but I live in close quarters so it echo’s a bit at the quiet 3am time. And I do not want her to wake the whole house so I just go in and nurse her back to bed. That’s the other thing, I feel like she needs some sort of pacifier but she does not take “binkies” or bottles, just mom. So anyway I do not want her to wake her older brother and sister especially because they have school in the morning. That’s what makes this hard to let her cry it out. Plus I don’t know if she is cold or wet or hot or hungry. It’s just been harder than I though. I do however let her cry for her nap and sometimes she doesn’t even waste our time with crying but will go right to sleep it’s random though. Also when I put her down earlier like between 6:30 and 7 pm I am like a crazy woman telling everyone to be quiet til it’s their bed time *sigh* OMG this is turning out to be a long ass post. Sorry I just want to do it too. I want to be free and walking on air. ๐
When my daughter, now 2 years old, was born we lived in a tiny one bedroom apartment. We recently moved to a two bedroom apartment. In the one bedroom we all slept in the same room, and because it was so small she always slept with me. Now that we are in a two bedroom, she has her own room but will not sleep without me. I just don’t know how to get her on her own. I also go to school part time and just started working, and my hours vary from day to day. My husband works over nights, so I do it all on my own. It’s funny, not funny haha, but she will take naps on a cot when I’m at work, whereas at home she will not unless she’s with me. I’m just at a loss, she’s my first so I don’t know where to go.
I also wanted to note that she does sleep anywhere from 10-12 hours most nights, and her naps are like 2 hours long. I also still BF her, I know most people feel after a certain age it’s wrong, so no hate, but we have started weening as well. There’s just a lot of changes for her recently.
I am a first time mother who consistently keeps up with mommyshorts and have been intently reading up her experience with sleep training. I plan to do the same with my baby, except I haven’t even had the baby yet! ๐ Is it too really to be thinking about this? I wanted to enter the giveaway, but I see everyone who is entering has two kids :/ I am almost 39 weeks pregnant, my due date is September 21.
Would appreciate some feedback..
My 15 month old woke up 5 times between midnight and 6:30… Makes for a grumpy Mommy! We’re all adjusting to her brother starting preschool, but that’s ridiculous!! Help please!! I think we’re all ready for some good, solid sleep. Btw, why does Facebook not let me sign in/comment?? Is that an iPhone problem?