I am in desperate need of advice. We have two girls, 4 and 2 who share a room. The older one has always been a fairly good sleeper, the younger one had only just started to sleep through during the night last Christmas.
Currently it's taking 3+ hours to get them to sleep EVERY night. We have tried enforcing quiet/nap time during the day, earlier bedtime, later bedtime, rewards (e.g stamps and stickers), punishments (e.g taking away their stuffed animals they sleep with), even smacking (which we absolutely hate doing and try our absolute best to avoid) or a movie in their room to fall asleep to. I feel we've tried all of these things for a reasonable amount of time to try and be consistent but it's just not working.
We're at our wits end, we can't figure out what the problem is. Our bedtime routine has been pretty consistent ever since they were born. Does anyone have ANY suggestions? Or tell me what you do with your afternoon/night routine?
3 Replies
Are they going to bed at the same time? Perhaps maybe look at a staggered bedtime? Try putting the one who goes to sleep quickest to bed first and when they are asleep the second has to be quiet because "you can't wake your sister" or vice versa.
If space allows could they have their own room?
Maybe not the best long term solution but could you put one to bed in your bed and one in their room and then once asleep transfer back to their own room?
Perhaps find an iPhone app like windy or the like and place some white noise or maybe even an audio book that they could fall asleep to?
Is the issue that they wont stay in bed or that they wont let you leave the room??
Sorry if none of the above are helpful - just what was off the top of my head!
The issue is they won't stay in bed long enough to realise they're tired and fall asleep.
They have music on to go to sleep to, it's been the same CD since forever.
To let them have their own rooms would mean hubby and I would have to relocate to the lounge room! Although we're seriously considering it...
We might try the staggered bedtimes, thanks for the suggestion :)
Are they coming out of the room? Or staying in there? My son was a terrible sleeper but his now an ok sleeper. I put him down at 7.30pm but he doesn't fall asleep then. He takes a couple of toys in and plays quietly on his bed until his tired and falls asleep. He doesn't come out of the room. He shares a room with his sister & she goes down at 6pm and she goes straight to sleep.
Try the different bed times & also let her take in a couple of her favourite toys & if she doesn't fall asleep straight away that's fine. As long as she stays in there she will go to sleep when she is tired.