Sleep Problems....AGAIN

It has been 3 1/2 weeks since I switched K & K to twin size beds. The issue that is now arising is the night wakings. To get them to go to bed we either sit in their room or if it is bad we lay down with them. Well now Kaylee wakes up and wants me to lay with her. I do and she goes back to sleep and then I go back to bed. Last night I think I got a total of 4 hrs of sleep. I feel like they are newborns again. If I let her cry she tries to climb the baby gate to get to my room. Any suggestions? I am desperate and we have a ready bed (air matress with a sleeping bag on top) and I have it sit up in my room. I thought I would baby gate off the rest of the house and let her come out of her room and the only option is for her to come to my room. I though she could sleep on this bed. Am I crazy. Please give me honest advice, because obviously I am not thinking clearly and need help. Oh she is also waking for milk, but more for me to lay with her. Do I let her CIO? The problem with this is how do I keep her in her room without her climbing the gate. If I close the door all the way she cries so hard she pukes.

 

UGH....CIO is really hard once they reach a certain age. I have also experienced every sleep issue you could imagine. My method is not really popular, but I turned the doorknob around and locked them in their room. I would sit on the floor outside of their room until it was quiet, and then I would open the door. I had no choice. Jackson scaled the baby gate and I was afraid of him getting hurt. After a few nights of locking the door, they realized they were in their room to sleep and we didn't have any issues with going down or night-waking. They were 3 when I did this.

 

OK, I will be totally honest. I would go back to cribs with crib tents. I have been following your ordeal of switching them to beds, and I know that one was climbing out of the crib which is not safe. I think maybe at this age, they do not have the self control to stay in bed. Luckily, mine have not started climbing out of the crib, but if they did, I would go to crib tents. Ours are the same age and I cannot imagine switching them to beds yet. I know some people do it at this age, but maybe those kids don't have the desire to get out of bed.
I hope I didn't offend, I just honestly don't think they are ready for beds if it's this hard to keep them in bed.

 

I would go back to crib tents if possible too. Or hold the doorknob until they realize you are not letting them get out. I had to do this with dd at 3 when we were at my parents house and she learned to climb out of PNP. We put a queen size mattress on the floor and did our usual bedtime routine. Then I left. I held the doorknob for about 10-15 minutes and she gave up and went to sleep. I had to do this for a few minutes at nap time and the next few days. At home she was already in a toddler bed since 2.5 so it was not an issue at home. I did let her sleep on the carpeted floor etc when adjusting to a big girl bed. I did not care as long as she was sleeping.

I am hoping to get crib tents for the boys to keep them in as long as posssible!

 

I was a big fan of CIO when my kids were younger, but I have more trouble with it (emotionally) now. I know some of the books will say you should still do it even if they cry so hard they puke, but I know I personally would not do that -- partly because I would feel too awful, and partly because of the cleanup and the fact that once someone pukes, no one is calming down for a long time. It just seems counterproductive.

If you are going to let her sleep in your room (even on the air mattress), you should be willing to do it for as long as she wants to, because otherwise it's going to become yet another habit you have to break.

We haven't faced this issue yet, but my advice would be that if you're not able to go back to cribs with tents, the method of gradually moving farther away (as mws said) is probably your best bet. I believe this is something like what the Sleep Lady recommends -- you could google her or look up her book (I don't know the exact title, but it has "Sleep Lady" in it somewhere). Good luck!

 

"OK, I will be totally honest. I would go back to cribs with crib tents. I have been following your ordeal of switching them to beds, and I know that one was climbing out of the crib which is not safe. I think maybe at this age, they do not have the self control to stay in bed. Luckily, mine have not started climbing out of the crib, but if they did, I would go to crib tents. Ours are the same age and I cannot imagine switching them to beds yet. I know some people do it at this age, but maybe those kids don't have the desire to get out of bed."

No offense taken. Trust me if my SIL didn't have my crib they would be back in them. I did however set up PNP's in their room (imagine this 2 twin beds and 2 PNP) Anyways, I thought someone was getting murdered when I put them in them. I will be the 1st to admit maybe we have been real consistent. I just didn't know what to do. I was just trying anything to get them to bed. I have found if I sit on the edge of their bed they will eventually go to sleep but it takes FOREVER. I know this too shall pass and I remember having problems with them going to sleep in their cribs as well at one point. Last night was better, but Kaylee did sneak into my bed at 4:30. I put her back in her bed and that is where she woke up.

 

You might want to try the Sleep Lady (Kim West). I highly recommend her book! She describes dealing with the toddler age really well and tweaks her technique according to age. We used this method with Bryce when he was 10 months old and it took two weeks of solid consistency, but it worked!! They both sleep through the night and when they do wake, can put themselves back to sleep without us. I'm afraid that will change once we move to toddler beds like you've described, but after browsing ahead in her book at the time he was 10 months to the toddler section, I'm confident her techniques will work then too. Good luck!

 

Ack, didn't know the crib was already gone. Since that's not an option, I would go with one of the more gradual things like slowly moving out of the room, making the time you are lying with her less and less. I have no idea how this would work with the other one in the room, but Supernanny does the thing of returning the child to bed silently and without eye contact repeatedly. I don't know if Kelby would sleep through all that. I tend to be a CIO person, but I have my limits and I don't think I could do it with puking involved either. Good luck, I hope it all works out!

 

Trust me I have the Good Night Sleep Tight book by Kim West. I read up on this section moving from cribs to toddler beds. I just remember trying to do this when the kids were about 8-9 months old and it was a complete disaster. I spent 1 1/2 hours in their room each night. Last worked out okay just because I think Kaylee realized she wasn't locked in her room and then went to sleep. Granted she crawled in bed with us at 4:30 but I put her back in her bed at 5:30. This beats the alternative of waking 10-12 times per night. Everyone might think I am crazy, but if it works and everyone is sleeping mama is happy and can actually function at work the next day.