(This has nothing to do with the picture, but I thought I would post the pic anyway)When we moved into this apartment 6 months ago, Ana moved from a crib to a normal twin sized bed. I didn't know what I would do for bedtime because up until this point I had put her in her bed to cry it out. So we tried putting her back to bed every time she got out - but that got old fast. We tried locking her in. We tried sitting in the rocking chair. One of the big problems was that it would take sooooo long for her to fall asleep that Jack would be ready to go to bed by then. But if he was asleep first, she would be too noisy and wake him up. Eventually we fell into the routine of putting Jack to bed, then laying next to Ana in our bedroom until she fell asleep. Its worked pretty well. I read her a couple stories, then turn the lights off and in about 15 minutes she falls asleep.
Tonight Dave was at his class. I had gone to the store and hoped that the kids would fall asleep on the way home, but they didn't. So, I told Ana that while I put Jack to sleep, she could sit on my bed and look at books. She actually stayed on my bed, which was a miracle in and of itself. After I read her a couple stories, she told me she wanted to look at books some more. What the heck, let's try this. I thought. So I walked out of the room and let her look at books.
15 minutes later she was asleep on my bed, with her arm wrapped around "Raindrop Plop" and her blanky snuggled up with her.
It was really nice.
I think I might try it again another night.
5 comments:
Oooh, we're having issues with Jenna not going to bed at night. I wonder if this would work for her...
If you still have a hard time getting her to sleep by herslef get the book 1-2-3 Magic (I just posted about this on my blog). There's a little advice towards the end of the book that talks about bedtime in there. Has great ideas.
Sounds like you are doing the right thing by having a bedtime routine. Kids respond really well to that. Ana's picture is so cute! She is really growing up!
congrats! I hope this means the transition to her bed has begun... that will be sooo nice for you! (btw, I mailed your giveaway today - so sorry it's so late - more is on the way, too!)
I remember when Heather was little and wouldn't stay in bed, so I told her that it was bedtime but that if she wasn't tired, she didn't have to go to sleep. She just had to stay in her room. It worked wonders!! She suddenly had the freedom to fall asleep because she was tired and felt like sleeping, not because she HAD TO. Suddenly bedtime was a breeze!! Good luck with Ana!!
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