Do you ever feel like your children are the puppetmasters at your house? I do. Lately it has been all sorts of crazy. And the kids have had ALL the control.
Brigitte. Oh Brigitte. Where do I start? Her high energy and relentless persistence to sleep in MY bed at bedtime has almost done me in. Last friday night Gabe was out of town and I was left alone to wrestle the babies into bed. Somehow they were both in their beds asleep -by 9. This never happens. And I should have known it was too good to be true!
At 230 in the morning Brigitte wakes up screaming hysterically. I ran into her room to find her standing in her bed terrified and crying. She then proceeds to tell me this long story about an "aldergator that eated her little body"! And it "chomped chomped on her hands" And when I asked her where it was, she told me with absolute certainty that it lives in her bathroom.
Great. A nightmare about alligators chomp chomping her little body. There was no getting her back into her bed that night. And now here we are a week later still trying to convince her that there are NO ALDERGATORS in her room. She fights us big time on this.
We put her to bed at 8. And then for the next 4 hours she gets out of bed repeatedly and stands at my bedside crying to sleep with us. She adamantly insists that there are in her room. Finally when she does pass out, its only for a few hours and then she is awake for the day at 630 am. I dont know how she does it.
Two nights ago It was the same old thing - brigitte crying, whining, having tantrums not wanting to stay in her bed. We finally as a last resort went to bed and locked our bedroom door so she couldnt keep coming in. Three times she came and sat wailing by our door, and then went back to her room crying. Each time we told her "Goodnight, go get in your bed!". The fourth time she came to our door she was crying pretty good and started coughing. And then yes - PUKED EVERYWHERE.
That will teach us to lock her out.
So at that point I was so frustrated with her, but I felt bad that she was having a nervous breakdown. Ive just had it. ALL NIGHT, EVERY NIGHT its the same battle. She wants to sleep in our room. She gets up repeatedly keeps us awake all night long, and then wakes up super early in the morning.
Oh and lets not forget Spencer. His room shares a wall with her bedroom. So each time she throws a fit - he wakes up too. And my little butters refuses to put himself to sleep in his bed. He has to be nursed and completely unconscious when I lay him down or he WAILS. I have tried to put him to bed hazy and let him fall asleep there - but he gets so worked up he will actually skip napping. Or - worse it will start him on a tantrum of his own where he will cry for no good reason unable to be calmed down. We call it 'losing his mind'. Nothing consoles him.
Spencer will not take a bottle consistently. Every once in a while he will take it - but its unreliable. And bless his heart he wants to nurse every 3 hours around the clock. I get up with him at least twice a night. And usually its more because Brigitte is hard to keep quiet.
sooooo....any ideas? And before you tell me to let them 'cry it out' know this: brigitte throws up, and spencer will just cry and cry and cry. We've tried it. Baby wise, healthy sleep happy child, I've read them. Id pay you a million dollars if you could get my kids on a schedule. They have no self-soothing capabilities. For two weeks I have structured the life out of them - and they will NOT comply.
I have realized that I know Where the wild things are. They are in MY house!
8 comments:
Oh man that sounds pretty terrible. It sounds like you've tried everything I could suggest. You know me I am a Babywise addict for life. So far it's worked with both of my kids. I hope it works for the rest of the children I have.
On a bright note your kids are cute and Brigitte is about the most hilarious girl I know.
Oh Christy girl..I totally understand. Why we have kids???? cuz they give us those moments of cuteness that are priceless! Nights are the worse thing ever. Every night when I have to get up with one I tell Alex "I HATE kids...remind me why we have them?"...then the next day they do something cute :) Suggestions? I'm with Mitzi. Dejah used to get nightmares. She always got up!! Ugh! She figured out that the couch was a good place to go, then eventually she grew out of it. Maybe Brigitte would agree to go to the guest room with her baby. Keep a fun little night light in there that moves cute images around the room. Get em' adjusted? I don't know. I do know they grow out of it, you just have to stick to your guns.
I know how you feel. We tried everything with Parker too. He would also throw up if we would let him cry it out. The Dr told us that method was not for him. Eventually he grew out of it a little, he still sometimes wakes up screaming bloody murder and has to sleep with us and he is almost 5. But it is usually only once every 2 weeks so it does get better. But I know how you feel. I was at my wits end with him and sleeping. In fact I remember my husband saying when I was pregnant with Maelie that he didn't care if she was ugly as long as she slept good. But like you we tried all the books and we just had to wait it out with him. Sorry about that!!!
I clearly have no advise. I guess you could switch rooms with her? Brigitte in your room and you and Gabe in her room. At least the alligators wouldn't get her. No fun! Let me know if you find any magical secrets, I am compiling a list, for when I'm 30 and have kids.
PS: Your comments on my blog are almost always the funniest and I will scream that on the mountain tops. Also, we went camping this past weekend and someone even mentioned day shoes night shoes (I think it was Maren). Good times.
They are wild but they are cute!
maybe try a night lite or a sound machine/radio on???
we thought that we had things under control over here. since jaxy was 4 wks old he has been sleeping about 11-12 hrs a night. luckily, babywise worked pretty good for us. but recently, he just will NOT go to bed til 10, but still wakes up at seven. it's exhausting!!! we feel your pain!
does she still take a nap?
good luck!!!
Hey friend I'm sorry to hear about your nights! I totally understand my kids have never been good sleepers ANC I always said that my kids wouldn't sleep in our bed because it's such a bad habit to get them into but yes my kids r in our room part of the night! For the nightmares Ashlyn has had those since she was about 2 also we found that if we would help her say a prayer before bed it helped her tons and also putting her on the couch helped her tons!! Hope it gets better...if not just call me anytime during the night cause I'm usually awake too! :)
Ohhh I wish I had advice! My boys go to sleep pretty well (usually to a music/story CD) but one or both of them usually ends up with us by morning. I figure they'll probably grow out of it by adolescence...
Post a Comment