Monday, August 20, 2007

Sleep

Last post was about being a biologist, now here's one about being an Ima. Since all of the readers (at least the ones that comment) are moms with much more experience than me I thought I'd throw out a question on the web.

I have a clever, beautiful, determined one and a half year old. Her sleeping habits have patterns of flux and stability. For quite some time she had a bedtime routine and then went into her crib and fell asleep. Sometimes smoothly sometimes with five minutes or under of crying. Then we went on vacation and she slept with someone else for nearly a month. It seems like she got used to it. Recently she started crawling out of her crib instead of crying for five minutes and going to sleep. We decided it was time for a big bed. She has the same bedtime routine and usually falls asleep pretty well. But for the past week or so she's been waking up at 3 AM and since she's in a big bed she climbs out and walks to our room. Then either one of us goes and lies down or sits in her room till she falls asleep which often means that we fall asleep with her or stays awake for close to an hour which is how long it takes for her to fall asleep. Or we give up and she sleeps the remainder of the night in our room. I've had enough! How do you convince a one and a half year old that she has to sleep in her bed!

Any advice would be appreciated!

3 comments:

mother in israel said...

I personally don't think it's such a big deal for a 1.5yo to sleep in the parents' room. But then my 6yo and 3.5 yos are in mine right now (unless my husband transferred them). Seriously, it takes a lot of time and patience to gradually change their habits, but it can be done gently. Good luck! At 1.5 she is normal to wake up at night and is sure to outgrow it.

Anonymous said...

what happens if you close the door

:) said...

Can't bring myself to do that yet, I just have images of waking up and seeing her crumpled against the door fallen asleep on the floor. I've heard some people recommend a gate. Thank G-d the past two nights have been improving.