Healthy Sleep Habits, Happy Child

The past month or so, I've been having some problems with getting Jack to sleep at night. And since I stopped breastfeeding, it wasn't as easy to get him back to sleep when he'd wake up at 3:00 in the morning either. So I went to my friends of my Renton Moms Group for advice, and several of them recommended this book to me: Healthy Sleep Habits, Happy Child.

The subtitle to this book should be: And become a sane parent again!! This book has saved my life. Ok, or at least my sanity.

Jack's problem actually turned out to be very easy to solve. Let him cry it out. Easy to solve...just not so easy for me to do! I HATE hearing my kids cry. But you know what, in just a couple of nights it was all over. My husband is shocked every time I come up from putting him down to bed because all I do now is lay him in his crib, turn on his music aquarium, talk to him for about 30 seconds, and walk away. Easy!

So once I solved Jack's sleep problem, I decided to tackle our REAL problem. The one we have been in denial with for almost 2 years. Kaylyn.

Kaylyn has co-slept with us since she was about 8-9 months old. I started it out of desperation, being pregnant again and wanting my sleep. I quickly realized if I just put Kaylyn in the bed with me she'd sleep the whole night...and so could I! And I got naps with her every day too. A pregnant woman's dream come true!

However, now it's not quite so fun. She hogs the bed. She hogs the covers. She kicks me in gut. She elbows me in the face. And while it's so sweet when she says "Snuggle me Mommy," I really just want my space!

So when we made the move to put all our bedrooms downstairs, we actually were able to get Kaylyn to sleep in her own bed by herself. But, we still had one major problem -- one of us had to sleep next to her on her cold, hard floor until she fell asleep. What a pain! I decided enough was enough...I can't be lying on her floor when I'm 7/8/9 months pregnant -- no WAY!

So I skipped ahead to the part of the book called "Getting your jack-in-the-box to stay in bed." Basically it addressed the kids who won't stay in their own beds and want to sleep in Mommy and Daddy's bed. I figured this was close enough to our problem.

How it works, in a nutshell:
1. Explain to your child that the rules have changed.
2. Tell them they must stay in bed, and if they get out Mommy/Daddy will put them back in bed.
3. Mommy/Daddy will not talk to or look at them.

Sounds a little harsh, huh? Well, believe me...it is...but you know what, it worked.

I started implementing this last week. This is how it went:

Night 1: Started at 8:00 pm. Kaylyn got out of bed 50-60 times. All the while crying, saying things like, "Where's my mommy? Mommy I need you! I'm all alone! I have no one to talk to! I want my Dada!" Heartbreaking. But, at 9:30 she was in her bed asleep. She slept there the whole night.

Night 2: Started at 8:30. Kaylyn got out of bed maybe 15 times, crying and begging again. Was asleep in bed by 9:00 and slept there the entire night.

Night 3: Started at 8:30, got up 4-5 times, cried, slept the entire night.

Night 4: Same start time, got up 3-4 times, cried a lot. At 9:00 she came out of her room, saying she was going to throw up. Well, she had ALREADY thrown up. All over herself, her sheets, her floor. We let her sleep with us in our bed. This was the night where we thought, "Maybe this isn't the right approach for us."

Night 5: I decided to try again anyway. Started at 8:30 again, she only got up 2-3 times. Success! So I thought. 30 minutes later she comes out and says, "My bed is wet." I went in there and asked her why her bed was wet, and she said she peed. I pull up her nightgown and sure enough, her diaper is gone! She had DELIBERATELY taken off her diaper and peed in her bed! Honestly, I think it was pretty smart. She figured we had to wash her sheets again and she'd get to sleep in our bed again. WRONG. I quickly changed her sheet, put her back in her bed, and she went right back to sleep.

Night 6: 8:30, she cries a little but goes right to bed.

Night 7: 8:30, she cried a little but again goes right to bed.

Night 8 (tonight): 8:30, I get lots of kisses, a big hug, and she doesn't shed ONE tear! She got up once, I put her back down, and off to sleep.

So for all you moms out there who are having problems, or may have them in the future, get this book! Seriously. It address all sorts of problems from all ages and stages. My only thing is I wish I had discovered it sooner.