Tonight, it sucks to be Lucy. She has never been a good sleeper. Well, I should say, she has always been a terrible sleeper. She sleeps through the night approximately once every two weeks. It's miserable. We never know how the night will go; she usually balks at sleep and howls and cries until she passes out. Tummy aches, monsters, funny smells, potty runs, noises, you name it. Then she falls asleep. An hour later.
2am. She wakes and needs any number of items. She almost always ends up in our bed where she begs to get up for the day. Every hour or two until 7am.
We're exhausted, we're frustrated, we're lost. Lucy is a sensitive, sweet, funny, obedient kid. We have no issues with her. Until the sun goes down. I don't know what you do with a 3.5 year old - is it too old to cry it out? The cajoling, threats, begging and stern voice isn't all that effective, either.
Yes, a sun/moon wakeup clock is a great idea, for a kid who simply gets up to early. But Lucy is a mess from 7 to 7. He naps are sporadic and she tries to make up for a bad night during the day, but she just uses the naps to keep herself going with the bedtime circus even later. Is it a tough love issue, here? We definitely expect more from them and require good behavior and excellent manners, but the night issues with my otherwise perfect girl just leaves me dumbfounded. Help.
2 comments:
I will respond in questions so as not to assume you haven't already thought of these (probably very obvious) ideas.... How goes it if she doesn't nap during the day? Can she be bribed with something special for a night that she just stays quietly in her room (even if she wakes, if she knows she has to stay in there and not call for you she could be more likely to put herself back to sleep)? Have you told any tales/bedtime stories of growing up to be a big girl and what that is like? Kids love to imitate fairy tales and such. Lacy was just like this although mostly just AT bed time. There was always something and we tried a million things. I think we taught her about the boy who cried wolf and it died out some time after that.
I also don't think it's too old to cry it out, especially if you've talked about what's going to happen when she wakes up and calls for you. The end.
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