sleep recommendations

cg0112358

DS slept well in his crib and could put himself to sleep but constantly wanted in/out very often so we transitioned DS to his toddler bed months ago. Well, his sleeping went to crap after that. We tried to stick it out thinking it would get better and by the time we considered changing back too much time had passed.

So now where at the point where I have to rock him to put him to sleep every nap and night. He sleeps well when he's in there and I do appreciate the fact that in the mornings (instead of screaming as he did in the crib) he simply walks into my room either to A) crawl in bed with me for a bit or greet me with a bright, energetic "Hi!" because he's ready to get up and greet the world. He does end up joining me earlier than he should sometimes and I'm too tired to try to rock him back to sleep so he ends up sleep the rest of the night with me.

Anyway, I'm looking for recommendations on how to teach him to get in his bed and lay down on his own and stay in his room until it's time to get up (I think we're going to try one of those okay to wake clocks to help with that). I've tried CIO and I just can't handle it. I've tried using a babygate to keep him in his room but he just screams and cries so much... I would definitely prefer something that causes less stress to each of us. Anyway, any tips would be appreciated. This will be a post and run since I have to get up in 6 hours but I'll check for responses tomorrow. TIA!

MrsPteranodon

It might sound really harsh but we turned the lock around on Buddy. The gate didn't work cause he could just open his door and scream. But with the door locked he tries a couple times and goes back to his bed and goes to sleep. I get up before I go to bed and unlock his door. We have a gate going into our room so we don't end up with a middle of the night visitor 

cg0112358

MrsPteranodon:

It might sound really harsh but we turned the lock around on Buddy. The gate didn't work cause he could just open his door and scream. But with the door locked he tries a couple times and goes back to his bed and goes to sleep. I get up before I go to bed and unlock his door. We have a gate going into our room so we don't end up with a middle of the night visitor 

I actually tried that, he screamed and cried so much that even hiding in the bathroom with the vent on I could still hear him. I just couldn't stand it... I just don't think I was made to be a CIO mom.

bgf1

What is the rest of your night time routine like?  Maybe your LO is just not developmentally able to quiet himself down well enough.  We have a night time routine that involves bath, stories and sleep.  LO is in a single bed so usually I just lay down with him, to read a couple of stories.  When we are done this I ask him if he wants to snuggle or is ready for bed.  He picks bed about fifty percent of the time, and the rest of the time we snuggle for just a few minutes.  Two months ago we were still rocking to sleep but one day C just started to to cut the rocking short and asking to go to bed.  I have found that the more I try to force something C is not ready for the more stressful everyone's life is.

 How verbal is your LO?  Can you explain what you want and ask him what he needs help with this?  Maybe a favorite stuffy, or a blanket, he may need a certain amount of cuddles/ or want a song or two.  We leave C's door open until he falls asleep because C was getting up on his own when he was supposed to be falling asleep and when I asked him why he was getting up he said "door open".  Now we leave the door open until C goes to sleep and then put up the baby gate.  GL