 | In one of the ultimate in nightmare situations, we are really stuck on what is left! Our daughter (almost 3) was always a good sleeper (7-7) in her crib, with the door closed, no night light etc. Unfortunately, we did a double whammy and have moved to a new home, and topped that off with a new big girl bed. She was 'excited' about the idea of a real bed for a few days and seemed to sleep well, but since, has been almost impossible for us to deal with. She will not have a closed door or will bang on it forever, she must have a light on or will freak out, and will often fight going to sleep and mess around turning her light on and off, and talking/playing for over two hours (loud talking playing not quiet). We have also found that she will wake up screaming and refusing to settle down now matter what kind of threats or discipline may come her way - usually around 11pm and around 4-5am.
We have been very strict as parents go in that we don't lay down with her until she falls asleep, we NEVER let her sleep in our bed, and never let her get out of bed if she says she isn't tired even though we know she must be. Our lack of flexibility probably worsens the matter, but we do refuse to cave in.
We are now in closer quarters and she is right across the hall from our 8 month old boy where worst case scenarios we have resorted too (locking her in with door closed) results in screaming and door banging that will wake him up and get him screaming too. This has gone on for almost a month now, having gone through both of them with chickenpox and also bad colds, we are now accustomed to up to 4 wake ups a night (2 from each). All we want is for her to got back to her long sleeping ways but don't know of any resolution in this situation. She is VERY stubborn and very strongwilled, she doesn't seem to understand 'tired' and would stay up until midnight and still wake up at 6 if we let her (in our mind, a child cannot suddenly go from 14 hours of sleep with nap to 6-8). Later bedtimes (7-8 is typical now) just create earlier wakeups, and we have filtered out nap as she has also refused those once and for all.
What do you take away when they refuse to sleep, do you spank if you've shut the door and shes banging and screaming even after you gave her stern warnings about waking up the baby???
Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated as we are easily by far going through the worst sleep deprivation we have and probably will ever experience.
TIA
Dave & Alisha |
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