18 Month Old Impossible to Put to Bed

It is completely normal for his sleep habits to change. He may have gone to sleep on his own easily in the past, but he's not doing it now. This is actually very normal, as his awareness of the world has really changed. Now he knows he might be missing out on something if he goes to sleep, and he doesn't want to miss out. Or it could be that his imagination has really grown and he is truly scared of shadows and what might be under his bed or in the closet or whatever. Again, totally normal.

Why not just stay with him until he falls asleep? It will help him to feel safe and calm. And once he feels safe and calm and can actually fall asleep without a fight, you'll be able to start leaving the room sooner. It won't last forever. It's kind of a pain right now, but it won't last forever.

There's no need to make leave hi to cry. Just help hi through this rough patch. You won't regret it.

Your son is manipulating you. He's old enough now to do what it takes to get what he wants, and he's doing it in spades.

Do NOT lay down beside his crib. He is not a little prince. Don't treat him like one. Your husband is right. Let him cry this out.

You need to be 100% consistent with what you do. Put him in the crib and leave the room. Don't go back in. The first week it will be awful. He'll scream his lungs off, demanding that you do his bidding. Don't cave in to him. The second week, he'll still cry but fall asleep much quicker. The third week, he'll settle down and go to sleep because he will finally know that no amount of his shenanigans will work.

Be sad all you want, but keep your eye on the fact that if you DON'T nip this in the bud now, when he's too big for a crib, you'll have a mess on your hands with him coming out of his room and trying to climb into bed with you. Either fix it now or pay the piper later. He has to know that you mean business.

Teaching a child to self-soothe where sleep time is concerned is a GIFT to the child and to the family unit as a whole. Teaching a child that at night time, their room is where they have to stay is paramount. A child who wanders the house because they have not been made to stay in the bedroom is a child that is in danger. You must fix this now so your son knows his place at night.

What's his schedule? He may need less sleep now. When does he go to bed? Get up? Nap?

Sounds to me like you he is just throwing a temper tantrum because he can't see you. He needs to learn that you aren't always going to be there to calm him down. He needs to learn how to calm himself down.

Like other parents, I thought that letting my child cry was cruel, before this happened to my oldest daughter. But, I lost alot of sleep trying to get her to go to sleep, and stay asleep, each night. She was using me as her comfort. I would rock her to sleep and then I would have to be very slow and quiet putting her in her crib. Most nights, she would wake back up as soon as her back hit that crib mattress. Most nights, I didn't get to sleep myself until 2am. I did this for over a year. Finally, one day my husband insisted that I put her in her crib and walk out. It was breaking my heart to hear her cry and scream the way she did. But, my husband would not let me go back in until she had stopped crying. She cried and screamed for about an hour, that first night, before she calmed down. I checked on her after she had stopped the crying for awhile. She was sleeping peacefully. Then, each night was less and less time crying. In only a few days, I could place her in her crib at a certain time and leave the room without any crying and she would go to sleep on her own. After that, I was so grateful to my husband for forcing me to do what I couldn't do on my own.

I know it will be hard to hear and you will be tempted to go in and check on him. While he is crying it out, you cannot go in to check on him. If you do, it will only make it worse. He will think that if he cries long enough or loud enough, you will come in. You cannot go in to check on him until after he stops crying.

Good Luck and hang in there!

If you were a working parent and your toddler was in child care this is what his day would be like.

He'd arrive at child care around 7:15 to 7:30am. Then he'd eat breakfast then go to class that would start around 8am. He'd have sharing time, playtime, morning snacks, outside play time, lunch, transition time and clean up time. Then he'd lay down and take a couple of hours of nap. He'd wake up around 2:30 or so, have an afternoon snack, then have some more class time and play time. Then you'd pick him up around 5:30 or 5:45. He'd fall asleep for a few minutes on the way home but would outgrow that by age 2.

He would come home to play while you started dinner and got it on the table. After dinner the family would have some family time and enjoy being together.

He'd get into bed around 8 or 8:30 and fall asleep nearly immediately because he had played hard and had little sleep during the day. SO he needs to be busy and active all day. Mentally and physically both.

So, if you're putting him into bed earlier than 8-8:30 then he's probably not tired yet. If he's waking up too early then he's going to bed too early. If he's sleeping until 9 then he's probably going to bed about the right time because in the next 6 months he's going to drastically stop needing as much sleep and will start getting up earlier.

It's a balancing act. Too early to bed means not going to sleep on time and making life miserable for everyone that wants the kid to go to sleep so they can have some quiet time. Then having the child up too late and him being too tired to drop off easily.

Keep working on finding the time when he's sleepy and ready to go down.

Some kids just need to cry - it's their method of self soothing. My sister was like that.

Do u put toys in his bed? When my son was younger it would take him forever to go to sleep and we had to sit there with him, and it would take an hour or two. I was so frustrated that eventually i gave him toys in his bed and told him he could play quietly. He would play and fall asleep on his own. Then i would come in and remove tbe toys. It made bedtime so much less stressful. Good luck

My son hit a road block at 22 months.. when he learned how to climb out of his crib. He was a clock work baby.. 7 pm bed .. if it was 720 or later.. he would be up at 4 am... otherwise weekend he would sleep until 7 or later..

It took us a while to get him back to be easily.. but we changed him to the toddler bed and then it was a game for him. My friend offered up advise, just ignore him.. that worked. .it took a few nights. I was not sure of doing that becuase I felt like if I tell him to do something I expect him to do it, not run us. Now.. I my son has a gluten intollerance or cieliac-not testing just taking it out of his diet I know it bothers his tummy but I am not putting him throught the testing for cieliac. He sleeps much better now.

My daugther is 25 months and still in her crib.. I put her in and that is it.. here and there she will cry, depending on the cry I will go in. But most of the time she will play or just go down.

Does he have a good schedule in the daytime. at 18 months my kids got up around 6ish had breakfast played went back down for a short nap around 9 or so. back up and played and ate lunch back down for good nap about 1 slept til about 3ish. back up and played till supper had supper , bath and bed by about 7 or so. slept til 6am once they hit the stage for no naps we adjusted lunch time a little earlier and they had 1 nap that lasted about 3 hours from about noon til 3 and bedtime gradually moved to about 8. but they stuck with 8 til about 4th grade could he be hungry? we always did a bowl of cereal with only a little milk before bed. I never did the going in and laying on the floor thing. I put them in and if they continued messing around just put them in the crib and let them scream. it only took a night or two to get done with that.

Perhaps putting him to bed much earlier would help, before he's tired. I've found that when I put my kids to bed earlier than I think I should they will stay quiet and occupied in bed until they fall asleep. If I wait until I think they're tired, it's too late. We had sleep issues with our first, and we really benefitted from the book "Healthy Sleep Habits, Happy Child". I hope you find something that works for you!