my son has always been rocked to sleep after a bath and if he dont fall asleep within 15 mins i lay him down and he goes to sleep within 10 mins on his own. hes 17 months. now when i lay him down he screams and cries throws blanket teddy bear pacifer out of his crib and he dont fall asleep till around 1 hr later after more rocking and laying back down. is this normal maybe seperation anxiety? how in the world can i break this. going on for 3 nights.
Dr. Sears has some great advice for getting kids to sleep:
http://www.askdrsears.com/topics/sleep-problems
I would stop the constant rocking. He's old enough to start to soothe himself to sleep, it's a good thing for him to learn. He won't learn it if you keep going back, he''s training you :) Good luck!
Unless he is sick or hurting, stay with your normal routine. Don't go back into that room over and over while he is screaming. Eventually, he'll go to sleep.
The hardest part is not giving in. You can do it!
no, it's not separation anxiety - it's a change in routine....he's out of routine and he needs his routine back....you may have to slowly change this - but it's HIS ROUTINE....
If you don't want to rock him anymore - SUBTLY change it to something else that works for you...I am not sure what that will be for you and your family - but it has to be minor changes and slow changes...
GOOD LUCK!!
He's exerting his little independence! Totally normal.
But you need to just leave him in there. Don't lay down. Otherwise you're going to create a nasty habit.
Kiss him good night, close the door and let him go crazy. It won't take more than a night or two, and he'll get the message. I promise.
We did this exact same thing with our son as 17mos.
Okay I hope this helps....my son changed his bedtime routine about 5 times. Eek hard to keep up with but since I'm a SAHM I would work WITH
it instead of fight it.
In other words, I went with all the different cycles.
So my advice is fine tune your bedtime routine and find what works.
-Does he have a night light? They develop anxiety to a dark room after
awhile.
-Is he going to bed too early? Can you delay/adjust bedtime by 15mins
later?
-Make sure he's active enought throughout the day? Walking? Walk more throughout the house? Not yet walking a lot? Put him in those bouncy rings that are stationary in the living room to burn energy and be tired for bedtime.
So whatever level of activity he's at.....you go with that to have him burn energy.
We found w/our son we had to adjust the bedtime several times, be more and more active during the day (I'm tired by bedtime lol), create a bedtime routine (wind down time, bath, brush teeth, read a book etc), he has a nightlight, we do the same ritual every night....tuck sister in, tap the dream catcher, pee, get his fav blankets, say goodnight to everyone and I still stay in there til he falls alseep singing 3 lullabies.
It's kind of like me having my bedtime routine (getting ready for the next day, brush teeeth, check on the kids etc. You get what I'm saying?)
Hope that helps. My best advice is to hang in there and roll w/HIS ever changing routines. They level out for awhile before changing again as HE changes. Best of luck! :)
It seems like he is just trying to get you to create a bad habit. He just really needs you to lay him down (no more attempting to rock to sleep, just a cuddle and story and down he goes!) and leave the room. He will learn quick enough that this is how he needs to go to sleep. You've taught him to cry for an hour waiting for you to return and rock him again. So, this will take so unlearning. But it will be worth it and it's good for him as well to learn to sleep :)
If you've made it this long with that routine you have been very lucky! It is time to stop rocking or you are going to have a MONSTER on your hands. Whatever the routine is, it is. That's it, and not one minute more. It is going to be hard. There are going to be tears, and some of them will be his. :-) But if you don't, your (and his) life are going to be hell. Sorry to be the bearer of bad news, but this has trouble written ALL OVER it.
If you haven't read Dr. Ferber's Solving Your Child's Sleep Problems, then I would get it and read it today.
This is right about the separation anxiety age. The beginning... It'll last a bit.
I say just start the new routine earlier.
I have a 19 month old who wakes frequently at night, so I feel your frustration. Separation anxiety seems to cycle through a child's life several times over the first couple years because as their brain develops, they become more aware of their surroundings and develop imagination (which can lead to fear of many things). Your child is very normal. Please treat this stage gently with lots of patience and reassurance. It might be easier to close the door and let him cry, but you need to know that that may not be best for his developing brain or his sense of security. Please access the link below for scientific research about the "cry it out" method:http://www.askdrsears.com/topics/fussy-baby/science-says-...
I learned with my first that children won't want to be rocked forever. I rocked my daughter and son till past 2, both horrible sleepers then, but now at ages 3 and 6 go to bed on their own and sleep 10-11 hrs straight. Maybe you will just want to keep rocking a little while longer. Midwife Mom of 3
