For my 7 year old it's the repeated chant of put your pajama's on, brush your teeth, clean your room, get your movie ready, (they get 1 hour of tv time in their beds before the Sandman comes), no you don't need another drink, didn't you already go potty? And this gets repeated several times in the process of getting ready for bed.
Then, there's the 3 year old. The chant for him is, let's brush your teeth, come get a diaper on (we're in the process of potty training), what movie do you want to watch tonight, say goodnight to Daddy, get your butt back in bed, no you already said goodnight, no you cannot watch more tv. For some reason this goes on longer than the one for his sister did.
This leaves the 13 month old. In some ways she is easier, but only in a few ways. I change her diaper, get her a bottle of milk, let her say goodnight to her Dad, and lay her in bed. She eaither lays there sweetly with her bottle or plays quietly with the toys in her bed. Then at about 1am she turns into a demon child. She doesn't wake up fussing. She skips straight to an all out scream. The problem? She can't find her bottle. I get up, give her her bottle back and back off to dreamland she goes. Until about 2 hours later when we go through this process again. And yet again every 2 to 3 hours until morning, with at least one diaper change in between.
During this time in the wee hours of the night, the 3 year old comes out to wake me up, after I finally fall back asleep, to say he wants to watch tv. I take him back to his bed while explaining that it's still night night time and he can watch tv when the sun wakes up. If I'm too tired to think rationally, I just tell him to get in bed with me and his Dad, which is most likely what he really wanted in the first place.
So after all the peaceful sleep I get, why is it that come morning I feel like crap? Sometimes I can't wait till they move out....
A baby should NEVER be put to bed with a bottle, it will rot their precious little teeth. None of my kids ever and I do mean never went to bed with a bottle and I have four. T.V. in their beds is not a great idea, it messes with your seratonin levels and causes adults and children to have trouble sleeping. Maybe the baby needs to be ferberized (learn to self sooth) it's a great way to teach them self sufficience. Just a thought!
ReplyDeleteI never knew that about watching tv in bed. Is it even bad if they are still awake when the tv gets turned off? I'm trying to switch the baby to water in her bottle instead of milk. Self soothing is a problem, for my husband at least, because we only have a 2 bedroom, 1 each for the older children. Me, my husband and the baby all sleep in the living room, us on a futon, her in her crib. Any other ideas to help her sleep?
ReplyDeleteOh lady, I so feel your pain about bedtime as you know from reading my post. Bedtime with 7 year olds is so easy. With the younger ones though, such a pain. My youngest wakes up in the middle of the night crying for "pizza pie."
ReplyDeleteI woke up last night with the baby and found my 3 year old passed out beside me. I had no idea he was there! My secret fantasy, a full nights sleep and a kid free bed! Sshh don't tell the kids, they'll just torment me even more! lol
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