help! my son wont sleep

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Forum -> Parenting our children -> Preschoolers

Help! my son wont sleep

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momto4

Sun, Dec 30 2007, 12:19 pm

my son recently turned 4 and we decided it was time to get rid of his pacifier. I decided to do it cold turkey. weve been talking about to him for awhile and I didnt want to prolong the ordeal by letting him have it at night. I am also I"YH due in about 3 months so I figured its better to be completely done with the pacifier now. anyway getting rid of it was not as bad as I feared but now my son has a very difficult time going to sleep at night. hes not even asking for his pacifier, he just comes out of bed 50 zillion times! its making me crazy. he has stuffed animals and books to look at. I dont know what to do to keep him in his room at night. with his pacifier he would fall asleep in minutes! now its taking hours. I am so tempted to give it back to him just so he'll go to sleep! (obviusly I wont). what should I do?

cindy324

Sun, Dec 30 2007, 12:34 pm

Guess what? I had the same issue with my dd, except she had just turned 3. I gave back the pacifier. I do make a point of taking it away from her during the day, unless I see she's tired and will most probably take a nap, but at night, I give it to her with pleasure. When I first took it away, she also didn't ask for it, but took her forever to fall asleep at night, even though I knew she was exhausted. As soon as I gave back the paci. she settled down almost instantly. She just wasn't ready to give it up and this was her way of telling me. Let him have it back, just make sure to enforce the nighttime ONLY rule.

momto4

Sun, Dec 30 2007, 12:40 pm

I dont know if I want to do that. he thinks his pacifiers are gone forever! after u gave it back to your daughter for the night, at what point did u finally take it away for good?

cindy324

Sun, Dec 30 2007, 1:52 pm

I didn't , she still has it, but she's only 3 and 3 months. Maybe start taking away his books if he doesn't stay in his bed What

, promise to get him a new toy if he does stays in bed...sorry...no other suggestions, I just know that my dd needed the paci to fall asleep...she still does...as far as what's gonna happen later, guess we'll cross that bridge when we come to it Very Happy

gryp

Sun, Dec 30 2007, 2:17 pm

how many nights has he gone without his pacifier? If he's done it once he can do it again. I would give him some more time to get used to settling himself. Maybe he would like to listen to a story tape or music or something.

happymom

Sun, Dec 30 2007, 2:24 pm

I agree to music, story tape and maybe a special night light like lava lamp he can look at. think of ureslf in his shoes. of course its hard for him to fall asleep! he needs to be comforted by somehting else. how about lying with him for 20 min or so and rubbing isback or singing to him? that is quality time u will not regret when he is older!

momto4

Sun, Dec 30 2007, 2:56 pm

its been about 2 weeks now without the paci so I definately dont want to reintroduce it. I can imagine its a big adjustment for him. in terms of laying down with him, thats just another habbit ill have to train him out of later on. the tape or special lamp is a good idea. its sounds very soothing. thanks!

happymom

Sun, Dec 30 2007, 3:44 pm

no prob. I personally dont mind spending time with my daugther every night in her room before she goes to sleep. I find it a very positive thing, but I guess if its something u dont want to do every night that its good not to start..

chocolate moose

Sun, Dec 30 2007, 8:00 pm

is he a thumbsuucker or gum chewer ? he needs to be taught how to soothe himself.

happymom

Sun, Dec 30 2007, 11:23 pm

gum chewing in bed?? Confused

NotInNJMommy

Mon, Dec 31 2007, 7:30 am

ds does not have to stay in bed, but he can't destry his room and scream. We have a door knob guard IN his room so he wont' come out (we open the door when we go to bed in case he needs us at night)...and we started a reward system. quiet for 3 min, he gets water in a non leak sippy cup(he's still in diapers so we are not strict on this...), then ~5 min later if he's quiet and still awake, we will turn on his night light (something he never needed/wanted before but now he does....)

kah, all but once this worked. the one time it didn't I turned teh night light off bc he started getting loud and wild and hysterical. I don't get emotional. I even give him a hug/kiss when I did it and told him I loved him and the rule is he has to be quiet and not wild, then he'll get the night light back on. Again, he's not scaredof the dark and this is a recent development, so I don't think in my case I'm traumatizing him by turning off the light. Half of the time he falls asleep before he gets the night light turned on anyways. Maybe you can reward him with good behavior during bed time....maybe make him earn the stuffed animals by staying in bed and being quiet?

momto4

Tue, Jan 01 2008, 8:44 pm

thanks for the tips!

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