As you all might remember, starting after Christmas, I began "operation take back momma's bed" Also know as- hijo starts sleeping in his bed. I thought you might like an update.
Hijo now sleeps in his bed. his bedtime remains 8 pm with his wake up at 6:30 am the next morning. The routinue is hugs and kisses, prayers, more hugs and ksses and then his night light is turned on and the overhead light is turned off. I sit on the floor at this door for 2-5 minutes, although it is closer to 2 minutes at this time. I get up, give him one more set of kisses and leave the room. Hijo is always a awake when I leave, and that is it. He does not scream, cry or carry on.
I am pleasntly shocked and proud of how well it has gone given how bad it went last time I tried this. But, then last week, I got one of my parenting magazines and it had an article on sleep issues and when are the worst and best times to change children's sleep habits. Guess what age is one of the absolute worst ages to change sleep habits???? yes, you are correct, right around age 2. right when hijo came home and went from sleeping in a bed with Popi and Mireya to sleeping in a crib in a room alone. yea, I wish someone had written this article before hijo came home. Then maybe he and I wuld not have struggled with bedtime for almost a year. maybe then, he would not tell me that he does not like his bed, maybe then I could work on closing the door to his bedroom. But we have made progress, he is sleeping in his bed, he sleeps through the night and I sleep through the night.
I guess that was the shocking part of this change, is that in the beginning, I could not sleep without him in the bed with me. I woke up multiple times a night worrying, wondering. It took 3 weeks before I took over the entire bed and slept soundly through the night. Who knew that getting back my bed would be so hard on my sleep habits too.
Hijo sleeping in his bed is a huge stress relief in this house, he sleeps better, I sleep better. We both have stopped dreading bed time.
The next task to work on- getting him to sleep with his door shut so when I get up in the morning, he does not hear me. I got up this morning, and knew he needed extra sleep, so I was going to work and then take him to Auntie Lulu's (Laura's) later. He heard me and was up within 10 minutes of me getting up. This happens all the time. I don't get mornings alone- I'd like to try it, at least once.
But, have I said, HE IS SLEEPING IN HIS BED!!!!!!!
I am off to sleep.
Love and hugs,
Momma
No comments:
Post a Comment