Last night Porter went to bed just fine. Naptime was another story (he dinked around for 2 hours in his room so I finally threw him in the crib). Anyhow... back to bedtime.
I went to bed and at 2:30 or so, Porter comes into my room with his little step stool to get on the bed. He had his Rocky and cup and a package of graham crackers asking for a snack. I get up and find his bedroom light on, a few played-with toys in the living room, Reyna's birthday present ripped open (an art box full of goodies... he ripped open the crayons and marker box) and the pantry door open (where I found a can of Reyna's play-doh from the art box hidden this morning).
I put him back to bed but 10 minutes later he was up again. I spanked him and put him back in bed, and again he was up. I finally laid down with him and slept in his bed. Which wasn't horrible as it was that or sleep with Snoring Beauty in my room. But, I don't want that to be what I have to resort to to keep him in bed.
I am not sure what to do about these "night wakings." He has, to my knowledge, been sleeping through the night since he was about 3 or 4 months old. (of course, he's had plenty of times where he's woken up in the night teething or sick etc...) I just am not sure WHY he's waking up. Maybe he used to do this in his crib, wake up at 2-3 am and he'd just put himself back to sleep?
I have thought about just closing his door or putting the baby gate up in his doorway but I'm afraid that 1) he'll turn his light on and just play in his room forever and not go back to sleep 2) he'll unplug any cords in his room and dink around with the outlets 3) although he's never attempted to climb furniture, it worries me that someday he'll try to climb his dresser or bookshelf and pull it over on him (obviously we need to secure those to the wall, but right now we're still trying to figure out how to arrange his room so for the time being I don't want any additional holes in his wall if we move it elsewhere).
I know Carrie has had some problems with Graci getting up numerous times a night. I'm just not sure what to do! Help?
Norah did the same thing about 3 months before Lucy was born. I also did not want to get into the habit of sleeping with her! It took about 2-3 weeks of one of us (we took turns) sitting (or standing) in her room until she fell back to sleep. Every time she sat up, I would lay her back down.
ReplyDeleteAlso, I think around that same 3 week stretch, she got a little rash so I gave her Benadryl about 4 nights in a row - it knocked her out and she slept straight through. I think that helped her break the habit.
Good luck! It is so hard to get up when you are already tired!!
amonte used to do this. it drove me nuts mostly because i was worried he would get hurt. he eventually just stopped...not sure why! good luck! maybe put a baby gate at his door so he can't roam the house...
ReplyDelete