Sleep Issues - Hillsboro,OR

i'm with alexis!! you have to get the book "healthy sleep habits, healthy child." after one year of my twins not sleeping through the night i just couldn't handle it anymore. both my hubby and i are exhausted all the time! anyway, we are on day three of the new sleep schedule and it is working wonders! the girls are actually sleeping MORE and EARLIER. i've always known that most adults are sleep-deprived but to see that change in my kids is wonderful. they are happy, well rested babies!!

the book addresses sleep issues for kids of all ages, by the way. good luck!

The one thing that stood out to me in your situation was the three hour nap mid-day. Perhaps if that were only an hour, your daughter would sleep later in the morning. Have you tired that? And your son having a morning BM is normal, but if you think it is happening too early, try making dinner earlier, and make sure he goes to the bathroom before bed. I hoep this helps! I feel for you.

Maybe the mid-day nap for your 21 month old needs to be shortened. Maybe if she gets a little less sleep at nap time she'll sleep longer at night - as she grows she just needs less sleep. Then maybe the older would sleep in too?

I can't imagine having two - but it is just a thought.

First of all, my sympathies! Sleep is all important for all of us, esp. moms!

How about lying down mid-day with your son, when your daughter takes her nap? At least you will get some rest and maybe he will too. I find that I neglected that need when my children were that age, except when I was pregnant. I did take the nap time then and it worked out better for all concerned.

That way, when your husband needs to sleep in the a.m., perhaps you 3 can get up and do some quiet activity? Shifting paradigms about sleep can be sooooo helpful!

I know you have the solution to this problem within you, and I trust you will find one that's acceptable and beneficial to all!

Good luck,
G.

Have you ever read the Book Healthy Sleep habits, Happy Child by Marc Weissbluth, MD. It is my sleep bible :) It may sound crazy but you may want to move there bed time in the other direction.

When our son started waking up too early, we put a digital clock in his room and told him he couldn't get up until 7:00 and taught him how to know what time was okay to get out of bed. Worked WONDERS. Good luck!

My husband, my daughter and I are all night owls and like to sleep in in the morning. My son came along and is somehow a morning person. He wakes up between 6 and 7. Some crazy mornings it is more like 5:30. We have tried everything also. The only thing that we found that has made him sleep any longer is blackout curtains. That changed his wake up time by about an hour. We leave toys in his crib or within reach so he has things to do in the morning, and if he cries for us, then we go in with a favorite movie and play it in a portable DVD player and go back to bed. Usually it is Baby Einstein (it will play over and over again). I know TV is a horrible babysitter, but it is only an hour, and I am a better mom the rest of the day when I get that extra hour sleep. My son has learned to play alone in his crib now until he hears someone else get up. For your older one that is not in a crib, you can shut the door or use a baby gate in the doorway. Just make sure everything in the bedroom is safe.

As for waking eachother up, my son was also waking my daughter. We put a loud fan (choose a safe one with no holes to stick little fingers)in each of their rooms and also turn on the bathroom fan that is near their rooms. This drowns out almost all his noise, and she no longer wakes up with him.

How late is bed time? You said you moved it back, but may need to do so more. My kids don't go to bed until 9 or so, and sleep until 8 or 9, and then I limit naps in the day so night sleep is longer. Baby (9 mon) gets 2 naps however long he wants, but my toddler (2 1/2) gets 1 hour if early enough in the day (between 1-3), less if it's later than 3pm (nap is limited to 1/2 hour or else he's up until midnight). So, you might try waking them up from their long naps to make them more tired for night, or keep them up until Daddy comes home, so they get more on his routine and sleep when Daddy does. Hope this helps. I also used to have to tell my son he had to sleep until the sun was up, and usually while laying in bed waiting for it to come up, he'd fall back asleep. A sippy milk cup helped too.

You could try to teach them how to read a digital clock. We did this with our firstborn, and it seemed to work well, she has always been an early riser. But now she consistently is up around 7 instead of 5-6. We would tell her she could not leave her room until the clock says 7:00. That may be harder with a 21 month old...but if you work hard at teaching them, it may pay off in the end. Good Luck!

J.,
I remember those days with my own small boys......yes, even a spouse in school while I worked and went part time to school. It is really rough to run a house or anything else when you are seriously sleep deprived. One thing that really helped me when the children were under four was to invite them into my bed in the morning. Their warm little bodies were very sweet and they were so happy to be let under the covers to keep warm and for a cuddle they usually went back to sleep or when they didn't they pretended they were so they wouldn't have to leave the warmth of the family bed. This won't make them stay in their own beds longer but it may keep them from getting up and wandering around and bugging you for breakfast.
Good luck with this.
T.

I have a 4 year old who wakes up at the crack of dawn. It doesnt matter what time he goes to bed at night. My daughter on the other hand will sleep till noon if you let her. Some kids are just morning people and some arent. I have given up trying to get my son to sleep in, it hasnt happened yet and I dont see it happening in the future. Yea its hard because I do get really tired, but I think my body has finally gotten used to it so I dont really notice any more, matter of fact I am usually up before him now.

Try pushing the bedtime earlier instead of later. I know it sounds crazy, but sometimes kids wake up early because they are too tired. Their sleep patterns aren't working correctly. Also try darkening shades. They are available at any hardward store. It worked wonders for our children who are very senstivie to light.

I hate to tell you but sometimes that is their biological clock. My son usually gets up about that same time. Some days I put him back to bed and tell him it's still night night time - but if he is persistant after the 4th or 5th time of getting up....well. I guess it's time for me to get up. I work a weird shift at my job and don't get home until about 10 to 11 at night depending on the time of the year. So, I understand the whole tiredness. It can get frustrating. I have heard of the timer before and that it does work. Good luck.

Hi J.,

Sounds like you have a houseful! If it is your daughter who is the first to wake up then maybe try shortening her nap during the day. Still allow her a nap but wake her after 2 hours instead of letting her sleep so long.

Good luck and hope you get some needed rest!

C.

J.,
Welcome to my boat. Both of my boys are different. They are up until at least 11:30-Midnight. My oldest eagerly gets up at 6:50 to get ready for school. (His bus picks him up at 7:15am) My youngest no matter how early or late he goes to bed, requires more than 12 hrs of sleep. He goes to pre-school three days a week and has to be there at 9am. We have some VERY UGLY mornings. My oldest can function on five or less hours of sleep, but my youngest is a major Monster no matter how much sleep he gets. (My husband nicknamed him Monster when he was an infant. Go figure.) I suffer from chronic insomnia so I take three prescriptions to help me sleep. Once I take it, w/in about 1/2 hr I am out like a light.
Here's what works for us. Our boys share a room. There is a TV and DVD player in their room. I settle them in and read about three books, especially ones about a parents love and lots of kisses. (Little Critter books, Kisses by Nanda Roep & Marijke ten Cate, Skippyjon Jones, I love you stinky face.)I put in a DVD, give my boys each a small plastic bowl or sandwich bag of Cheerios and I start the movie. If they are thirsty, they each have a cup of water in the bathroom across the hall that they can go drink. Usually when the movie starts they are engrosed in it and fall asleep. By that time I am out like a light. When my husband gets home from work at about 11:30pm, he wakes me so I can go to bed, turns off the movie, tucks the boys in and all is complete until the next day.
It is difficult when you are tired and running on fumes. My only salvation is the weekends when I don't have to get up at 6:30am. When my oldest was three, we had him in daycare/pre-school with a close friend three days a week so that I could have me time. You may try this, find a preschool in your area, drop him off in the am, take a nap with your daughter for three hours and then go pick him up. DO WHAT EVER IT TAKES TO GET SOME SLEEP, even if it costs $. You deserve it.

I have an early rising 2 year old (wakes regularly around 5 am) and have tried pushing bedtime later without much success in getting her to sleep later. What finally seems to be working is limiting her daytime sleep. She'll sleep 2-3 hours after lunch if I let her--but I've begun waking her after 2 hours and since then she's been sleeping later into the morning (until around 5:30 now). I'm planning to eventually try waking her after 90 minutes of napping and see what that does.

We also use a white noise machine in her room to make sure our noises in the house don't wake her up at all. Perhaps that would help keep your kids from hearing each other?