[tyedyedeyes]

DS is now 2 1/2. We didn't co-sleep, but the first six months, he was in the same room with us. But from then on, he had his own room. I had a nightlight in there up until he was about 15 or 16 months old. Then, he started trying to take it out, and basically just didn't want it in there. So, then we moved to a new apartment when he was 18 months, and we thought maybe he would want it since it was a new place, and a big change and all. He had it in for about three months, and tolerated it, but then didn't want it in there anymore. So we took it out, and since then he's never uttered a word or whined about it being dark at all....

Until now.

Just in the last week, I would say, he's been getting up after I put him to bed (He only comes out after bedtime these days if he's hungry, or has had a BM or a nightmare) and turning on his bedroom light, and then going back to bed (doesn't open the door or anything). Sometimes I can hear him playing with a toy for about ten or fifteen minutes, then falling asleep. After the story and the lullaby, I'll tuck him in and he'll snuggle into his pillow and blanket, and then I notice the light coming from under the door sometimes a half an hour later, a few hours later, or even last night I got up to use the bathroom and saw his light on... at 3 am!

I opened the door to his room to find him sprawled across his toddler bed but asleep....

I got a couple of ideas, maybe he wants a night light again...I know sometimes he wants to snuggle with me cause he's got this big ol' room with the hardwood floors and high ceilings and it must just feel lonely in there. So I snuggle with him and he falls asleep on me and I put him down and he stays asleep. :yawning: Or, someone in my family had the idea that he might be a sleepwalker. Not know he's doing it. I can't say I want to discredit that theory, because DH talks in his sleep and was a sleepwalker when he was younger too...and I apparently also talk in my sleep..is this thing hereditary? I dunno..just thought if anyone had any ideas

on what's going on here and/or any ideas on how to help him sleep better, this would be the best place to come...You mamas are all awesome!

I got some other "phases" he's starting to go through that I'm gonna need some help on, but that's for another thread, another time.

Thanks in advance for comments and suggestions.

Kate

 

[stafl]

my suggestion would be to bring the kid to the family bed, where he can have the human contact at night that most people need. I most certainly would never put my kid in her room, alone, turn the lights off, then shut the door - but that's just me. I know my DD (either one of my girls) would wake up and freak out totally, and throw a huge fit! Can't say that I'd blame them, either. I'd probably do the same myself if I woke up alone, in the dark, with the door shut, and all my family sleeping together in another room.

 

[tyedyedeyes]

I appreciate your response. If I had started with the family bed when he was younger, I'm sure things would be different. However, we didn't. I have tried bringing him into our bed, when he didn't want to go to sleep or when he would wake up with a nightmare or something. I thought that it would be worth a shot, even if DH doesn't agree (since we are both so restless and the bed is small and we are both large people he would not want to do this). Well, he thought it was playtime. He would jump up and down on the bed, and throw the pillows off. After a few hours of trying to get him to sleep in our bed, I finally helped him to his bed and he did fall asleep shortly thereafter.

Stafl, although I can see where you are coming from with your personal experience, I felt in your response a put down because I don't co-sleep. I felt as if you were saying that I was neglecting my son because I leave him "alone, in the dark, with the door shut, and all my family sleeping together in another room". This sentence gives the allusion that I lock him in there and forget about him all night. Quite the contrary. I used to leave the door open, and the hall light on for him, but he would get up and close the door. I check in on him before I go to bed myself, and if I wake up in the middle of the night. I care about my son's sleeping patterns, and comfort levels, and if I didn't, I wouldn't have come here looking for a little help. This is the way our family works. We have our room, he has his. We have our bed, he has his. If he chooses to come and sleep in our bed, so be it, I wouldn't mind the snuggle time.

But I will not constantly subject him to DH and I's inevitable and persistent tossing, appendage flinging, and having absolutely no room on the bed to sleep (DH is 6'6" 250#, I am 6', more than 250#, in a full/queen bed). Also, none of us go to bed at the same time, DS goes to bed around 8:30 pm, I go to bed around 10:30 or 11 pm (I gotta wind down!), but DH doesn't come to bed till 2 am ( He normally works second shift.) Co-sleeping is a wonderful thing, and it is great for a lot of families, but not ours. If it would have been possible, it would have been done.

I am not saying I don't appreciate your time and thought, but I think your response could have gone without the accusations by implication. I was a bit insulted.

I apologize if I have offended you, but I felt I must speak my mind.

 

[stafl]

You are reading things into my post that I did not intend. I don't imply things. I'm straightforward and openly honest. If I wanted to insult you, I would have done so without insinuation. I was only speaking of my own personal experience, and what works with my family. I apologize.