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2 year old to got bed alone at night?

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  • 11-10-2012 2:38pm
    #1
    mspractical
    Registered Users Posts: 9 ✭


    hey i have a 2 1/2 year old girl who refuses to go to bed alone at night. its a constant battle and we end up giving in and have to go to bed with her at the same time in her room so that now my husband and i dont share a bed/room.frustrated!!


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    #2
    Moonbeam
    Moderators, Education Moderators, Society & Culture Moderators Posts: 18,953 Mod ✭✭✭✭Moonbeam


    Is she used to sleeping with you,has she ever had her own room?


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    #3
    mspractical
    Registered Users Posts: 9 ✭mspractical


    she has her own room but wont sleep alone in it.she gets very distressed if we put her to bed alone


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    #4
    Hannibal Smith
    Closed Accounts Posts: 3,893 ✭✭✭Hannibal Smith


    Have you tried leaving a lamp on in the room? We had awful trouble gettin our eldest settled into his new roomwhen he was that age. In the end as a last resort we moved the cot into his new room, he settled no problem. Then we moved him to a bed again after a few weeks, but this time kept him in his grobag. A few weeks after that we switched to a duvet. We have to leave a lamp on for him in the winter, but we turn it off as soon as he's out.

    We also read to him, then hugs and kisses and then we leave the room.


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    #5
    Moonbeam
    Moderators, Education Moderators, Society & Culture Moderators Posts: 18,953 Mod ✭✭✭✭Moonbeam


    She has just got used to sleeping with you.
    Has she got a favourite teddy or blanket?
    I would tell her how big and special she is in her own room and make a fuss out of her then put a stair gate up at her door and don't go up to her every time she cries.
    Both of mine moved to their own rooms at 12 months so I have little experience with getting an older child to sleep on their own.


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    #6
    pwurple
    Closed Accounts Posts: 12,449 ✭✭✭✭pwurple


    Has she ever slept in her room alone at all, or is this a new development?

    Ours was in her own room from about 4 weeks, but she went through a couple of weeks of refusing to go to sleep without us at about 16 months. I suspect it was nightmares that kicked it off, as she woke up one night crying and looking really scared... and it started from there. A few weeks of reassurance and it passed again. We do use a nightlight though, and she has a blankie and her giraffe stickers for chatting away to herself.


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    #7
    Hannibal Smith
    Closed Accounts Posts: 3,893 ✭✭✭Hannibal Smith


    Moonbeam wrote: »
    Both of mine moved to their own rooms at 12 months so I have little experience with getting an older child to sleep on their own.

    Ours was in his own room since he was 6 weeks, but we moved him to a different room to make room for his brother and that's when it all kicked off.


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    #8
    January
    Closed Accounts Posts: 23,862 ✭✭✭✭January


    My eldest daughter was like this for a good while. I started by pretending to fall asleep in the bed with her then leaving the room, to reading her a story and then sitting beside her bed until she went to sleep. We did have some "rules" after the story and we recited them every night before story. "Time for bed, read the story, no talking or crying, lie down, close your eyes, snuggle in, go to sleep and have nice dreams". Gradually I told her that I had to go downstairs and do some cleaning but that I would come back and check on her every few minutes, we still recited the "rules" with the added extra that if she called me I would not come because it was sleepy time (obviously if she was really upset I would go to her and reassure her) and mammy had things to do while she was asleep.

    It's worked now and she can get herself off to sleep without any bother but it was a long hard slog and took nearly 3/4 months of reassuring her and leaving the light on very low (we have a dimmer switch).


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