My 5 year old and 2.5 year old share a room and individually they will go to sleep fine but when they go to bed at the same time, they cause a ruckus. We are currently an hour+ into bedtime and they just continue to egg each other on. They more or less sleep fine thru the night but they think now it's party time.
So far they've lost TV/iPad privileges, no dessert after dinner and stuffed animals are starting to be removed. But they continue to go nuts.
Any suggestions (ideally we would put them in separate rooms but won't work now).
Once they don't fear Santa or Jesus you may as well move out, you're done as a parent.
Ha wish I could but we are Jewish
Older one takes some work, a game of hide and seek where he tells you where to hide and where hes hiding, a few puzzles, 2 books, some story telling and some hair scratching - but hes down by 8:30-8:45.
I consider us a bit extreme with this because we will avoid going out (prefer having people over) not to disturb the balance but overall it works. I think within a day or two of setting the routine the kids understand the boundaries and expectations.
Make sure they get enough physical activities during the day to where they are physically tired at night.
Read them some bedtime stories. Laying there listening to them and imagining it in their minds will calm them and tire them down.
Along those lines if you have any children stories on cd you may want to play that for them. As they lay there listening they will be more quiet and inclined to drift off.
Don't worry these things usually will just work themselves out.
Positive reinforcement works best, tell them Eli gets 10 hours of sleep or the Giants only draft guys that go to bed on time. That kind of thing. If you both go to sleep on time for two weeks we'll get ice cream. Since they're brothers you could try some competition, see who can fall asleep first the most nights in a row. Keep it positive.
You might try reading to them before bed each night. That really helped with us and it's good for everyone.
I might reconsider taking away the stuffed animals because that's the sort of thing to cause anxiety and that won't help them sleep.
It's tough, a lot times I would loose my cool, yelling and dish out the punishments and that never helped. I think whatever you can do to avoid direct conflict and ultimatums is generally helpful.
It's a tough age but you'll get through it. Good luck!
Around 7:30 we round them up to put pajamas on, wash up and brush teeth. Afterwards we dim the lights in their room, and we get them in to the bed and read 1 or 2 short books. Btw, if you don't have one I would definitely suggest getting a dimmer switch or dimmable lamp in your kids room - it really helps to wind them down.
We then put their night light on and leave the room. Sometimes they both go right to sleep, sometimes one or both will still be rustling around. If they aren't settling down then my wife or I will sit in the room (occasionally throwing them back into their bed if they get up) until they go asleep - which usually takes about 30mins.
Both of my kids still take naps midday, so I don't think whether or not they take naps always has an effect at night time. My opinion is that the key thing is to make sure they have the same routine at the same time each evening, and to not keep them up too late (they should be asleep before 9:00pm and get 9-10 hours sleep).
Haha, agree 1000%
Right now we're going through sleeping issues with our 10 month old. He'll have 2-3 hour stretches before he wakes up for a bottle or nursing. We've tried letting him cry it out, but he's gone an hour+ of crying without tiring.
He's the total opposite of my daughter who slept all night from the beginning.
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them with Santa?
Ha wish I could but we are Jewish
What does Santa have to do with religion? Religion was just how the myth got started, but it has nothing to do with religion now.
Once they don't fear Santa or Jesus you may as well move out, you're done as a parent.
Lol yup. We use Santa for our three year old. It's great because she insists that the North Pole is a big building to the northwest of the view from our condo so the Santa factor looms large. We also only have one kid.
Older one takes some work, a game of hide and seek where he tells you where to hide and where hes hiding, a few puzzles, 2 books, some story telling and some hair scratching - but hes down by 8:30-8:45.
I consider us a bit extreme with this because we will avoid going out (prefer having people over) not to disturb the balance but overall it works. I think within a day or two of setting the routine the kids understand the boundaries and expectations.
We are the same. We rarely go out at that time of day to disrupt the routine. Sometimes it can suck but it has worked.
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We dont deviate from it under any circumstance. With a 1 and 3 year old. We dont joint bath time at 7ish, theyll watch a PBS show. Little guy gets tossed in his crib and left to cry it out until he knocks out.
Older one takes some work, a game of hide and seek where he tells you where to hide and where hes hiding, a few puzzles, 2 books, some story telling and some hair scratching - but hes down by 8:30-8:45.
I consider us a bit extreme with this because we will avoid going out (prefer having people over) not to disturb the balance but overall it works. I think within a day or two of setting the routine the kids understand the boundaries and expectations.
We are the same. We rarely go out at that time of day to disrupt the routine. Sometimes it can suck but it has worked.
Yup, thats why my wife and I rarely go out at night anymore. I can't trust anyone to uphold the sleep routine.
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