So I have been looking at a lot of different post from newspaper articles that I have found on EBSCOhost. In my first post, "A Great Nights Sleep" in the
Townsville Bulletin by Nicole Pierotti, answers a question from a parent. The parent wants to know how to get their son back into his own bed after letting him sleep with them. The author answers with a couple different options. The first is to sit down you child and explain to them that they cant sleep in your bed anymore and they will sleep in their own bed. Obviously this is not going to work for me because my son is only 2 and I don't think he would even start to understand what I am saying to him. The second is to wake as soon as your child crawls into your bed and put them back in their own bed without much contact. This isn't going to work for me either because I have tried and it is so much easier just to let him stay in my bed because I don't have to wake up. The third option is to make sure your bedroom door is secure and closed. I can not do this either because there is no way that I could sleep knowing that my door is all the way closed. The fourth option is to secure your toddlers bedroom door or put a baby gate in front of it. This doesn't seem like a very smart idea to me because what if there is a fire or they get sick and cant get out. I just don't agree with any of these methods to keeping my child in his bed for the night. They don't seem very safe to me at all. Also I have tried to putting him back in his room but then I am cranky during the day because I had to keep getting up and putting him back in his room.
In the second newspaper article, "Stop Your Bed Being Hijacked" from the
Irish Times, by David Coleman, he says that its good we let our children sleep with us when they are sick or have nightmares. I have done this so many times when my son is sick or has had a long day and just needs his mommy. He also points out that what you fall asleep with or to is what you expect when you wake up. So if my son falls asleep with me laying next to him and the lights on then when he wakes up he expects to see me with the lights on. I have started to let him watch some of a movie, drink his sippy, and lay with him for about 15 minutes. After that I take the sippy, turn the movie off, and leave the room. The first couple of nights he cried for some time before falling asleep but then he would just fall asleep. I totally ruined doing this when I let him sleep with me last night because he woke up with a soaking wet diaper.
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| I really love to cuddle with him!!! :) |
I like this method much more than the answers from the first article that I read. But at the same time I don't know if I can stick to it because its so easy to fall back into bad habits and I am trying to hard to break me AND him of them.
Work Cited
Nicole Pierotti. "Baby Thoughts A Great
Night's Sleep."
Townsville Bulletin (2011): 17. Newspaper Source. Web. 13 July
2012.
"Stop your bed being hijacked."
Irish Times 28 Apr. 2009: Newspaper
Source. Web. 13 July 2012.
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Maybe he keeps waking because he is wet from the sippy at bedtime? Try no sippy for an hour before bed, and change him right before tuck in time?
ReplyDeleteIt is so hard to break habits. This is especially true when the old habits are easier, and you are exhausted. My son was colicky and I remember how hard those first few years were. The good news is I fully believe that time we spent together made him into the loving young man that he is.
ReplyDeleteThank you for walking us through what you thought of the articles. There is no one way for you to deal with this so the answer is you have to find what works best for your family.
My only caution is to find a routine that your husband can be a part of when you are together again. Since he is away for now it would be too easy to get a routine going and then he would be left out.
I can see from your responses to your research that you are a loving mom. You will find the best way for you and your family.
Thanks for adding links to your post...unfortunately, it doesn't work to link to database sources because it just takes someone to the library login or to an error page.
ReplyDeleteInstead, you need to cite database sources like EBSCO using MLA citations. See Amber's blog for an example.
Also, please include the publication titles in your posts. What magazines or journals are these articles from? Knowing that info is almost more important than the titles of the individual articles.
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ReplyDeleteI agree with you that some of the ideas put forth in the article do not seem terribly sensible; a child's instinct is to seek security from its parents, and denying that security (by putting up a baby gate or closing your door for instance) is a surefire way to end up with an insecurely attached child - meaning he will learn that people cannot be depended on to come to his aid when he needs it, which will develop all sorts of problems as he gets older and moves into adulthood. It's good that you have a bedtime ritual that's familiar, however, I would not recommend letting him watch TV before bed; it's been shown that staring at TV or computer screens makes sleeping much more difficult. Perhaps substitute the movie with reading a story (this should have the added benefit of cultivating an interest in reading; the children who like to read when they're older are usually the ones who were read to when they were younger, case in point; me.) The sippy cup should be fine, as long as you're only putting water in it; letting him drink milk or juice right as he falls asleep allows the sugar to coat the teeth overnight, which allows cavities to develop. If he needs something like milk before he goes to bed, give it to him before he brushes his teeth to prevent plaque buildup. I enjoyed reading your research and look forward to seeing what else you find on the subject!
ReplyDelete