Hi there. Our son Wyatt is 2 years 3 months old and stubborn as hell. We would describe him as once being an angel baby but now a spirited (and very stubborn) toddler. I swear he would chop his own arm off if it meant he got his way. Anywho, we've been dealing with some bedtime battles and night waking issues these past few months. Our second son Gavin came along 5 months ago and we figured he was part of Wyatt's reasons for sleep problems. We had issues of him crying in his room at bedtime and night wakings and WI/WO fixed that.
Now, it's a whole new ballgame. He seems to be fighting his naps more often now (3 of past 7 days didn't nap) and bedtime is a constant battle of wills to keep him in his bed and his room. He seems to always be testing us, as what once worked for a few nights no longer works now. He constantly wants milk, or hugs, kisses, potty, peepee, poopoo, etc etc. anything that will get him out of his room. We use a gate on his door but all he does now is throw his toys, pillow, anything else not tied down in his room over the gate. He's taken to yelling in loud grunts/screams when we put the gate up. It has even escalated to him taking off his clothes and training pants and doing his business on his bed/floor and playing with it. (yuck!) We always tell him when he goes to nap/bed that if he doesn't stay in bed, the gate goes up, but if he stays in bed the gate won't go up. (this is after the usual round of kisses/hugs/I love you's/etc). The minute he gets out of his room, the gate goes up for 5 minutes or until he stops throwing his tantrum. Then we take the gate down, tuck him back in bed and walk out. (usually no talking) Rinse and repeat for about 30 min - 1 hour. I've nicknamed him Zombie-Wyatt b/c just when you think he's down for the count, 15 min later out of nowhere he'll do one last suicide run down the hall and then usually crash after that.
Also, he's been getting up lately screaming bloody murder in the middle of the night and coming down the hall to our room. When we try to ask him what's wrong he just does his grunt/scream thing until we either put him on the potty (he's been doing really well with potty training for quite a few months now) or bring him back to bed. But he'll usually get out of bed right away again or 5-10 min later for about 30 min - 1 hour. This is getting really bad b/c we aren't getting great sleep and Wyatt sometimes wakes up Gavin (they sleep in the same room) He'll wake up at different times during the night (2am, 4am etc) and there doesn't seem to be any sort of usual time.
Here's what his day looks like:
6-6:30 am - wake up, potty, eat good breakfast (oatmeal, toast, etc)
7 am-11:30 am - watch some tv, play, go outside if weather permits
11:30 am-12 pm - lunch
12 pm - 1:30 or 2pm - nap (if he even sleeps - usually give up after an hour or so (see above) )
2 pm-5:30 pm - play, outside, tv etc
5:30 pm - dinner
6:15 pm - bath
6:45 pm - brush teeth, book, sip of milk, kisses, hugs, tuck in
7 pm - bedtime (usually asleep by 8-8:15pm)
11:30 pm - gets put on potty and usually goes in his sleep/semi-awake state and then back to bed
So, we're at a loss as what to try with him. He's extremely stubborn and strong willed and like I said above it seems like he would rather chop his own arm off then listen to us. Threatening to take away things/put up the gate, etc and following through doesn't seem to work. (or it does work then he figures out a new way to push our buttons). We've tried no naps, and that doesn't seem to work b/c he'll seem to go to sleep right away at night, but then wakes up multiple times during the night. He's also grumpy and looks like a truck hit him by the afternoon. Trying to get him to nap is turning into World War III in this house. Should we try moving up his nap time or backing it up? Is he having SA issues and GW method is needed? We're at a loss and in need of some advice. Thanks in advance!
