Please describe your Spirited Toddlers sleep environment

[Colesmom]

Hi everyone,

Trying gradual withdrawl in a couple of days.  Wanted to start tonight, but want to talk about it with Cole first for a couple of days so that he knows what to expect.  Also, I want to see if there is anything I'm missing with respect to his environment.

I have always found he sleeps better in a dark room, but lately he seems to want the light from the hallway, and last night he wouldn't let DH turn off the light...so maybe a night light is in order.  Do your little ones like a cozy crib with a pillow etc, or not too many items to distract?  Just tossing ideas around.

I guess I don't want to change too many things at once, but I'd like to see if there is anything else I could do to make this kid want to sleep.  grrrrrrrrrrrrr.

any input much appreciated.

[Mom to M&M]

We don't have a nightlight although some times I toy with getting a really soft/subtle one. No pillow yet either but Marisa has her soft blanket/lovey in there, as well as her stuffed sheep (backup/second lovey), two tiny Carter's soft dolls and either a stuffed cat or dog. She also has a Fisher Price Flutterby Lullaby soother on her crib.

[A_C]

During nap time, it is pretty bright in her room ( we don't have those black out drapes) and she listens to lullabies, some opera, Carol King ("Really Rosie) but generally softer soothing music.  At night, it is lights out (we got rid of her night light) and complete silence.  She sleeps very well at night.  In her crib she now has quite a few small stuffed animals ( a soft frog rattle, a small teddy bear ('Mr. Blue'); a prayer lamb; a soft small dog rattle; and her dolly); her wuby (security blanket).  No pillows just yet but she still has her crib bumper around her crib...

HTH,
Ana

[xxkaty23xx]

Mikey has a night light, its quite a big one on his wall of spongebob but its very dim, sometimes he wants it sometimes he doesnt. I dont leave any other lights on for him though. And he has thick black out curtains to stop the lamp post outside disturbing him.

[kim&savannah]

Savannah has always slept in complete darkness, although she is just now starting to ask for a light (I think her imagination is working overtime these days and she has nightmares).  And we've kept the toys to a minimum--when we moved her to a big girl bed, we had to take all toys, books, animals, etc. . . out of her room or she would just play (even though it was totally dark). 

When she was in the crib, I used to sneak in at night and put a couple animals in her bed so when she woke up in the morning (usually way to early for us--like 5 a.m.) she would have something to play with, but we couldn't give them to her sooner or she wouldn't go to sleep.

~Kim

[A_C]

I'm so sorry...I should have not replied...I just re-read your post and noticed that the title refers to 'spirited toddlers' and mine isn't spirited.  I sooo apologize...whoops!

[PeepersMom]

nightlite, black out curtains, and white noise of a humdifier in the winter and fan in the summer.  For all sleep, same thing.

Good luck.  Hope Cole is all for it. 

meg

[TDR'smom]

DS is in a big boy bed now, however, nothing else has changed.

Window shades to darken room (not completely dark)
Small Desk Fan
CD playing lullaby music-put on repeat
small pillow
6-8 stuffed animals
2-3 pacifiers 

Good luck!

[Caroline-Charlies Mummy]

- Black out curtains or he wakes far too early
- Pillow
- Sleeps in grobag (plays peekaboo with blankets )
- Teddy and his 'dog' lovey
- Instead of a nightlight, he has one of these on the side of his cot http://www.fisher-price.com/us/products/product.asp?id=30905 The music and light show last about 5 minutes, and is under his control - if he wakes in the middle of the night and feels it's a bit dark, he just hits the button. Usually settles straight back to sleep.

[Deb_in_oz]

now at almost 2 (and probably for the last 3-5 mo) Liv now has the option of taking stuffed animals or dolls to bed - it varies night to night + she sleeps with her baby blanket
still use white noise machine for whole nap and overnight
still have blackout shades but less effective here due to the blinds already on her windows (so now she is napping in a fairly light room  )

does he have a noise machine or CD player in his room - if not i find these are fab.  Alex graduated to a CD player when Liv needed the noise machine in her room, so i have 1 kid with white noise and 1 with CDs playing (used to be classical music but now is music of her choice every day)  I think it gives kids something to focus on and distract from those thoughts racing in their heads (same for me as i am spirited as well  ) i used to sleep with music or a TV on when i was younger and i would drift off while it was on... so i think many spiriteds really need that QUIET/SUBTLE distraction from the business at hand - lets us/them not really "give in" to bedtime but lets the tiredness take over and get some sleep IYKWIM

[Erin M]

Traci, we've got an LED nightlight in Katie's room - gives off sort of a soft blue light, so it's not nearly as bright as the regular night lights, I think it's great.  Katie has about a gazillion stuffed animals in her crib there days, though she's not anywhere near as spirited as Cole.  Although one of the pp had a good thought -- could you ask him if there's something he wants to bring to bed with him?

[Colesmom]

thank you everyone.

I have tried an LED night light (less bright than others) but his room is very small...so it was still quite bright.  Will maybe have to try one with a shade.

deb-he had a fan in summer, and occasionally a humidifier now.  I tried a CD for about a week, but it didn't seem to help...so I will try that again.  Maybe it was just the music itself.

he usually takes "big woof woof", "baby woof woof" and "baby panda" to bed with him...and there are others in the crib. 

But alas....fever yesterday and an ear infection diagnosed at the clinic last night...so I will hold off for a couple of weeks until that is cleared up.

I really think it's a matter of consistancy on my part.  I am going to draw on a piece of paper our routine (pyjamas, milk, teeth, books) and stick to it.

He has a sippy of milk before bed...should I get rid of this?  The doctor last night suggested getting rid of sippies and going to a cup...because the sippy could be causing the milk to drain back into his ears.

anyways, thanks again everyone!

[kim&savannah]

Just a thought about the white noise.  If you tried a CD before, you might want to try just noise.  I know if Savannah had music playing, she would just be dancing or singing along to it for hours--we have an alarm clock that does nature sounds and use the wind sounds for her room (abe has a second one that we use the waterfall sound on--both kids seem to need help blocking everything out).

~Kim

[Deb_in_oz]

can't say how the sippy is affecting HIM, but liv still has a sippy of milk before bed, but she is not getting recurrent ear problems so it really is inidividual

[Mom to M&M]

Oh no Traci, the ear infections are back? Would you consider really giving the dairy free trial (you can still do soy if you want) a real test of a few months to see if it gets rid of the frequent ear infections?