Well, this week brought a new set of challenges with Nolan. Wednesday night after Ryan put him to bed, he was having a hard time going to sleep. He was really crying hard and we were in the tv room, commenting on how odd that was. Then, all of a sudden, I heard his door knob turn and he came walking out of his room and down the hall. My heart stopped beating and Ryan and I both ran to get him before he tumbled down the stairs. He had figured out how to climb out of his crib...oh joy! Unfortunately, because of his height, it is no trouble for him at all to just swing his leg over and down he goes. We never had this issue with Lauren so we weren't quite sure what to do. We decided we had to teach him (for safety sake) that he couldn't climb out. So, we had to discipline him each time and put him back to bed...then wait outside his door for him to do it all over again. It took about an hour and a half of this before he finally fell asleep. The next morning for his first nap, we went through it once again. But, in the afternoon, he didn't try to climb out at all - discipline works...yeah!!! We were feeling so proud and victorious...until we realized we weren't in the clear yet.
The problem now is that, even though he isn't attempting to get out, he is crying for an hour before he will fall asleep. And, on top of that, he is waking up at 2am and 4am crying as if someone is hurting him...and it takes him an hour or two to fall back asleep. We have tried rocking with him, consoling him, singing to him, and just leaving him be to cry it out. And still nothing has worked yet. We are exhausted!! His voice is hoarse from all the crying and he has dark circles under his eyes from the lack of sleep. We are completely stumped! He continues to be our challenging child. :( I had taken him to the doctor earlier in the week because he had been so fussy - his ears were fine and the strep test came back negative. So, I know he isn't sick. He could be teething or it could be that he is going through the phase of separation anxiety. Things have been much harder on the kids with Ryan not around as much and I wonder if that has played into it at all? The problem is that we can't change that until the house sells, so we are stuck trying to work something out until then.
So, please PRAY for us as we struggle to figure this out with him - that the Lord will give us the rest we all need (somehow), that He will give us the wisdom and discernment to know how to treat this situation with Nolan and that this phase will pass quickly! Also, if any of you out there reading this have gone through something similar with any of your kids around this same age (16 mos), your advice is welcome!!!
Saturday, July 25, 2009
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3 comments:
I am so sorry that you are going through this. It is exhausting! We borrowed a crib tent for Ashley and it has been amazing. She was climbing out and throwing her blankets, animals, and pillow out. Now everything is secure and I don't have to wonder anymore. She didn't sleep through the night until 2. We did go through this when she was teething. She was getting three molars in at one time and was up all the time. The only things I can recommend, if you know that he is teething, is to be consistent in giving him ibuprofen. That seemed to work. This too shall pass, but it does feel like forever in the middle of it! I will be praying for you.
Nancy Wilson
Weston has gone through the same thing. We just had to drop his crib down to the lowest setting and let him cry it out. His cry time seemed to get shorter as the days went by. It is so hard! Weston took it one step further and he would remove his pajamas and his diaper so we HAD to go in there. So we'll keep Weston from sending Nolan that little tip to get Mom and Dad in there. Kids are so tricky. It just ended one day about 3 weeks after it started. We never did figure out what it was or what resolved it?! I'm sure it doesn't help, but it did stop and we are still sane and back to normal (whatever that is).
I will be praying that this situation is resolved! :) And for the continued sale of your house! And for sleep for you!!! (most important). I remember being there with Garrett. He climbed out of his crib, none of the others did. He would wake at night after he turned one for no apparent reason. We finally moved Garrett into a toddler bed just before he was two. We figured that since we couldn't keep him from getting out, at least he couldn't get hurt. Before this, we did start putting him to bed in socks, figuring that if his feet were slippery then he couldn't wrap his toes around the bars and climb out. If I think of anything useful, I will pass it along! Jen
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