Sunday, November 9, 2008

Big Boy Bed Update

So I thought I would post the latest news on our first big obstacle of childhood. After a rather frustrating and incredibly time consuming six days, he is now sleeping in his bed with no problems. I thought it would never happen, but it has miraculously righted itself in just a few days. Thank you for the advice. I used several of your suggestions.

After he snuck downstairs at 6:00 am one morning to do who knows what, I put a gate up in his doorway so he can open the door but can't walk through. That worked for like two seconds before he realized he could push really hard and knock it down. So then I added a heavy chair to support it and he stopped trying.

But what really did the trick was the threats. My son doesn't listen to me whatsoever. I would get angry and try and put on my wicked witch of the west face and matching voice, but nothing seemed to scare him back to bed. So I read somewhere that taking away priveleges can work. As someone recently put it, I went straight for the jugular. I told him if he got down I would take his blanket away. The one object he loves above everything else, even food. He can't simply function without it and he definitely can't even think about sleeping without it. He got down from his bed during naptime, and I spoke those evil words without any hesitation. The next time he got down, I took his blanket and left the room. He cried sooooo hard. I let him go at it for a few minutes then went back in and told him if he got back in bed and stayed there I would give it back. (I'm not so evil as to make him go to sleep without it). He climbed right up and didn't move another muscle. I had to repeat the process that night and by the next day he was broken. He's stopped climbing down (or if he does he climbs back up) and he definitely doesn't even think about opening the door. Life is back to normal and mom is a much happier camper.

2 comments:

Amanda said...

I am so happy for you! I wish I could just get up the guts to do it now... you are a shining example to me! Love the new blog.

Loni said...

I am so glad, its always so hard to know what will work. But it seems before you know it something does work out and you forget all about the trouble! Congrats on having a big boy!!! Cant wait for pics of his little sister!!!!!!!