Sleeping Problems

Ah ... naptime/beditme. Used to be so easy. We'd put Christian in bed, read a book or two, stay goodnight and walk out of the room, closing the door behind us.

We didn't know how good we had it.

As I've mentioned in a previous post, Christian's latest thing has to pile everything up on his bed.

Here he is ... with the CHAIR in his bed. I had to point him out with an arrow, or else you'd never see him among all his stuff.

Needless to say, I've taken A LOT of stuff out of his room in the past few days. And he's not even missed it.

Here he is with a jack-in the box that he fell asleep holding:

For several nights, Christian had been getting up and coming to the door after I left (naptime) and after Jonathan left (bedtime). He would just stand in his doorway. Sometimes he'd say something ... other times he'd stand there in silence, waiting for somebody to come back.

For Tuesday's afternoon nap, Christian fell asleep in the doorway! So, I brought out an air filter to run near his head to drown out any noises - like the doorbell, Bella walking by, etc. And he slept there all afternoon - holding onto his toy snake.

He fell asleep in the doorway yesterday, too.

A friend suggested that perhaps bedtimes are so difficult because Christian still naps in the afternoon. However, Christian doesn't have a problem going to bed ... he has a problem with being in the room by himself. Something changed with him recently, and we're not too sure what. The moment Jonathan leaves the room, Christian gets very upset.

I mentioned this situation to a couple of teachers at school, and they suggested that Christian might be feeling insecure all of a sudden ... and commented that he's at an age where children become more aware of the world around them and start to fixate on things and worry. They suggested we try to just make him feel safe and secure.

So what we've been trying for the past three days and nights is to step out of his room for a few minutes, ask him to stay in bed, and tell him we'll be back in just a few minutes. That way, he trusts that mommy or daddy will be back ... and he is safe. We do this several times to assure him we're always available. And we ask him if he wants to door open or shut - and he says open (whereas we've always shut the door).

And I'm happy to report our efforts are working. He's been staying in bed (or, at least in his room - and falling asleep in the doorway in the afternoons).

As a matter of fact, this afternoon, he has finally fallen asleep in his bed.