Fear of the Dark

[ailbhe]

Linnea woke us scremaing again last night. The first time woke me and Rob; he brought her into our bed and I'm not at all sure she woke up. The other times I know she didn't wake - and nor did he - and she cried out and wriggled and would not be consoled.

It's very sad, but she woke bright-eyed and bushy-tailed so it can't be that bad for her.

Today she went down for her nap at 2-ish and is still asleep now. I've decided that messing around with her sleep times causes more trouble than it's worth so I'm not doing it any more. I am going to reread The No Cry Sleep Solution and work on a better going-to-sleep routine, since the one we've got is complicated and exhausting.

And I'm going to buy her a bed, because putting her down into the cot is difficult for everyone. It's a long way down indeed. So what bed, and from where, and how do I choose a mattress? She should have a very firm one, I think, since her cot mattress is very firm and she sleeps well on floors.

Comments

[k425.livejournal.com]

Beds. Do you want to get one now to last for ages or just a toddler bed that will fit for a few years and then need replacing? Do you want one with drawers under, or room for a desk, or open space for hiding toys?

Mattresses. Go and lie on them and see what you think is reasonable.

The reason YoungBloke is still on a mattress on the floor is that I can't decide what kind of bed I want for him. Short-term? Long-term? Decisions decisions! I do quite like one of the IKEA beds - KURA (the URL's too long to put in) because it's reversible - you can have the bed low down with a canopy over the top, ideal for small children/girls who want a four-poster; or high up, with room underneath for floor cushions or a desk. Or you can have it that way up, with the mattress on the floor in the space, which is what I'm thinking about. And then do nappy changing on the top level...

John Lewis is pretty good, too.

[tammylc.livejournal.com]

We took Liam to the doctor today about the waking up screaming, just to rule out any medical reason. She said it sounded like night terrors, which are not uncommon at this age. Linnea's wakings sound even more like night terrors, in that she's unconsolable (we're usually able to comfort Liam fairly quickly).

We started a more regular bedtime routine a while ago, and it's worked wonders! One of the things we needed to do was to accept that it was going to take an hour to put him to bed every night. Once we just planned for that, then we weren't feeling impatient or trying to rush. We start with a bath at 7 pm. That usually only lasts about 5 minutes these days. After he's out of the bath, he gets to run around naked and play until 7:15. Then we go upstairs, put on a diaper and pajamas and brush teeth. We start his bedtime lullaby CD, and he and I sit on the bed and nurse - usually from about 7:30-7:40. Then we read a great big stack of books. I know other people just read one or two, but Liam has a hard time relaxing, and reading books for a long time is easier on all of us than some of the other things we've tried. By 7:55 or so he's very very sleepy, and we can put him on his mattress on the floor in our room, and he will close his eyes and just go to sleep. We stay with a hand on his back for a few minutes, but by 8 pm, he's almost always down. Now, he still wakes up every few hours all night long, but at least we have bedtime going more smoothly. Anyway - that's just one family's routine, as food for thought.

The bed we have for Liam is an old and very firm twin size futon mattress that we already had. We've got it butted up next to our bed, but it's a few inches lower, so it's more of a separate space.

Good luck with everything! Isn't the screaming just awful? It's bad enough to be woken up with whimpering and crying, but the screaming is just that much more miserable.

[seren.livejournal.com]

We co sleep most of the time, but Lucy has her own bed alongside ours for when she goes down initially. She's had it since she was around 9 months old. It's just a single bed from Mothercare and cost around £80. I've slept in it with her before, and there's room for us to lie down and cuddle her if need be, so it works better than a cot for us (and better than a toddler bed would,I imagine). I wouldn't recommend their mattresses though.

[mrs-warwick.livejournal.com]

We opted for a full size bed rather than a toddler bed. We chose one with a metal frame, that was low enough for her to slide off easily, and wasn't too high for her to climb into. I can't remember what the store we bought it from was called, but it just sold beds. They had a sale on, and the bed came with a mattress, a duvet, pillow and covers.
We decided to get a full size bed for a number of reasons, one of which was that it would be more comfortable if one of us had to sleep in it.

One of the suggestions from The No Cry Sleep Solution that we tried was making a book of Rhiannon's bedtime routine; a series of photos of her eating her tea, having her bath etc. For two or three weeks it was required reading, and we used it to encourage progress through the various steps. I think it really did help.

[mactavish.livejournal.com]

I'm wondering about night terrors, too. Sounds like it.