they share a room, and one won't sleep!

Discussion in 'The Toddler Years(1-3)' started by hezza12, Jan 25, 2011.

  1. hezza12

    hezza12 Well-Known Member

    My two 4year old boys share a room (there is no option to separate them, we don't have the space). This hasn't been a huge issue until the past couple of weeks. Lately, bedtime has become a big mess, with Jonah keeping Theo up for an hour or so after they've been put to bed (they're normally in bed between 7 and 7:30, and up around 7 the next day). Before the past two weeks they would either both giggle and whisper for no more than about half an hour, or they'd fall straight to sleep. But the past little while Jonah has been yellling, singing, getting into his brother's bed (which I find EXTRA frustrating), opening his door because he "needs to tell" us something (attempt at delay tactic and also very frustrating). Today theo has been a mess because Jonah had him up till after 10, and Jonah is also obviously tired (but hides it better). I have no idea what to do. We've tried taking his blanket away until he settles and stays quiet in his bed, we've tried having him come sit in the darkened hall for a while, we've tried rewarding good behaviour, we've tried talking to Jonah about respecting his brother's space and his brother's need to sleep. Nothing seems to have any impact. I'm quite sure Jonah is as tired as Theo at bedtime (yawning, rubbing his eyes etc.), but simply will not sleep. The only option I can think of is to have Jonah lay down somewhere else to fall asleep, but I'm pretty sure he would see that as fun, and he'd still have the potential of waking up when we move him and bugging his brother.
    Has anyone else been through this? Please, I'd welcome any and all suggestions as to how to get him to leave his brother alone!
     
  2. hugdarla

    hugdarla Member

    We had to move one of ours temporarily into our office on a mattress on the floor when this started to happen. They did eventually calm down but it was a couple of months. I might try putting one in toddler bed in your room and then move them after they have fallen asleep. We did that a few times.
     
  3. Becky02

    Becky02 Well-Known Member

    We also have moved one of our girls out of the bedroom into our bed until they are both asleep (usually remember when we are heading off to bed). Even now we still have to separate them every once in a while because our one daughter is so over tired or wound up that she has trouble calming herself down and going to sleep. When they were both in twin beds we would take my one daughter who wanted to sleep into our room. Sometimes just mentioning it had my other daughter calm down since she didn't want to sleep alone. Now even at 8 we still sometimes separate them since our daughter still has trouble calming down or she just wants to fall asleep by herself but now since they have bunk beds it is whatever child is on the bottom bunk (they rotate who gets the top) so it's easier to put the child on the bottom bed back into bed while she is sleeping.
     
  4. hezza12

    hezza12 Well-Known Member

    Thanks for the tips... putting the sleepy kid in our bed definitely would work better than removing the wound-up one from their room. Last night went ok, but my husband stayed in with them till they fell asleep (it happened within 10 minutes). I just don't want to start any long-term habits that complicate what used to be a pretty easy bedtime routine!
     
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