re: Parenting question - 4 year old

quote:

---

Question for the OT parents. My 4 year old has been refusing to go to bed and fights us for about 2 hours. It isn’t every night but it came to a head last night and I finally told my wife to let me handle it. I took my daughter and put her in her room and locked the door from the outside. I let her scream and kick and cry and after about 10-15 minutes, she passed out on her floor. Once she was asleep, I went in and put her in her bed and she didn’t come down until the morning.

---

My toddler did this. She would scream if we left the room. And after we tuck her in, she would watch to make sure we didn’t leave the room. My wife was burning an hour just to try to get her to sleep.

So one night at bedtime I read her a story like usual, I rocked her to sleep, and I put her in her crib. Instead of waiting for her to sleep, I kissed her good night and quietly left the room. When I left the room she freaked out. I went in every 5 minutes to check on her so she knows we were close, but but I did not take her from the crib to rock her again. She feel asleep after about 5-6 minutes of sobbing.

The first night was hard but now she falls asleep much faster and sleeps through the night unless there is a storm. She usually falls asleep very easily now. And sleeps until about 5:30 or 6:00. Sometimes she even sleeps in long enough for me to do a few chores before she wakes up.

Honestly the first night was harder for me than it probably was for her. I hate it when she’s upset and I spoil her. But I am glad we got on a better schedule.