SERIOUS sleep issues...

I posted earlier this week about Ethan climbing out of his crib in the middle of the night. This has become a total nightmare!

Ethan has never been a GREAT sleeper - always an early riser and just recently stopped waking at night.

Lately, thanks to the crib climbing he is waking up hysterical 2-3 times per night and we have given in to let him sleep in our bed. He usually wakes somtime between 10pm-12am (goes to bed between 7-8pm) - I am able to get him back to sleep in his crib, but it takes a long time (about an hr).

The 4am wakeup is a bit more crazy. This is the one where he usually manages to turn the knob to his bedroom and comes down the hall to pound on our door. YES, we have installed a gate at the top of our stairs (just recently). He will take a bottle of milk but refuses to go back to sleep and ultimately we bring him into our bed in the hopes of getting some sleep ourselves.

Everyone says that we have to transition to a toddler/twin bed, but that is not going to resolve the issue with him not wanting to go back to sleep at 4 am. We will most likely convert the crib to the toddler bed temporarily until we can get a twin bed, but I'm not sure if this will make our situation worse or not.

Could he be having night terrors? What age does this start at?

I am so tired I can barely think straight - this has been going on and getting progressively worse since Friday.

Please share your words of wisdom...

Re: SERIOUS sleep issues...

No one has ANY advice for me? Does this mean i'm doomed

Re: SERIOUS sleep issues...

Can you just put a gate near his door and let him play in there or cry if need be when he wakes up?

Re: SERIOUS sleep issues...

When we had similar issues with dd and ds, we put them into toddler beds WITH GATES ON THEIR BEDROOM DOORS. We got/have the gates that have the foot pedal that needs to be pressed, and the child couldn't/can't open it (doesn't weigh enought). We allow(ed) them to play in their own rooms, which gave them some freedom. We just make sure that their rooms are choking hazard/general hazard free each night, and make sure the night light is working so it isn't too dark.

When ds was old enought (dd isn't quite there yet), we put a digital clock in his room and covered the minutes part of the clock. We put a card with the number 7 above the clock. Then, we didn't allow him to leave his room until he saw a 7 on his clock.

Hope this helps. Good luck! It's not easy!

Re: SERIOUS sleep issues...