capescafe

Let me just say to you all who responded, Thank you so much! When I first read your replies that I should just let him cry it out I cringed, cuz I hate doin that. But I know that it does eventually work and you just sorta have to grit your teeth as SageMother said.

The last few nights I had to just close the door and let him scream and cry. It was so hard and I felt so mean. But I told myself there's no goin back now. So what I did was, I put him to bed as I usually do, sang him his Old MacDonald song that he always wants me to sing, then I said, "Ok nigh nigh, mommy loves you." But then of course he wanted me to stay and keep singing Old MacDonald, but I realized that's just so he can keep me in there longer. So then I'd quickly walk out and close the door and he'd start screamin and cryin and came to the door. So what I did was after 10 min. if he wasn't in his bed, I'd open the door and just quickly pick him up and put him back in his bed and I'd say "go nigh nigh, love you" and then quickly walk out again. Then if he came running to the door again, I'd just do the same exact thing. Wait another 10 min. and then quickly bring him back to his bed. The first time, it only took me doing that 2 times and then he stayed on his bed and cried for another 15 min. but then finally went to sleep. The 2nd night he came to the door about 4 times and kept saying "open the door." But he finally gave up. But then last night, I told him, "If you stay on your bed and go to sleep, then mommy will leave the door open". So I thought I'd just try it to see what happens. So I sang Old MacDonald, tucked him in and then said my usual, "nigh nigh, love you" and just walked out quickly. Amazingly, he started wining and crying a little as I was walking out, but as soon as I left and didn't close the door he stopped crying and just went to sleep. It was so quick and hardly any fussing. I just now put him down for his nap too, and he cried a little more, but he knew to stay on his bed and then he just finally laid down and went to sleep. So what we do now at night is before we go to bed, I close the door to the bathroom and our office, and I leave our bedroom door open. I also check out in the livingroom to make sure there's nothing out that he could get into if he were to wake up and go out there. But so far once he wakes up he just comes running into our room.

The only thing now is, he just keeps wakin up at least once during the night. It's usually only 1 time around 2 or 3am and he just wants like water or juice or something. So I give a little something to drink then put him back in bed. I'm just not sure how to get him to sleep the whole night through again without wakin up. Do you think it's just a phase?