Our almost two year old was up and awake early, and would throw a fit when we told her it was still bedtime. Also the afternoon naps were a fight... she came out of bed continuously and was not impressed by mama or mommy being angry, by being ignored... or anything else we tried.
A week of struggle later we read about everything there was to find on-line about toddlers waking up early and not wanting to go to sleep.
We went from the Super-nanny approach, skipping afternoon naps, to taking her in to our own bed... and nothing was working for us. When she was in our bed, she got out of bed and got in to everything she wasn't supposed to.
I was finally relieved to read that other parents have tried everything as well, and that it is just part of being a two year old. All we had to do was to accept it, and go to bed at 9 pm ourselves... about an hour after we bring our toddler to bed. Goodbye life....
Well, accepting it for a couple of days did take the pressure off the issue. I think that helped. We took turns in doing "bed-watch". Whenever Rory got out of bed, we lovingly scooped her up and brought her back. We didn't say anything to her, and didn't acknowledge anything she did or said. Everything she tried resulted in to being picked up and brought back to bed. Once in a while when she would give signs she was a little scared (toddlers become aware they are alone in their room around age 2, and their imagination sometimes gets the better of them) we stayed in her room right by her bed, but wouldn't look at her or talk to her. The most she would get was a hand on her back or tummy.
We went to bed at 9 pm, so we would be able to function at work or at home during the day.
Her second birthday came around, and I was looking around on-line for fun birthday presents. I stumbled upon a sleep-trainer. I read a little bit about them, and thought it might help us in the struggle of letting her sleep longer. I did some comparing.
A sleep-trainer is nothing but an alarm clock for kids, once the alarm goes off, it doesn't necessarily "beeps" like a regular alarm-clock, but it changes some type of image from "night time" to "day time". By looking at the picture displayed, your child will know whether it's time to get up or not. Some sleep-trainers are in the shape of some type of animal, which will open and close it's eyes when the "alarm" goes off.
I went for the last type. I figured it would be the easiest way for a toddler to relate to sleep-time and awake-time.
I was really excited when I found the ZaZu sleep-trainer on
http://www.zazu-kids.nl/site/home.html.
It's a little sheep named "Sam". It is very neutral in color, which I like. What I absolutely love about this sleep-trainer is that half an hour before the "alarm" goes off, the screen back-light turns green, indicating it is almost time to get up, and your child can read a book or play with a toy. When the alarm goes off, the back-light turns white, and Sam opens his eyes.
That way it gives your child some sense of time. From what I have seen none of the other sleep-trainers have this setting. It also has a "key-lock" on it, so your child can't mess with the settings.
No wonder this product was nominated for "Baby Innovation Award 2014".
We have been using it for two weeks now, and Rory is already going back to bed by herself. The first time we used it, we explained to her before bed-time, the sheep would be going to bed too, and if the sheep would have it's eyes open in the morning, she was allowed to come to our bedroom.
Of course the first couple of days we set the alarm early enough to let her be successful. When she was awake the sheep would have it's eyes open already, and we would point it out to her, and praise her for sleeping so well (even though it was only 5:15 in the morning). After a couple of days we set it a bit later, and now two weeks in to it, she gets it.
When she wakes up in the morning and the light is green, she is allowed to play with her pillow-pet dream lite, or read a book. When Sam opens his eyes, she comes to the door and says "Sheep open!"
Of course there are mornings when it's still time to stay in bed, and she needs a clean diaper because of a No 2. There is no way around that, I don't let her sit in a smelly diaper just because Sam hasn't opened his eyes.
But there are a lot more mornings where we can sleep a little longer again.
Even my wife who is very sceptic about my "gadgets", is a firm believer now. This device, if used with common sense, is very very helpful with kids who wake up too early.
