kids sharing bedroom and keeping each other awake

mummyyummy_2

thanks every1 for your input and suggestions....it just helps knowing I am not alone! Believe me ive tried everything, grounding, withdrawing toys etc...as you can prob gather bedtime is not the only area we are having problems with, we are working with a number of people to try and help us. I know I am the parent and I make the rules, but sometimes things are just not that black and white. 6 year old was recently 'tested' for ADHD but the 'specialist' (head of kids development for the whole area) just looked at a list of questions i had to answer/so did the school and used a graph to say yaye or naye....she said basically ''the computer says no'' so that was that. Anyway, all that wd be another post, my main concern is bedtime now, and just listening to other peoples experiences helps....thanks everyone xx

mrcow

Out of interest, what is your 6 year old scared of do you think? Do you have the door shut? Or is it too dark? Perhaps if he can see that the door is open, for example then he wouldn't feel so scared. Or would a nightlight or playing a (very) quiet "listen along" story help?

mummyyummy_2

mrcow wrote: »

Out of interest, what is your 6 year old scared of do you think? Do you have the door shut? Or is it too dark? Perhaps if he can see that the door is open, for example then he wouldn't feel so scared. Or would a nightlight or playing a (very) quiet "listen along" story help?

he is scared of the dark, but they have bunks and my eldest is up top and gets blinded by the light (theres no way youngest is going up top) so yes ive tried torches, night lights but usually he manages to sneak his big light on when i am out of the room...as for the music, i did try an mp3 one night and never heard a peep, but i really dont like to encourage that as i dont allow dvds etc at bedtime either (except occasional weekend) as i think it'll probs stimulate him more..thanks

mummyyummy_2

do u know, writing/reading these posts has made me think of a few options....
1). baby can go to sleep downstairs and ill take him up later leaving other 2 to go to sleep in seperate rooms ....downside is ive just done sleep training on baby who wouldnt sleep in cot until 2 weeks ago and now loves it and sleeps all night!! scared it could reverse!
2). baby to cot, youngest to his bed with me 'there' maybe start off with a story right next to him and work my way out to hall, leaving light on and eventually he'll fall off....leaving eldest downstairs
3). baby to cot, youngest to my bed with me 'there' he always falls str8 asleep in my bed and then eldest can go to his bed but get some time to read etc on his own...then i can transfer youngest through once he is sleeping like i always used to do....to be honest I just dont trust him alone in room with baby as i found him in babys cot last week trying to 'cuddle' his baby!!! aaw

think ill try option no 2 for a couple of weeks but if that fails then it'll be no. 3 but im gonna ask eldest which option wd suit him too...he is suffering in this too.

nzmegs

We had this problem too - although one would go to sleep fine and the other would complain about the noisiness of their breathing...as we had a boy and girl fast approaching the age of 11 we decided to spilt the room into two small rooms. We started by simply building a partition wall in the middle of the room with a space at one end to act as a door. We hung a curtain across the door space. This was a good temporary measure. But eventually we spilt it properley with insulation between the rooms to keep the noise out and separate entrances from the hall way. they have small rooms but their own space.
Problem is that they are so used to being together that they still spend loads of time in each others rooms

mummyyummy_2

nzmegs wrote: »

We had this problem too - although one would go to sleep fine and the other would complain about the noisiness of their breathing...as we had a boy and girl fast approaching the age of 11 we decided to spilt the room into two small rooms. We started by simply building a partition wall in the middle of the room with a space at one end to act as a door. We hung a curtain across the door space. This was a good temporary measure. But eventually we spilt it properley with insulation between the rooms to keep the noise out and separate entrances from the hall way. they have small rooms but their own space.
Problem is that they are so used to being together that they still spend loads of time in each others rooms

sounds like my 2, noisy breathing etc.....glad u got it sorted x

Indie_Kid

I had this problem - I used to share with someone who snored and talked in her sleep. She would always come up to bed after me and turn the light on. As someone with light sensitivity, this hurt a lot.

Savvy_Sue

mummyyummy wrote: »

haha, doorstep?? did it work lol? ...im afraid my neighbours would call the authorities on me, u really cant do anything anymore without fearing you are going to get in a whole lot of trouble.....x

I never dared do it with mine either, but we're talking a very long time ago now!

Yes, it did.

I'd forgotten that when mine were older, DS3 had to have the nightlight on, but DS2 didn't like it so would switch it off when he went to bed, cue lots of hopping in and out of bed switching lights on and off ...

BTW, I think there's a difference between a story tape / calming music on mp3 player and DVDs in bed. You close your eyes and listen to a story or soothing music, you can't do that with a DVD! I find now I'm older that Radio 4's book at bedtime is guaranteed to send me off, especially if I wanted to hear it ... and the World Service is brilliant for insomnia! But perhaps a bit advanced for younger children! :rotfl:

coachandy

We have two sons 6 and 5 who share a room and like others have said - we have tried all the tricks in the book (well up until I read this) - sitting outside the room, DVD;s (big mistake), sitting in our bedroom next door.

A problem for us is the 6yo who can easily get by on 4/5 hours sleep a night with no effect on his activity levels at all.

He also has to talk through his day, to himself when he goes to bed. we actually think this maybe have been the start of our problems because innocently we keep telling him to be quite - obviously (well not at the time) keeping him awake longer.

its good to know we are not alone, we certainly seemd to be amongst our friends with kids, last night a bath and into bed at 19:00 and the 6yo finally went to sleep at 10:45.

After reading your posts - I think we will try reading (as its light enough at the moment) in conjunction with stickers/rewards and us regularly checking on them.

Fingers crossed.