Hellobee Boards

That sounds so so tough! My guy will be 5 in November and has been having a harder time falling asleep lately and I’ve been laying with him. But as much as I enjoy the snuggles, I have stuff to do or I just want to sit by myself for a bit! We’ve had really good luck with the moshi sleep app. I started out doing a whole sleep story with him and he would almost always fall asleep while I rubbed his back. If he talks, I turn it off until he’s quiet again. Now I do a relaxing moment with him, which are short (5-6 min) meditations and then I leave and turn on a sleep stories. I think it’s so helpful bc it gives him something to focus on and they are very relaxing. Good luck! It’s so exhausting!

My 5.5 year old is similar! She takes a long time to fall asleep and still wakes up at night looking for us. She always says she's "scared" and we've talked about it, implemented things to "help" like night light, leaving the door open a little, okay to wake clocks, etc... I fell off the EO wagon for a while but I gotta start diffusing some calming/sleepy blends again to see if it helps (we dis before and didn't notice much difference, hah).

So absolutely no advice but commiseration. My 3.5 year old sleeps better than her!

@Portboston: I'm so sorry. My kinds are only 2 and 4, but I know I'm headed your direction with my 2 yo. I'm so sorry. Beyond cry it out for babies, I just don't know. Sucks my second girl had a respiratory disorder and I couldn't bring myself to do cry it out for her. So here I am. I will say that I like the idea of a little night light and a book. Maybe a tiny flashlight he can play with. I will seriously do anything for my kids to just be in their bed for a few hours at night so that I can do whatever it is I need or want to do in silence. Good luck.

My 5.5 year old has been the worst with sleep lately...we've gone through rough patches with sleep all along with her, but since the spring it's gone SO downhill with trouble falling asleep, saying she's scared of X, Y, or Z, waking up in the middle of the night. So no advice, but lots of commiseration!

She's taken off with reading lately and I thought that reading quietly in bed might help her wind down at night...but it's like it's had the opposite effect - she stays up way too long reading and won't settle to sleep any better. Ahh!

@Portboston: yay!!!!!

@Portboston: I’m glad it worked! Another thing to consider is that bedtime (7:30 especially) might just be too early for him. If he isn’t sleepy, he’s more likely to neeeeeeeeeed you. That’s what I found for my kid, anyways.

@Portboston: check out theworkspaceforchildren on Instagram. Her entire account and work is dedicated to kid independence. My only child 7 year old and very NOT independent and her tips have helped me a lot (though we're still a work in progress). Sleep has been a huge issue for us too. Ironically what helped is getting her a loft bed because it means we can't lie down with her anymore. We did sit in her room for a while but recently she's been doing OK on her own so fingers crossed it sticks.