The DiGiore Family: Slumber Parties

So night times have been crazy around her. On this night all three kids made their way into our room at various times. We didn't even realize it until we woke up and Marc asked who was snoring. It was Ella, and on the other side of the room was Gia. Ella gives us the least trouble at night, she just gets in to bed at night and goes to sleep. She'll occasionally come into our room if she doesn't feel well or she has a nightmare. Gia, is horrible about going to bed, she fights it and is up and down all night and for the past few weeks has been coming into our room every night. Noah will usually start out in his bed but most nights is still ending up in ours. A couple of weeks ago we tried the Supernanny Sleep Separation technique with Noah and the Stay in Bed technique with Gia. Noah always wanted me to rock him to sleep or to lay with him. I took the rocking chair out of his room so that was no longer an option. For the separation technique you sit on the floor of their room, rather than bed, and each night you move a little closer to the door. In the meanwhile you just ignore the child and just place them back in bed if they get up and then you sit there until they fall asleep. For the stay in bed technique, the first time the child gets out of bed you kiss them, tell them to go to sleep and put them in bed, and then all subsequent times you don't say anything and you just keep putting them in their bed. Well the first night we tried it we gave up! I was with Noah and Marc was with Gia. Both kids were screaming and crying for 45 min. Marc finally came into Noah's room and told me just to lay with him. He ended up laying with Gia and she fell right to sleep, then I laid with Noah and he was out in a matter of minutes. I never let them cry it out as babies, and I still don't have the heart. I have a lot of friends that have successfully used the Supernanny sleep techniques and are so glad they did. I know it just takes consistency and commitment, but it really is hard. I'm definitely gonna try it again for the sake of just a few interrupted nights of sleep!