The Dreaded Word....

Bedtime!!!  Yep it makes me shudder every time I hear it.  Bedtime is the worst part of my day by far!  I do whatever I can to put it off.  After the situations that occurred I wonder if Cole will make it to kindergarten or if his brother will drive him crazy from lack of sleep or beating him!

Hunter has been a horrible sleeper since day 1! He wanted to eat non-stop, and wanted you to hold him on your chest on his belly.  We put him on his belly after about a month (GASP!) because he would NOT sleep any other way.  He woke up usually 6-8 times a night.  With Cole you could stick a plug in his mouth and he would fall back to sleep.  Not Hunter.  He screamed and cried for long periods of time.  You would rock him, he would be asleep and just as you laid him down he would scream again.  We tried everything!  I consistant bedtime routine, music, nightlight, complete darkness and NOTHING worked.  The cry-it-out method, yeah......He cried for 3 hours straight and I'm pretty sure I was crying as much as he was by the end! 

Everyone kept saying that it would pass.  Well, almost 4 years later and it still hasn't!  He just won't go to sleep!  It would be midnight before he finally crashed and he would be up again at 7am.  It didn't work to take naps away.  We just had a REALLY crabby kid by the time midnight rolled around, but no sleep!  So we started giving him 1/4 of a mg of melatonin at night which worked wonderfully!  I have read conflicting evidence about giving children melatonin and this summer decided to stop giving it to him.  I mean, he isn't taking naps like usual, he's outside all day burning off that energy and still NOTHING!

The worst part of it all is that he's disrupting Cole's sleep!  He keeps him awake and bugs him so much!  We've allowed Cole to fall asleep in our room and then carried him to his bed when we go to bed.  When we start to pick him up, he yells in his sleep, "NO HUNTER"! 

Last night was the last straw.  I am so sick of going upstairs and yelling or spanking  telling them nicely to lay down or putting them back in their bed!  About 10:30 last night I heard screaming and crying...again.  I went upstairs to see what the commotion was.  Hunter had gotten in Cole's bed, AGAIN and pushed his head down which had hit his headboard leaving him with a red, swollen eye.  Cole got to watch us play a little Wheel of Fortune on the Wii while he iced his eye.  He asked if Hunter could have his own room.



So today we will be putting Blake and Cole in one room and Hunter in his own room.  I'm not sure what else to do!  I don't think I can handle many more nights like last night.  Hunter gets run down and is tired and crabby.  What is worse is that he drags Cole down.

As parents, we always wonder if we are doing the right thing, missing something that we should be doing or scarring our children for life.  I'm hoping this solution will help because if not you will be finding me hiding in a dark closet in the fetal position rocking back and forth!

If the "F" word offends you, don't click on the link!  This book is read by Samuel L. Jackson and this is exactly how I feel every night!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CseO1XRYs9I

Any advice would be GREAT!