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This post is going to be mostly venting but also looking for any suggestions (or coping ideas) I can try to get our daughter down to bed without a meltdown because I have run out of tricks and ideas.
My dd was placed with us just over a year ago. She is 5 and we are her third foster placement and are in the process of adopting her. When she was first placed with us she just cried a lot at bed time. I worked to get a routine underway and she started immediately struggling with it. We could have a meltdown at any point of the bed time routine. I rearranged the schedule so that all we have to do at bed time is to read stories and get to sleep. The meltdowns stopped for things like bath time, getting into PJs, etc and were consistently at bedtime - either when it was time to start reading books, or just after when it was time to lay down.
Her meltdowns are very energetic and defiant usually coupled with fits of rage, hitting, kicking, biting, scratching both mom and dad. It will start with her refusal to get or stay in bed. She will just kind of wander defiantly and finally pick her distraction. Often it is something dangerous like trying to do flips off the bed or trying to jump up and grab the ceiling fan, other times it is just playing with her toys in defiance. The whole time she is making comments, some under her breath and others shouted loudly like "You aren't the boss of me," I can do whatever I want," "you'll never be my mommy and daddy," etc.
I have tried ignoring her until she falls asleep while playing, but she will literally follow me around the house holding onto my arm, leg, shirt or anything she can find to keep me from doing something else. If I try to read she tries to take my book, if I try to just sit she will try to pry herself under my legs or keep pushing, flicking, poking, or anything else she can think of to illicit a response. I try to keep my tone of voice normal and calming and I am mostly successful although sometimes I think there must be flames coming out of my head or steam coming out of my ear, because after about 30 minutes I have had it and even with a calm voice I think my frustration must be written all over my face. This is usually when my dh will suggest I take a break in the bedroom. If I totally remove myself she by shutting myself in my bedroom (I try not to do this but sometimes mommy needs a time-out too) she will freak out and pound and scream at the door and then turn her sights towards Dad. She goes directly to hitting and kicking him until he has to call me out to help. The same thing will happen if I need to excuse myself for a restroom break mid-meltdown. I cannot put her in time out, because she will not go. (We do a modified time out at bedtime where I lie next to her during timeout and she can snuggle with me or a stuff animal). Once started it is very difficult to stop the raging which can last anywhere from 30-60 minutes or more and sometimes will have more than one start/stop. And if we have to hold her to keep her or us safe she will scream "You're hurting me" or "you're making me cold/hot" or "I want only mommy/daddy."
The only things that consistently stop the rage are when someone gets hurt, or someone comes to the door and rings the doorbell, or when she decides she is done. Once she decides to be done she will lay down and fall to sleep within minutes. She was improving for a while but it has been getting worse over the last few months. Things that worked before, do not work now. They might distract momentarily but I end up with a second rage to deal with most times.
Some of the things we have tried:
Adjusting bedtime - both earlier & later
Cutting out story time
Distracting her by talking about something else
Ignoring her
Staying with her until she falls asleep
Moving her bed into our room
Having her try to fall asleep on the couch while we read
Deep breathing exercises
Mock tantrums - let her take it out on a pillow or kicking against the mattress for a timed period
Pushing against the wall or each others hands
Stroking her hair or back
Reassuring her
Having her repeat with us that this is her home and she never has to move with another family again.
Positive reinforcement for good behavior - praise
Negative reinforcement for undesirable behavior - like taking the toy she is trying to play with (or hit me with)
Giving her control over as much of the bedtime routine as I can - she picks PJs, books etc.
And the list goes on....
Many things will work once or twice, but then never work again. I should probably also mention we all go to weekly therapy sessions that are attachment based and she has a diagnoses of PTSD.
And after she feels genuinely bad, so much that it reminds of of what an abusive spouse might sound like after hitting his wife. And she was exposed to domestic violence repeatedly. And not unlike many other parents I have heard from she is an angel at school and even for us 90% of the time she is a very loving, cuddly, fun kiddo. Although day time defiance at home is on the rise over the past months, it is nothing like bed time when she freaks out.
I am tired, beat up, stressed out, feeling like an awful mommy for getting mad and not sure what to do next. Right now I'm just trying to survive one night at a time. But my kiddo is getting bigger and stronger and faster......and I am not! And I would really love a glass of wine to relax after the storm, but I won't for fear I might hold her too tight, or have it lessen my ability to keep might emotions in check should she come back for round 2. I do herbal tea instead which is great, but some evenings I really miss being able to have a glass of wine!!!!
JMO- but it sounds like she is totally controlling the situation. What I would do is this -
Bedroom is now for sleeping only. Take everything out but her bed, and 1 stuffed animal if she wants to sleep with one. Take the ceiling fan down if it's a safety issue for her.
Toys can go in a common area of the house so she can play with them when its appropriate.
Tell her you don't care if she sleeps, but she must stay in her room once it is bedtime. When she comes out, super nanny her. If she's kicking/screaming, treat her the same way as if she's not kicking/ screaming. You cannot allow her to decide who deals with her. Whoever starts dealing with her finishes dealing with her. If she wants to do flips off the bed, I honestly would not say anything as long as she stays in her room.
I know its hard, and I know it seems like a lot, but you will get through it. Was there a lot of trauma around bedtime for her?
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Yes I agree with your statement about controlling. No one has a lot of specifics about her trauma. I know the police made more than one after dark visit and she was removed one time after dark. Her b-mom's abusive boyfriend would also break in through the window at night. But I was told the domestic violence would happen at all times of the day.
She is very afraid of being taken or hurt by "the bad people" in the night. It is a common theme we see in her play.
we had the worst time getting J to bed when she first came here (she was 5 also). No where near your level of your drama, however.
part of it is the age. part the major transition
this advice might be too simplistic, so do with it as you will
If possible, can you have cw check with either prior FF? is this behavior new? Did they have an evening routine that worked?
Part of J's issue was she was so used to her old routine.. and I did it all wrong. it left her with discomfort
It got a bit better once i found out about her old routine
But the major breakthrough occurred once I found the power of the timer!!! I little handheld digital timer. At bed time, after the book readin, teeth brushing, prayers, tuck in - the timer got set for a cetain amount of time (I started at 20 minutes.. now we're down to 3).
During that time, i would rub her back, talk, or just sit with her. once it goes off, thats the signal that I'm going to bed. There's nothing to argue with as the timer is absolute
good luck!
ETA: it also forced me to slow down and accept the amount of time required for bed time. prior to the timer, path of me was always planning my escape.
Have you considered melatonin as a way to help her FEEL sleepy at bed time? It can be a life saver for kids that struggle with sleep, it is not a medication and is very safe for kids.
I should have probably mentioned that she was placed over a year ago with us. She is very familiar with the new routine and when I mess it up she lets me know :)
The previous foster mom had similar issues and she "resolved" it by letting her do pretty much whatever she wanted. She was not used to having a set bed time when she first came to us.
As for melatonin, dd is almost always feeling sleepy at bedtime. In fact my success nights are when she falls asleep while I read stories, but that only happens once or twice a week if I am lucky! But once story time is over and she starts getting the adrenaline pumping it is all over until she calms down.
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This might sound weird, and it goes totally against prevailing thoughts about having a bedtime routine, but what about changing it up every night. One night read stories before bath, the next night sing a song instead of a story, the next night give her a shower instead of a bath, the next night have her wear goofy socks to bed.
Since it sounds like she may have some kinds of trauma issues relating to bedtime, I wonder if changing it up will help switch her brain from the worries of bedtime to wondering what crazy thing mommy and daddy are going to do tonight! Since you've tried so many other things, this is just another thought. I'd suggest giving it a week and see if at the end of the week there's been any improvement or reduction in aggression etc.
I sympathize completely. I adopted my daughter at age 6 and I went through something very, very similar. However, it lasted a bit under a year. And, just so you know, she healed and has just completed her first year of college!
Best of luck!
Susan W.
You sound exhausted, and your daughter sounds terrified...and you also sound like a great mom. Being hit and poked and scrached can make it so hard to be the mom we want to be...I know...I have a hitter when stressed kiddo too. Hugs to you!
This feels more like an exploratory dialogue and less like a "here's what you should do" kind of conversation, so as I've written my thoughts down, that's the tone that is in my mind. You may have done all of these ideas, or I may be assuming things that aren't at all true for your dd...so I'm looking forward to your response :)
How verbal is your daughter, or expressive in play? Since you know that she's very afraid of bad people coming at night (a great reason to avoid sleep and go crazy with terror) I wonder if she's able to tell you about what she's the most afraid of, or what kind of things feel safe to her? Probably not yet, but even so there may be opportunities to listen and reflect more. (I's especially hard to do because it can sound like this "it's really hard to have a mom that doesn't love you" or "can't keep you safe" With my dd, I KNOW that's not true, and I so want to tell her it isn't true...but it's not a factual thing, it's a feeling thing...and that's what my dd is feeling in the moment she is enraged)
I know that I have to work hard to listen and empathize with my dd rather than rush in to reassure her. Unfortunately, reassurance, without the sense of being heard, can feel less genuine or as if the other person doesn't really "get" it, and saying "it FEELs as if Mommy doesn't love you" doesn't work either...because that's not what's real for her.
Have you mirrored back to her "you are so scared" "Bedtime is so unsafe to you" either at bedtime or when you are having a fun, connected time during the day? It would be interesting to see if that would help her feel that you understand what her reality is. If she did respond positively (or with intense rejection, which might mean it is very true for her, but she's not ready to have to think about it) it could be something you could problem solve with her in play. I once had a client (she was older, about 8) who decided she could make a web of yarn above her bed to keep her safe while she slept. Her father had died while she was sleeping and she was still haunted by that. We also did a lot of building with legos and talking about how she could stay safe and how to decide who to let in her lego walls. There are lots of kids who sleep in little tents...it just feels safer for them.
My guess is her little body is flooding with cortisol and adrenaline and it's now used to responding to sleepiness with "vigilence" hormones which wake her back up and make her kind of crazy. It's a possible reason to try melatonin (with your doctor's okay) just to see if you can break the cortisol cycle...I'm sleepy, I produce cortisol, I can't sleep, so I'm sleepy, so I produce cortisol....but you may not be comfortable with that.
You sound like a great problem solving mom, with a wonderful, terrified little girl. Here's to getting you that glass of wine!
Susan
nice interesting and very informative post, thanks for sharing.
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