Wild Child

Wow, my son was that way early on (around 22 mo) climbed out of the bed, etc. I would suggest moving the good sleeper out and get her a good night sleep. In the bedroom (if possible) move everything out except the bed (and dresser(s) of course). No toys, no books, nothing but a bed and a blankie. Then (prepare yourself) while the good sleeper (and the rest of your household) sleep peacefully, sit on the floor by the other one's bed. I would ignore her and wordlessly correct her as she tries to get out of bed. It took me about 4 hours the first night and a few nights after that, but it works. Now, my precious one goes to bed and even asks to get up in the mornings. (he's 2 1/2 now.) We have even moved on to me sitting with him for a few minutes to pray, read a story, or chat. I tell him, you don't have to sleep, but you do have to stay in bed. Takes the pressure off. Mine is a bundle of energy and we have had to use this approach for several behaviors. With him, once he gets it, it is a miracle!! Good luck!

Hello,I do not profess to know anything about fostering but I did bring an almost 4 yr old into my home and he had some interesting sleeping habits.Have you tried different calm down, sleepy time routines at bedtime? Does anything calm her and make her sleepy? Does she need you to sit with her or does she need to be alone to go to sleep?She may never have been exposed to "family rules" before so I would worry about 1 at a time and let the other behaviors go. If she needs to eat on the floor while she is learning about adult/child roles, so be it. Little Man sat on my lap, on the floor to eat for the first 3 weeks.Good Luck!

Thanks for the suggestions everyone! I think I'm going to move the bad sleeper out onto the couch. That way (hopefully) the tantrumer will not activate. Then tomorrow I'm moving everything out of the room...

I think that it might be important to investigate why she requires so much sleep. 12 hours each day sounds kind of excessive. What I would recommend is that she be evaluated by a pediatrician to rule out any kind of sleeping disorders that might be contributing to her overall behavioral issues. After this is ruled out, then you should consider behavioral interventions.

There are so many things that can cause children and adults to require more sleep. It may be that the OP knows the reason for her need for 12 hrs of sleep but it isn't really part of the original question. As an adult I need 7 - 8 hours and my 4 yr old needs almost 10 hours plus a good nap due to our medical conditions. The question isn't why she needs so much sleep, it's how to get the newer child to be calm enough to allow others to sleep. I'm looking forward to hearing what works after the OP tries some of the suggestions from here and elsewhere. :coffee:

Okay, it's been two nights. All clothes, the noisy toys, most of the other toys were taken out of the room (just left a couple of soft toys). Bought a battery powered night light and flipped the breaker to the room so the light switch didn't work. Night 1: I put everybody in bed, tuck them in, and explain that if I hear one noise out of the bunch I'm separating them. ...two minutes after closing the door... I go get the baby (mainly because I want to cuddle with her, and move her mattress into the front room). The other children are shocked. ...ten minutes... I go get the wild child and put her on the couch. She is in tears. She cries for about 30 minutes. Then sulks. I wait as everyone gets sleepy. Then I take wild child back to her bed. Tantrumer immediately starts screaming about how it's her room, she hates everyone, and will kill wild child in her sleep (she's three). I take Tantrumer out of the room (it's ugly, a lot of snot, screaming, and thrashing). The violent exit stuns wild child into quietness and she goes to sleep. Tantrumer tantrums for an hour. Then goes quietly back to bed. It's now 10:00 p.m. It took three hours to get them organized. But much better than previous night. Night 2: Everyone starts out in the bedroom. I go get the baby after about ten minutes. She's 2 and makes too much noise to let the other ones sleep. Tantrumer throws a small fit over the baby leaving, I ignore it and it passes. I say "Quiet!" about three times from the hallway. Everyone is asleep by 8:00 p.m. It took one hour. I cry, eat a pint of ice cream and watch Project Runway. Success!!! Thank you! (there's nothing wrong with the three year old who needs 12 hours of sleep, it's twelve hours throughout the entire day. So she sleeps about 10 hours at night and two during the day. She's big for her age and looks about six, so there's a lot of growing going on. Also, she exhausts herself by tantruming.)

I'm not sure why you think this amount of sleep is excessive. Two and three year old children generally need about ten hours at night plus a two hour nap, although some need a bit less and some need more. And some children sleep twelve hours at night and don't nap very well. At three, my daughter slept from about 9 to 7 and took a two hour nap at full-day preschool, and most of her friends did, as well. Toddlers and preschoolers expend lots of energy in play, if they are getting enough exercise and mental stimulation, and actually need a great deal of sleep, because of it. And although it seems counterintuitive, if a child does NOT nap, he/she is likely to have a harder time sleeping at night than if he/she has a nap of at least an hour after lunch.Sharon