Sleepless in the Big Girl Room

Emily wakes in the middle of the night most nights screaming for mommy. A half awake mommy retrieves her to our bed then everyone falls back asleep.

This week I have begun the long road to breaking Emily's habit of sleeping with us after she wakes in the middle of the night. I go, in instead of Sondra, to an already upset Emily who is rather displeased to see me, not the mommy she was calling for.

I talk to Emily and try to clam her into going back to sleep. Most nights I sit there as screaming ensues when she realizes that I will not take her to our bed. Normally, screaming could be curtailed by the threat of a spanking or some further punishment but this is bedtime and the last way to get a child to sleep is to spank her. I can't even threaten the spanking because I know Emily will call my bluff. So I sit there most nights as she expends what energy she has screaming before she passes out. The funny thing is that some nights I fall asleep sitting on her bed while she's still screaming. Some nights I have awoken in rather twisted positions after a couple hours of slumber. Needless to say, I am sore and not well rested by morning.

Emily's bed itself isn't helping matters. The mattress is a soft spring made for the weight of a child. Some nights when I get up, after say an hour of coaxing her back to sleep, I get up so clumsily that the bed bounces up waking Emily and the process starts all over. :)