New tactics

Had a chat to my friend about the bed/sleep problems of the last 6 nights. She reckons that I'm going back a step by staying in the room with Alex. I should just put the child gate on his room and leave him to get on with it.

So...

Gate went up before dinner. Settled him as usual. He wanted me to stay and hold his hand, as per the last few nights, but I told him I was leaving the room. He did try quite a few tactics to get attention, like telling us 'I'm stuck here, can't get out' (well yes! that's the idea...), throwing things out of the room, calling for us etc etc. I went in to settle him once, and within 5 minutes he was standing at the gate saying 'muh nappy was hurting muh leg'. So I went to see, and he had taken his PJ bottoms off, and the nappy, and thrown the nappy across the landing! 'It's broken, need NEW one'. Put new one on, settled him again. This time he put his arms around my neck and told me 'I need you all the time Mummy' - oh, how to pull at a mummy's heart...

This time was the last effort, and he was therefore asleep, in bed in an hour.

It will be interesting to see if going back to nursery tomorrow, where he rarely gets more than an hour's sleep, and it's earlier in the day than here, will make a difference.