So it has been over a month of standing at Daniel's door, picking him up and putting him back into bed, and repeating numerous times. It has been doing my head in, and James' too. It has taken a long time to get him to sleep and some nap times he just hasn't gone to sleep at all. It is very draining, both mentally, physically and emotionally.
Our new plan of action is to put him to bed and just close the door and give him the responsibility to climb into bed when he is ready. We moved the step that I use for feeding Eliza into Daniel's room so that he can climb into bed if he gets out. Doing it this way, he is more upset by this - as he will cry when we close the door, instead of getting out of bed happily and enjoying being put back into bed, but it will help us stay sane and help Daniel make the decision of going to bed.
We have been doing it for 3 days now. The first day during his nap time he cried for around 20mins and then fell asleep on the floor. At night time the same thing happened, however, he only really cried for 5mins. Yesterday he cried on and off and didn't have a nap at all, however, I was much more relaxed because I wasn't standing at the door. I was feeding Eliza, watching tv, doing some things around the house. At night he cried for around 5 mins and then fell asleep on his bed!! Today at nap time he cried for about 5mins, then played around but when I went into him I thought he was still playing quietly, but instead he was asleep on his bed but with his head on his pillow!! This means that he got back onto the bed on his own. We are getting there. Then tonight I put him into bed and left and there were no tears at all!
I am so grateful for my mummy friends who gave me advice on what to do. It was so helpful and this is just a much better way to have him settle and go to sleep. And it is going to help James and I stay sane and also help us have our nights back, rather than spending time in the hallway.
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