Dd has just started to have tantrums at bedtime every night. The normal routine is that she has 2 stories and then goes to sleep and this has been working really well for ages. But recently she has been demanding another story and screaming when we say no. She makes it clear she will do this, she says "tonight I'm going to shout and cry if you don't read me three stories" and the she has a tantrum when we refuse. Sometimes we give in. She says "I promise that if you tell me one more story I will go straight to sleep" and sometimes she does, but more often she demands yet another story with the threat of crying if we don't. We have tried rewarding her if bedtime is good, but this doesn't improve things. We have tried leaving her to cry and a couple of times this has worked, but she usually ends up screaming hysterically and we give in.
Any advice please, we are dreading bedtime and don't know what to do. Is there no alternative but to cry it out?
We have just had another baby, who is now a month old, so we initially felt that her demands for some extra attention were justified, but we can't really give in to a tantrum, can we?
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What would you do with 3yo bedtime tantrums?
4 replies
jinglesticks · 27/12/2012 20:32
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