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AIBU?

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Original poster

To think that watching TV with a wakeful child at 2 am is just foolish?

80 replies

breatheslowly · 01/01/2013 18:25

I see this occassionaly on friends' FB pages. No SN involved, but child might be poorly. DD has asked for Peppa Pig in the middle of the night when ill, but we declined. Have I just never been in the situation when it is the right answer and until I experience that situation I am just being judgy?

OP posts:
mrsjay · 01/01/2013 23:12

you suggest that we do craft / phonics / pretend play / fuck it go into garden & bloody identify night animals?

sorry i know you are probably very tired and all but that made me laugh Grin

FreudiansSlipper · 01/01/2013 23:12

well when ds had chicken pox could not sleep was in my bed it was most helpful as I could snooze

HollyBerryBush · 01/01/2013 23:17

retard is mainstream use in America - this is an international board.

Just because it doesnt sit well within parameters of UK speech doesnt mean it isn't acceptable elsewhere.

TBH, people, regular users by now, should be able to discern between offensive and colloquial language with out acting like --the board police school ma'ams

mrsjay · 01/01/2013 23:18

I was ill in bed sunday and a bit of yesterday and staring at the tv took my mind of the lurgy i had it is the same for a child,

zzzzz · 01/01/2013 23:26

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

mrsjay · 01/01/2013 23:30

retard is derogatory whoever says it times move on and words are not said, but saying that i dont think the poster who said it meant any harm at all,

Arisbottle · 01/01/2013 23:30

I have done this, I am certain that by MN standards I am a truly shit mother, but this would be the least of my crimes.

usualsuspect3 · 01/01/2013 23:31

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

Birdsgottafly · 01/01/2013 23:32

The word retard maybe in use in other countries, but to use the phrase "turn into a retard" on a parenting forum, where many parents have been and still are blamed for their children's SN (especially ADHD) by the way thay have parented, should be avoided.

It's just being mindful of the language that we use, which is never a bad thing.

Birdsgottafly · 01/01/2013 23:34

Anyway, i've sat up watching television with all of my children, during illness, they couldn't have gone to nursery the next day, so i couldn't have gone to work, so i don't see the harm, when we can both catch upon sleep once we have been the doctors/or meds kicked in the next day.

mrsjay · 01/01/2013 23:34

NO usual It isn't not at all

MurderOfGoths · 01/01/2013 23:37

DS is currently refusing to go to sleep until 2-3am, thanks to teething. No matter what we try. Often after he's refused naps all day (again, we try everything), so he's teething and overtired. Unsurprisingly, by 2am we are more than happy to stick the TV on for him and have 10 minutes peace.

Let me reiterate. This is after we've tried everything else short of sleeping pills or a frying pan to the head

harverina · 01/01/2013 23:46

This is somthing I probably would have said no way to before I had my DD! However, there have been a couple of times when my DD, now 2.8, has been unwell and really upset during the night and we have actually suggested watching a dvd or just normal telly to settle her again. It has worked for us on these odd occasions. Usually my DD has just sat and cuddled us with the sound down very low and fallen asleep again pretty quickly. It hasnt resulted in her asking for a dvd every night or wakening on purpose to get a dvd on during the night. But then we are pretty strict about there being no tv/dvd after her bath on other nights so thats probably why.

I agree with the others that there is no harm in doing this if you have a poorly and upset DC. I remember as a child I used to suffer from night terrors and my mum used to take me into the living room and put on the tv. I remember it used to really settle me.

Would never allow it if my DD was just a poor sleeper and wanted her own way at 2am. I'd be saying too bad!

peaceandlovebunny · 02/01/2013 03:54

do what you need to do.

ChippingInLovesChristmasLights · 02/01/2013 04:04

A genuinely ill/in pain child on the rare occasion - no problem.

A child just waking - no way. Not a hope - that way madness lies!!

Moominsarescary · 02/01/2013 04:09

So what do people do with young dc who wake up and refuse to go back to sleep. My 21 month old cannot be reasoned with if he wakes up at 3 in the morning and wants to get up.

ChippingInLovesChristmasLights · 02/01/2013 04:34

Silent return to bed - over and over and over again until he gets the message that it is not time to get up. No rewards for waking in the middle of the night - it is not the time for stories/toys/tv/food/drinks (other than a sippy cup of water) or play. Consistency is the key and shitloads of patience for a few nights

CordeliaChase · 02/01/2013 04:40

I've had it once with DS (2). He woke me up at 3am with a temperature. It was pretty damn high and he was very upset. I knew he was poorly the minute he woke me up, this kid loves his sleep and very rarely will get me up before 7am. I had to keep him awake then to check his temperature was coming down after giving him Tylenol. We watched movies for a few hours. It didn't mess with his routine, as it happens we ended up in the emergency room anyway because he got more ill. Poor little guy. However, I don't feel the need to update the work on fb every time I do something....

hazeyjane · 02/01/2013 09:10

Can I just point out the the r-word campaign is an American campaign to eliminate the use of 'retard'. There was an outcry in America when Ann Coulter called President Obama 'a retard' on Twitter, it is a word that should be as unacceptable in everyday speech as nigger or paki.

I don't think of myself as a 'board police school ma'am', by pointing out that a word is offensive, whether it is racist, sexist or disabilist.

'Has it damaged him and made him a retard?' My ds has global developmental delay, he has no speech,he has a rare genetic condition - I guess you could say he has 'retarded' development, but, he is not 'damaged' and he is not a 'retard'.

sickofsocalledexperts · 02/01/2013 09:17

Those on here using ugly and unacceptable words like "retard" on the grounds that "everyone else says it" have way more to worry about with their parenting than a bit of late night telly!

rogersmellyonthetelly · 02/01/2013 09:19

I don't think it's a good idea. I always had a rule, once upstairs and in bed, they stay upstairs/ in bed. That means sleep time, no tv, no lights except night light or toilet, no toys/playing/tv. If they are ill they get cuddles, comfort, gentle singing, forehead stroking. Maybe I've been really lucky that they have never been that ill that they have been up all night. One thing I will say though is that because my kids go to sleep and stay asleep 99% of the time, if they do wake up more than twice in an hour, or are crying/upset with no apparent reason, they sleep with me. If they are still unsettled, it's physical discomfort rather than needing comfort and i give calpol.

hazeyjane · 02/01/2013 09:28

There are some things that Calpol and cuddles won't solve though - asthma, vomiting, dehydration, breathing difficulties, reflux etc. That's when one of us makes up a nest on the sofa, and snuggles up with a dvd.

NewYearNewNagoo · 02/01/2013 09:32

I haven't done it. When they were tiny I used to watch TV myself (usually silent with subtitles) while I did the baby jig at who-knows-what-time.

I think that letting them have the telly on at stupid o'clock might encourage my DC to wake early, so there's nothing before 7am in this house. It is very boring if you choose to wake before then.

rogersmellyonthetelly · 02/01/2013 09:45

There are something's that calpol and cuddles won't solve - totally agree, as I said, maybe I've just been really lucky, but when mine have had d&v all they have wanted to do between chucking up is sleep. And since they are thankfully not prone to bugs, it doesn't happen often. It wouldn't be something I would do, but I've never been in a situation where I was that desperate, if someone said it was something they did I can't imagine I would think anything other than "whatever it takes to get you through"

MummytoMog · 02/01/2013 10:59

Did it once - DD was a total mare to get into bed for a week afterwards (although there was nothing really wrong with her the first time). So won't be doing that again. Although I rather like CBeebies actually and we have it on a lot. Shame it's rotting their minds...

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