Bedtime driving me crazy

[kaz70]

My 2.9 son is a nightmare when it comes to bedtime. He's been a "headbanger" for 18 months now and we had got use to him banging his head in his bed to get himself to sleep every night, the new problem is screaming, he now gets out of bed the second i say goodnight and bangs his head on the stairgate or walls as hard/loud as he can and screaming at the top of his voice. Tonight i have closed all the windows and doors and sat in the garden whilst he screams and bangs away, i can still hear him though. He eventually fell asleep by the stairgate after about 40 mins, Any advice on what to do, or if i'm doing the right thing by ignoring him. It's driving me crazy.

Snap! My son ( number 3 child) is 22mths and we have had this every night now for 6 weeks. He doesn't head bang but he goes mental. We have tried the nice approach - doesn't work. The old super nanny "just keep putting them to bed everytime they get out no eye contact or talking" - doesn't work. He thinks its a game. So like you we ignore him. Tonight he was 40mins screaming and eventually put himself to bed!!! You feel awful but its the attention they want isn't it? My other two didn't do it to this extreme. So we are hoping he gets the message but I dread bedtime. We will have to be strong!!! The little love also has got into the habit of wanting to get up at 5:30am......

Does he do anything like this at any other time of day or is it just bedtime? Poor you this sounds like it must be awful and quite heartbreaking....it is difficult to let them cry, but often it works. How is he the rest of the time?

I have 2 girls aged 4 and 5 and having a little boy is quite a shock. He is so different. He doesn't sleep much in the day (an hour at most) and is so active. He is very much a mummies boy and just runs around the place like a loon! The tantrums are not too bad but the poor kid spends most of the day going up and down school to pick up/drop of his sisters! My middle one starts proper school this Sept so that will free up our day to do more which will be good for both of us . He's great when his sisters are home because they play with him! We have managed to get him to go back to bed in the mornings but 6:30am is his limit. But once he's asleep he stays asleep so thats good. He was the baby from heaven he was sooo good! I thought it was too good to be true! How is your little boy in the day?

Thanks guys. My son is also up between 5.15-5.30 every morning, tried everything to get him to sleep longer, nothing works, also tried the "nice aproach" and the supernanny tips of putting back to bed, but like yours he thinks it's a game, he actually said to me, "mummy i like it when i keep getting out of bed and you keep coming up to me!", they are so inteligent arn't they!!! So that's why i'v decided to try the ignoring him thing at bedtime, it broke my heart to leave him up in his room screaming snd headbanging for so long, do you think i'm being really mean? What is an acceptable lengh of time to leave them screaming?

What a relief to find someone with the same problem! The acceptable time to let them scream is until they go to sleep! I like you recon about 40mins - 1 hour. I suppose its how tolerant you can be. My girls have got used to it now and they fall asleep with all the noise! We show him that they are in bed so he doesn't feel he's missing out on something. Thats the problem isn't it? They know we are downstairs and they want to be with us.
Saturday eve was really bad (he had a long sleep in the day) he would not go to bed. We brought him downstairs BIG MISTAKE. We got him in bed at 9:30pm and he still woke up at 6am. He was such a miserable little all day! So I shall stick to the ignoring its the only thing that works.