But thats what this mom is complaining about- the sneaking in. Mine does it too! It drives me nuts, because at 3 am I have zero desire to fight her on it.

Even then it doesn’t always work. We sleep trained our first at 6 month and all was great until about 2.5 when he decided he was not going to sleep alone. It was a nightmare for about a year. Got to the point of a blanket on the floor in our room, which worked for awhile. He’s over it now at almost 5 but we still have…

Yeah, anyone who insists they have the absolute answer that works every time is just obnoxious, whether it’s the person insisting that co-sleeping until 13 was perfect or the person claiming their kids didn’t need it and it’s easy to “sleep train.” Orrrr maybe every child and every family is different and people have…

I was convinced closet monsters were real. I still can’t sleep with the closet doors open. Weirdly, enough neither can my mom (who was convinced there were monsters under the bed as a child).

Have you ever had anxiety issues? They don’t respond well to logic. Even the most rational adult with a panic attack won’t snap out of it just because you tell them to. And you most certainly do not cure anxiety problems and panic attacks by locking someone in their room! Ffs! This isn’t a baby learning to go back to…

I loved being alone in the day, but I was afraid of the dark. I’ve had anxiety problems since I was born, I think. My parents made me stay in my own room and told me to get over it. I had sleep issues until I got therapy. I still resent my parents for how poorly they dealt with my childhood anxieties, they made things…

Totally disagree. A seven year old might understand the concept but that doesn’t change the feeling or the imagination. Just because your kid did it, doesn’t mean all kids can. Have some generosity of spirit.

I loved being alone as a kid and I spent a lot of time that way. Still, I had a terrible time sleeping alone until I was quite old. Being alone and entertaining yourself is one thing; facing the dark and giant “what if” thoughts alone are another

Kids are different. My daughter might have trouble going to sleep but she’ll eventually get there. I have a couple of friends whose child would literally scream for 1-2 hours before he exhausted himself. There is no one size fits all approach to children because they’re human beings. Some of them are generally…

Question: But if he didn’t cry when you sleep trained him, did you actually sleep train him? I have always understood sleep training to mean, “cry, check, cry, check, etc etc” while extending the time between checking in.

Sleep training just doesn’t work for some kids. We’ve done it ALL and nothing worked. My kid is 8 next month and has just started sleeping in his own bed.

Sounds like my childhood. I played alone a lot, have zero recollection of being a poor sleeper or needing my parents to help me get to sleep beyond a story and a lullaby every night. I am a parent and I just hope whatever sleep issues we’re experiencing now at the infant/toddler stage peter out before she turns 6.…

We weren’t a loud family, but being in silence was one of my favorite activities.

That’s such a straw man argument. The natural response of a child crying and being stressed when it is separated from adults is literally an evolutionary response to keep the child ALIVE.

I was a kid who was terrified of my room at night. No reason, no deep seated trauma, just heart pounding terror as the house went silent. I had a similar deal with my parents where I could pull a sleeping bag next to their bed when I got too scared in my room. My fear of the dark and silent didn’t go away, even in…

I wish I could send this girl a message: when you’re locked in just say you have to pee.

I will say that I know many parents who have always slept with their children since infancy, who are now having an extremely difficult time getting them to sleep on their own. I don’t really blame them for it. Parents are subjected to an enormous amount of pressure and judgment from everywhere.

Yeah, “go to your room!” was never a punishment.

I rambled about this in a different comment, but the shrink we saw for our son thinks it could be inherited, as my husband still sleep walks and talks like our son does (on top of the not sleeping well thing), and also that it could have something to do with him being a NICU baby who didn’t get much skin to skin…

My mom’s problem with sleep training me was that I didn’t sleep. I mean, I would sleep for four hours strait as a baby, but then I was good for 5-6 hours. I didn’t sleep more than that until long after I was on my own. We finally settled on I didn’t have to sleep, but I had to stay in my room.