child is afraid of the dark, refuses to sleep in her room even with night light. throws fit untilshepukes.help

Question

i have a three and a half year old who has had to sleep in our room in her own bed because we had someone living with us. now my sister moved out and we want to put our daughter back in her room. the problem is she just recently, well, like three months ago, started being afraid of the dark. we have tried8 putting in a night light, giving her a flashlight, radio, decorating her room, and she refuses. the thing with her is that she has not slept in her own room since she was a year old and she gave us a terrible time then. my daughter has a horrible temper. she will scream and cry until she throws up, then she will scream and cry some more. she will just stand there and dry heave . i am due in 7 weeks and need to put her in the room already. she will share a room with her baby sister, she does not know this yet, we ahve not even set up any baby things yet. when we ask her if she is excited to be a big sister she says no that she is happy being herself. help me please!:(

Answer 1

let her know there will be a new baby coming to stay with her in her room. Have her help you get things ready and then let her sleep in the room with all of the lights on. get an old baby monitor or if you still use one and set it so that SHE can hear you talk. tell her a bedtime story via monitor until she falls asleep. you could also try moving her to her bed after she falls asleep and then wake her up in the morning and make a big deal of how such a big girl she is.

Answer 2

Wow it sound like you have your hands full with this one, OK...
Tell your daughter about her new room mate first off, give her time to think about it, maybe she will feel safer knowing she has someone to share a room with (some one her age) then maybe you should put her mattress on the floor so she dint have under the bed to worry about, also leave her closet door wide open, maybe even put a light on in there, but the main thing is be for she goes to bed have either you or daddy (Dads are usually better because they have the more masculine Tough appearance) check the room for monsters, make sure your daughters watching you do this all, then tell her that you and daddy sleep in a dark room and you still wake up in the morning, put the new baby stuff in her room soon, the sight of an extra crib will trigger her senses and make her believe shes not alone,

I hope this helps, I know how hard toddlers are to manage! GOOD LUCK!!!

Answer 3

This is a tough one, I have a 5 yr old in the same shoes.she won't stay in her room. She too is expecting a little sister in a few months but I guess being a little older she acts great about the baby, she can't wait. maybe U will have to sleep in there with her until she goes to sleep, or maybe just wait unitl the baby comes so U can have her protect the baby at night. Believe it or not but kids r smart and she knows U will give in, so make her stay in there and she will get used to it. My daughter has gotten a lot better now and only a few nights a week now I have to send her back to her room. Have patience with her. Good Luck, I really have no room to talk I am still in those stages.

Answer 4

well you may just have to let her cry. she will get tried sooner or later. or you may need to think about getting her a dog or a cat that way she will not feel so alone and she has something of her very own. and most kids are not happy when there parents have another kid. you need to make sure that she does not hurt the baby. i baby sit for this one family the little boy was 5 years old and he would hit and bit the little baby. so just watch out for that too. or you can do the hard thing. i remember that i got spanked for scream and throwing a fit. also try to reward her for sleeping in her own bed.

Answer 5

My son went through something similar. He throw up like your daughter does. It's hard hard and hard! I use to think that my son did it so he could get his way and attention. Even though he doesn't do to anymore I still think that. Finally he got over it. It was very hard but you just have to do it over and over! Maybe if you take her out and let her pick out a cool lamp, like lava lamp or something that could help. Also you could try to give her awards for going to bed. So you could start a chart and if she does it the first day give her something special in the morning. Then if she does it continually then give her a big reward like chuck e cheese or whatever she likes! I know in the beginning i ended up falling asleep in there bed with him. That was a good starter for me. I just stayed in there until he was asleep and then I would get up. Man good luck this is a really hard one! Plus being pregnant doesn't help. I sure hope you can do this before you have your baby! Oh maybe her helping with the baby stuff and setting it all up would help alittle?

Answer 6

Maybe you could sleep in her room with her for awhile. The new baby will mean retooling routines, this could be a good time to try a new bedtime routine that is the same every night. Knowing what to expect and where she will be when she wakes up could help with her fears. We took a spray bottle with water and used it to mist our child's room, called it anti-monster spray, or you could use sparkle dust (put a little on a duster). Super Nanny sounds good, too.

Answer 7

you will have to put the child in the bed and close the door. let her cry and scream until she falls asleep. this will never end if you keep coming to the rescue. i have had to do it with my 1st kid. and at three that child should be falling asleep on her own. now you need to take control and control her temper or it will get worse. i cried and hated to hear my kids cry and scream, and throw up, but my sanity was worth 3 nights of ignoring them to get some sleep and i had a premature baby to take care of. so toughen up and get some sleep.

Answer 8

Oooo, yeah super nanny is good, you should try watching that show. But it will involve a lot of crying. Her crying is her power and your letting her have the power. Besides having a bed time routine. Let her know that you are there for her at night but keep her in her own bed. if she cries let her..this will go on for a few nights but it gets worse before it gets better. If she leaves her bed keep putting her to bed..you have to be patient and be strong. but yeah watch super nanny its a good show.

Answer 9

Do you have a ceiling lite? Install a 300 watt lite bulb in it so she can see under the bed with no problems . I had the same problem when I was her age and this is what I had.My parents would then turn itoff when I fell a sleep.My grandsons complained about monsters in our house I said that these monsters were close personal friends of mine and they guarded against any other monsters coming in my house and so they were here to guard them too

Answer 10

First make sure it's the dark that frightens her, then try sleeping w/her. Only once a week, then gradually move it up to twice so on... Then try letting her sleep alone at naptime and then once a week, let her sleep alone at night. Or let her fall asleep elsewhere, then try moving her to her room. Or just wear her out til she just too tired to think about it.