It was time again to retrain Mal to sleep alone. We can’t remember when was the last time Mal fell asleep in his own bed! It used to be us reading him bedtime stories and he would toss and turn before falling asleep in his own bed. After ?? came, this routine was changed as ?? was there to share the room with him for a few months. After that was the visit of ?? and more where Mal was spared to sleep alone in his own room as he needed to let his room out. He was more than happy to sleep with us in our room. Then came Daddy’s overseas detachment, and I was not disciplined enough to sleep in my own bed as the bed seem extremely huge and cold without Daddy around! Both me and Mal would hug each other to sleep when Daddy was away. With all these events, Mal was even more used to having someone else sleep with…actually to be more specific, is to have Mummy to sleep with him. Like what Daddy had said, and also from the book we read…Mummy is Mal’s association with sleep! He would wake up crying and come looking for me if he found me not in his bed in the middle of the night. It is hard to blame him cos Mummy was there when he sleep but missing when he woke up and he couldn’t fall asleep again cos Mummy wasn’t there. He need Mummy to be there to help him sleep cos he had associate me with sleep. Thanks to all the the bad sleeping habits we had taught him. Sometime it is so natural to take the easy way out.
So we finally started doing it again beginning of this week. I was glad that at the same time, I found this rather good book on how to Solve your child’s Sleep Problem. It was on sales and I bought if for like 4 bucks! It was good as it gave me a better understanding on Sleep and also to reassure me that what we were going to do is not going to be too traumatising for Mal.
Today is the 5th day that we started him on this and so far, I must say, there are some improvement. He will still whine and even cry but he knows that I really mean what I say and will not give in to his demand even if he cries. His typical attempt to try to make me sleep with him goes like this
‘Mummy I want you to sleep with me’
‘I don’t want to sleep alone as I will be sad and bored’ and he will continue saying ‘I will be sad and bored’ choking back tears at the same time!
‘I will miss you’
‘I don’t like dark’
‘Can you don’t turn off the light’
‘Can you come and sleep with me later’
my answers to all these requests will be NO! and it was really hard for the first 2 nights. He would cry his eyes out and it made me wonder whether I was doing the right thing! To make things easier, I had chose 2 of his favourite stuff toy to be with him in the bed. It was a monkey and a schnitzel from ?? and sometimes he would hug them to sleep.
The other day, when we were out shopping, Mal actually said Hi and Goodbye to the cashier and flashed her a big smile cos the cashier was commenting on what a sweetie he was. That made a few heads turn. He was quick to flash them his big smile again and waved goodbye to them. It was unusual coming from Mal as normally he would just keep quiet or maybe even hide behind me when strangers talk to him.
When we got into the car and I asked him why was he so friendly today…guess what he told me…
‘I am a big boy now…cos I can sleep on my own!’
I guess we had not wasted the heart aches and tears for the past few days afterall…
Great job, MUM & DAD! Keep up the good work you have done as parents!