Thursday, May 30, 2013

Sleep Deprived

Griffin, my 3 year old, is having major issues sleeping.  He has been for about a year and a half. At first, we attributed it to the major eczema problem he was having. He itched all day long and all night long. The Dr. told us to give zyrtec during the day and benadryl at night, which we did. We thought for sure the benadryl would knock him out but nope! He still wandered into our room multiple times a night.  A few months later, we were able to get the eczema under control and we only have a few rare outbreaks. Well, guess what? The horrible sleeping habits persist. Last night, G came into my room 3 times then got up for good (and woke the rest of the house) at 6:00.  Not only am I getting deprived of sleep, but I KNOW Griffin isn't sleeping nearly enough either. Bad situation. I've been wracking my brain for months trying to find something that will work. Threats, treats, whatever! Then I remembered that when he was potty training last year, the thing that worked best was a sticker chart. Go figure! It wasn't the treats or the bribes, but just being able to put a sticker on his chart and feel the immediate gratification and visually see his chart filling up. So, without further ado, his new sticker chart for sleeping in his bed ALL night!
We'll see how this works out for us. Hopefully, it is as easy as potty training him was! When he fills the whole chart up, he gets a prize. Not sure what yet, but that's not really the point anyways.  I made some without his name for ya'll to print out and use. And the great thing about these is that you can laminate them and then use a dry erase marker to make different goals. I am all about multi-use things! Here are the links for the blank Teal and Yellow, Orange and Teal, Pink and Mint, and the Purple and Green.  And just for fun, here is the potty chart I had made Griffey:
There is a download link for this HERE, just in case someone wants it. Again, we laminated it and stuck it on the fridge. He filled it up with angry bird stickers SO fast. Hopefully the sleeping chart works just as quickly! Hey, a mom can dream, right?

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