I want my Mommy!

[judecorp]

You know, I have fun when I'm babysitting, all the way up until it's time for bed. Then it is just SO exhausting.

E will just not go to sleep! She follows the whole bedtime routine perfectly - potty, pajamas, toothbrushing, two books... then all hell breaks loose. She just Will. Not. Sleep. She lays there, eyes wide, telling me she misses Mommy 873278723957 times. (And I know she misses Mommy, and I feel bad that she misses Mommy, but really, what can I do about it?)

I've tried almost everything... from cuddling and trying to make her feel better to explaining that Mommy will be home soon to ignoring her after the first couple of times to saying, "Shhh, time for sleep, no more talking" a million times to laying in bed next to her and reading a book. Sometimes she falls asleep eventually (bedtime is at 8 and the moms come home between 10 and 10:30 usually) and sometimes she is still awake when they get home.

It's just so exhausting. In fact, I'm now dreading going over there because I don't want another 2 hours of "I want my Mommy" when there isn't a dang thing I can do to help. It's not like I can mysteriously make Mommy come home, you know? (I tell them this is going on, that's really the best I can do.) It becomes so tedious and last week I really felt myself becoming irritated.

I need to think of another strategy, and quick, because I'm not up for that tonight.

Comments

[iansha.livejournal.com]

You totally need to go the SuperNanny bedtime routine.
I *HEART* SuperNanny.

Then again, she isn't your kid. Hrm.

Maybe having a talk with the Mom's and letting them know this is an issue? Perhaps they can do some positive reinforcement (eg sticker chart), or give her a transitional object (eg teddy bear or tshirt that smells like Mom) to help soothe her? Is she the type of child that likes praise/rewards? Maybe they can "reward" her with a souvenier of the night before if she goes to bed on time?

Man, I'm in full on family therapy mode tonight.
Let me know if you try any of these or if I just gave you some amusement. :)

[judecorp.livejournal.com]

You've hit the nail right on the head: She's not my child.

Because she's not my child, I don't feel like it's my place to change up the bedtime routines... and since the moms have been really lax about "helping her fall asleep" (for a while they were sticking to a cool 'Mama will sit in the chair and not talk and you can put yourself to sleep' thing that lasted maybe 2 weeks) I feel like it would be disaster both for E and for me as a babysitter if I instituted a harder-line "Monday evening only" routine.

I have talked to her parents a couple of times about this and there's always some element of "yeah, we need to get back to that..." but in the end, it's their call, not mine.

I've managed to stick some little things in the framework of their routine (like answering everything she says after the first couple of statements with, "No talking, time for bed.") but what I usually end up doing is busting out the Big Gun: "If you talk again, I am going to go sit in the chair." That usually works - she's not sleeping but she doesn't talk anymore.

I don't feel comfortable doing much more because she's not my child and it's not really up to me to change her routines. Blah!

[juliann.livejournal.com]

If she were a cat the advice would be to have some intense play before bedtime, that winds down into sleepyland.

Cats don't obey but at least they LIKE sleeping ;)

[judecorp.livejournal.com]

I totally tried that last week! Holy crap, we were all over the place - jumping and dancing and being a marching band and all of that... and then we wound down with some yoga. I tell ya, the kid's immune to sleep!