Sleep Training a 4 Year Old

We have always kind of known that Davie is a morning person. Which has always been bearable since he's always been a pretty darn good sleeper at night. Davie wakes up about 6:50 almost every day. It drives me kind of crazy but there is almost nothing that changes that. A couple of months ago we started doing our best to get him to sleep by 7pm as often as possible. That is a lot easier said than done because the girls I babysat often didn't leave until after 7:00 pm and to truly get your kid down or at least calmed down by 7 you really have to be on the ball by 6:30pm. That pushes up dinner and baths and everything else.  

The horrible bed and bedroom that Davie refused to sleep in.

Between about October until we came back from Idaho in March, Davie had decided that sleeping was best done in our bed. I can't say every night because there were a few exceptions (like once in a blue moon) but without fail about 99% of the time he was in our bed by about 1:00 am. It drove us nuts because he would go to bed really well and almost exactly 3-4 hours later he woke up and never wanted to go to his bed again. We originally tried just taking him back, laying down with him, locking our door, locking his door, punishment (which just lead to a LOT of screaming in the middle of the night) and many other things. Nothing worked, so instead of getting no sleep and waking up all the time we settled for only getting woken up once and letting him sleep with us.  

Now there were many times that I didn't mind because I know this won't last forever and thankfully our bed is big enough that it doesn't make a huge difference. However I did worry a LOT about this when the new baby comes. If I had two kids waking up at different times in the middle of the night, especially one who is VERY capable of sleeping through the night in his OWN bed, I might lose my mind. If we didn't let him in our bed there were many times that he would just wander around the house!  

Davie had gotten really good at sneaking up on us too, after we thought he was long asleep. We would be watching our shows together, hanging out and winding down in the evening and then he would just be standing there with NO warning. I have literally screamed in his face because he has startled me soooo bad! SOOO many times. David started getting mad at me because I would scream or yell and/or get frustrated, but seriously! Just picture the whole house is quiet and dark, you look over or go around the corner (in the dark) and a small boy is just suddenly standing there. Silent. It was creepy.  

Afterwards I would feel bad but in the moment I was just so scared and frustrated that he would NOT stay asleep that I just could not help it. That's why David usually dealt with him at that point. I just lose my patience. I mean he just lingers in the dark and stares at you! It's creepy!!! Obviously some nights were better or worse than others but I really REALLY missed him sleeping through the night. David kept blaming it on Davie being scared and while I thought that was a possible issue I didn't feel like it was THE issue. So about late January I just stopped resisting Davie's nightly invasions of our bed. After a couple of weeks of that David finally said "ok I can't handle him sleeping next to me anymore" haha David is a hotbox and so is Davie.  

Shortly after that we went to Idaho, but when we got home we promptly put a plan in motion. We bought some toys, grabbed a sticker chart and told Davie that every 5 nights he stayed in HIS bed ALL night, or at least until Daddy left for work, he could have one of those toys. 

And guess what? It worked almost IMMEDIATELY. 

I couldn't get Davie to smile so I told Macy to poke him. I was thinking in the tummy (i.e. tickle him) but she went straight for his face haha.
Now before you go thinking we were spoiling him they were twin packs of Star Wars action figures and one big dinosaur altogether I think it was like $35. The sticker chart was also 50 days worth of staying in bed, IF Davie were to have been absolutely perfect. Which was perfect. Experts say it takes about 50- 60 days to create a new habit or change a bad one. 

We split each character pack in two which broke down to be about $3. I figured you can barely get a milkshake for that plus he got to enjoy it longer. AND if he was bad I told him I would take back the toy and he would have to re-earn it. He earned those toys just about every 5-8 days with few exceptions.  

The BIG dinosaur finale prize!

 
Macy helping Davie point at his prizes.
Overall it's been great, I knew he wasn't really scared or having other problems and I felt like the experiment validated my mom hunch. He just needed the proper motivation to re-create his good habits. He has now earned all but the last big toy which takes 2 weeks to earn and he only has 2 more days to that prize. 

Gotta sneak one of the little sister in here, because hey she's been sleeping like a champ this whole time.
And that is how we have been sleep training our 4 year old. Or should I say sleep bribing? Either way we have ALL been sleeping better.