Re: Sleeping Routine and Chewing Gum
Asked by inquisitive-creatures

Question:

I am having trouble with my son's sleeping routine at the moment. It is all out of whack. He goes to bed really late around 11pm and 12pm despite us trying to put

him to bed earlier and he then proceeds to sleep in until 11am the next morning. I don't know what to do. Any advice would be great. Also my son is 19 months old and I've just noticed a whole packet of chewing gum has gone missing and I think he has stolen it out of my handbag and eaten at least 12 sticks of it - should I be worried? He appears completely fine but my partner is worried it could sit in his gut for many years to come? Thank you in advance for your replies!

My Advice:

I had the same problem with my one year old son's sleeping routine. What I ended up doing was putting him to bed at a particular time. He'd cry, of course, and make sure his displeasure was well known but eventually he'd cry himself out and fall asleep. The first handful of days was pretty harrowing, and my nerves were seriously frayed, but after a week or so his body clock synched right up and I'd find him starting to get tired and complain that he wanted to sleep about half an hour before his bedtime. Now he's as good as gold. Sometimes he gets to stay up, either when we take him out to visit relatives or on other rare occasions, but he's well used to the routine. The hard part is the initial setting of the routine. He certainly won't make it easy on you, but you need to stay strong. I found that crying comes in cycles. He'll rage, and then after a while he'll trail off for a minute or two. Then he'll start again but less intense. It may go through a few cycles before he's fully asleep but you need to be firm. I found with my son that if he thought I'd come in everyt ime he'd cry then he'd never go to sleep. By all means check up on your son, especially after he's stopped crying for five or so minutes, but you need to let him know that this is his bedtime and that he's expected to go to sleep.

As for the gum, I believe that it will digest its way out. My nephew had a habit of doing such things, when he was a baby (at least before we started securing things like gum and anything else he had a habit of eating without our supervision away), and he was fine. It's a bit scary, especially with something as 'waddy' as gum, but sooner or later it does come out. :)

I hope the sleep advice helps. It's not fun, but it worked for me.