Step kids that dont stay asleep!
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Okay, so its our weekend with my SD's. The only part that i dread is night time. These kids play the usual tricks with their mum at night time and get away with it. This is the only thing that i really cant handle from the Skids. My own daughter has slept solidly the night through since 2months old. I am not to be messed with when i'm repeatedly woken up for no reason. Sleep deprivation turns me into jekyll and Hyde. Anyone else find this or found it with younger step children? Or even older ones?
Please note that we do all we can to make sure they stay asleep, drink no more than an hour before bed, toilet before bed, story, cuddles, kiss and then night night. But it doesnt stop them. 
Ha! my son acted up last
Ha! my son acted up last night, he is 2.5 years old and woke me up at 3 AM, and didn't want to go back to sleep until 5 AM.
Some of my suggestions are these 4:
1- Wake them up early in the morning.
2- Don't let them take naps
3- control the amount of sugar/candies/juice they consume throughout the day. (My son stole and ate like 15 chocolate chip ahoy! cookies yesterday, thus, was wired)
4- Keep them in activities that require a lot of energy and gets them tired. As opposed to sit in front of a tV all day. Activities that involve a lot pf physical movement will do the trick.
All of these work very well with my son.
Good luck!
How old are the SD's? I have
How old are the SD's? I have a few SS's who are a little older now, they're 11 and 9 (the oldest one still comes up once in a while saying he has "nightmares," but can't remember what, and I just think he's a baby), but they never wanted to go to sleep either when they were a little younger. I basically said they didn't have to go to sleep, but they couldn't come out of their rooms after bed time and they couldn't be loud. There were times they'd fall asleep on the floor, I'm not going to lie. Mostly I just let them bore themselves to sleep, there's only so much you can do that's quiet. If they came out, I'd just make them go right back in.
My advice would've been
My advice would've been roughly the same.
It will take time. Lots of time. Time that turns you into J&H. But, time will show you results.
Don't give up. Just like with training dogs, repetition and consequences are the trick.
The problem is i have tried
The problem is i have tried all of that.... from when i first met my partner they have gotten alot better. But recently its started to deteriorate, unfortunately we do not have them for long enough to undo the damage that their mother allows. They dont tend to get out of bed too much, its the continuous screaming that gets hard to ignore.
They are screaming because
They are screaming because they are frustrated. If that's the case, they have something to say but feel they are unable to say it.
Keep you calm, and ask them if they can tell you what's wrong. Calm is the key here. Again, give them time to stop screaming and reply. If you keep calm, eventually they will be too.
How old are they?
How old are they?
My SD5 is a friggin nightmare
My SD5 is a friggin nightmare with the sleep. When it's time for bed she starts crying like she's being sent to a torture chamber. H spends no less than half an hour pampering the princess with hugs, kisses, cuddles, stories, etc... and often until she falls asleep. More times than not she wakes up once or twice a night (it's gotten a little better) but luckily I sleep like a the dead otherwise H and I would have one more thing to argue about. Also, I swear I have never seen this kid sleep more than 7 hours total (I believe 10 hours is the norm for this age). It would not be so bad if she was capable of entertaining herself for a while in the morning but she is right at our door whining daaaaaaaaddy by 7am at the latest. Again, I sleep very deeply but it irks me that my H will jump right out of bed on 4 or 5 hours sleep to promptly start pampering the princess. Also I often work 3rd shift during her visits so she's either waking up as I'm walking through the door and in need of a few quiet minutes to unwind or knocking on our door just as I'm dozing off.
I have 2 biokids that have always slept great other than a little fussing at bedtime which never gets them anywhere. I tuck them in, give a kiss goodnight and it's lights out. Rarely have either of my kids woken up in the middle of the night. When BD4 wakes up in the morn she will get an apple, turn on the TV and not wake me up until she is hungry unless my son has already helped her. I don't have to worry about her self destructing due to a lack of attention or personal entertainment. My BS9 also never wakes me up in the morning (they know how much their mom enjoys sleep and how cranky she is without it) and is capable of making himself breakfast and helping BD4 make hers. The reason SD5 still wakes up is because she's always been rewarded for it with attention. On the rare occaision my kids would wake up I'd just send their butts back to bed (unless they truely had a problem) so, no reward there=sleep for me.
I think I have found the
I think I have found the problem. "drink no more than an hour before bed". Give those little snot buckets a shot of tequila right before bed and they will sleep through the night and through half of the next day.
Or just go to Canada and pick up a case of "Gripe Water". A friend of mine used to drive across the border to pick some up when his kids were young.
The main ingredient .... ALCOHOL!!! Along with some herbs and vitamins just to make it healthy.
A dose of gripe water before bed and ZZZZZZZzzzzzzzzzz!
JJOC ... at least on the tequila.
Best regards.