Jenn, I think the lack of consistent structure is starting to wear on her.
She has two homes. One she sleeps with her dad and his new wife, one she sleeps in her room with a movie but wants to sleep with you and your boyfriend.
I think you should let her sleep with the movie. And then when she's asleep, turn it off. It seems to comfort her.
Her dad has been married for about 8 months and has been living with his wife for a year. We have been living with my Finace' since March and never had this problem before. We moved into our new house over a month ago and she has never acted this way. Even with the movie on last night she had to have the over head light on before she would let us leave the room. I am going to start a routine and see what helps, and maybe not a whole movie but maybe a dvd with 30 minute episopdes on it and she only gets to watch one.
Habits started young take time to break. My brother got in the habit of putting my niece in the car and going for like a half hour drive around town to get her to go to sleep when she was a baby. At 2 or 3 years old, he was still doing it because she wouldn't go to sleep any other way.
It will be hard, but you need to skip the movie and let her learn to put herself to sleep. It will almost certainly be a rough few days but eventually she will learn to go to sleep without the help of the movie.
I authored a parenting ebook and this is one of the things I discuss. It would have been easier to let her learn this as an infant but now is better than later. If you would like a FREE copy of my ebook, simply message me to let me know which email address you want it sent to.
yes please just e-mail it to ***@****!!! and thank you so much!
I understand your frustration and pray you find something that works for your family soon.
Wasn't sure what was going on with the email address you posted. I just saw another post by someone asking for help with something. In that post, he lists his email but it is exactly like yours above. I'm think MedHelp won't let you post your email address in the comments so they change it to look like this. If you do indeed want a copy of the ebook, you can send me a message on here. They allow you to list email addresses in the messages.
i sent you a message yesterday with my e- mail in it.
I just checked my notes, inbox, and notifications list and don't see anything from you. Could you send it again please?
I am elated!!! 2 nights of no screaming or crying, she only gets to watch half a movie and we start it early after bathtime and a story!!!