Saturday, April 10, 2010

Suddenly afraid of the dark

Since coming home in November 2008, Quinn has insisted on total darkness to sleep. His two worst nights were at the White Swan, until we realized that a little lamp under the bedside table was keeping him awake, and out first night in Tucson, until we turned off the night light in his room.

But suddenly, inexplicably, he's scared of the dark. He was crying after I put him down the other night, which is HIGHLY unusual for him, and when I went into his room he was pointing at the tiny light on his baby monitor camera. After a few minutes I plugged in the old, abandoned night light and he laid right down and went to sleep. Every night since, if I turn on the night light he goes right to sleep; if I forget he cries.

Has anyone else seen anything like this? Any ideas on what might cause such a sudden switch?

3 comments:

China Dreams said...

Hi Jill,

I don't know why it happened, but Aidan had some sleep changes too. When we first came home he would sleep in his own bed. He hasn't done that for several months now, and I don't know when he'll return to it. Since two of our three bio kids didn't like sleeping alone, and neither did I as a kid, we just go with it, knowing that eventually it will pass.

Sorry I can't offer any more than that. Hope all else is well in AZ,
Ruby

Snickerdoodle said...

90 per cent of the time, we never know why things happen with our kids...why they suddenly change... for no particular reason. We can offer comfort (as in a night light) and hope that they get through what ever it is they need to get through, until they learn to speak to us. Even then, sometimes they can quite verbalize what a particular problem might be. They just know it's a problem.

Welcome to Parenthood. :)
Best,
Snick :)

trk said...

My daughter who was adopted at 1 year old also liked sleeping in the dark. At 2.5 years old she began insisting on a night light and at 4 she won't sleep without the hall light on as well. I think it started the same time she started believing in ghosts (from Halloween) and monsters (books) and progressed when she had her first "nightmare". Not sure what it was about, but she woke up scared and crying. At this point I really don't worry about it. Whatever brings her comfort and as long as she is sleeping!