not sleeping well...me that is..

[Potter]

well...where do i start. first of all, my baby sleeps in a crate right by my bed. I am usually at home so I seldom put him in his crate for long. When I am out during the day for short period of time, I block off the kitchen and put his crate there as well so I guess you can say he is never long being crated in the daytime. So at night, usually after he sleeps, I close his crate and he will usually whine to be let out at 2am and then 5am and then wakes up at 6.30-7am for good. He is whining just to let out, NOT for pee or anything and will usually go back to sleep after 10-15minutes. So last night, I tried leaving the door of his crate open so that he can come out when he wants and go back to sleep..but he had other ideas he woke up at 1am, 2am, 3am, every hour up till 6.30am!!!my hubby is a light sleeper and he works long hours...so its really not good that he is woken up so many times...i know i should let him whine in there when the crate door is close and don't let him out and make it a habit at 2am to let him out but in the same time, I am afraid hubby will still wake up when he whines louder and louder and also, I am also worried just in case if he wants to pee or poo or something...

what do you guys think i should do?

[janc]

Maybe try moving his crate to another part of the house and get ear plugs for both of you. Lucy (3 mo.) cried for 5 nights and no never cries cause she knows I won't pick her up. She is also dry at night and day. (3 lbs) Monky (1.8 lbs) is dry most nights and dry all day) cries still and I've had him almost 2 weeks. He's 2 wks younger than Lucy but much more delicate. He knows I won't pick him up but he will still cry although not nearly as long as a week ago. Hope this helps. It will get better.
Jan

[Ladylavender]

I have no advise for you. Just wanted to let you know you are not alone. I feel like you are describing every night at our house. Millie, whines at 11:30pm, 2:30am and 5-5:30am every night. I don't think Millie has to go out all those times, either. I think she just wants company or she is not sleepy anymore and needs to move around. I don't know what to do either.

[Erin]

How old is he? If you leave the door open will he pee on the floor? If so you need to leave it closed. Otherwise it's your choice. We did 2am potty breaks until Loki was 8 months old. Maybe try taking him out to pee anyway and he might be more likely to settle back down. I know Loki will settle back in faster if I let him outside. Also, MAKE SURE he is tired before bedtime. We limited Loki's naps after 7pm and would try to keep him up so he wouldn't sleep all evening then decide it was playtime at 11pm. Good luck!!!

[Potter]

Thanks for the words of encouragement.He is 4 months old. Its been a month since I have had him and I am really hoping hubby's patience will hold till he is older. He does have the habit of sleeping at 7pm and we do try our best to wake him up. We do walk him at about 11pm-11.30pm and he usually doesn't get to sleep till 12.30am coz we are playing trying to tire him out. I really don't know where he gets his energy from..its like a Duracell battery or Energizer or something.

I really hope this will improve in time to come because I have posted a similar topic a few weeks ago. If not...I don't know what hubby will say

[isevilla]

I had a similar problem with my nearly 4 mo old. She would cry and bark for ever it seemed all night long and it didnt matter where the crate was placed. I had tried with different blankets, cushions, etc and still she was noisy as ever. I started to notice that during the day she would sleep so nicely and behave as long as she was on a particular couch or on my baby's toddler bed. I even let her stay out of the crate at night on a couple of occasions to find her on either one of these places. I tried to figure out what was different and I figured it was the comfortors she was on top of. So I went out to petsmart and bought a crate insert here is the link http://www.petsmart.com/global/produ...N=2025626&Ne=2 she even sleeps just like the dog in the picture and to my amazement she has slept through the night from around 11pm till about 5-7am depending on if I let her out during the night for a pee break. I also put in the crate two or three of her favorite toys so she can play or chew if she wakes up before I do. so for two night so far she has been awesome at night. No crying or barking.

Hope I didnt just jinks myself!

Hope that helps.

Is.

[Miss_Sara]

When I crated Tila for sleeping when I first got her I had the saame problem
almost exactly
I just got WAY too exhausted and decided I wouldn't put her in the crate and she slept pretty much through the night

she usually just wakes up a few times
so I'm sorry ths is happening to you!
but maybe the best thing to do for you rhusband is keep her in the crate!

[Brookef18]

Chewy is 6 months old...When we got him he was 3 months old, and when ever he cried I took him out and he went right back in the crate when he was done going potty... He would whine for a min or two then settle down. When he would whine I would not talk to him, pet him, look at him. He knows it is bed time! He's much older now and he once in a while might wake us up... he always goes both pee and poo when we get up with him. My hubby is a builder and is a light sleeper too... ONCE I took him down stair and put him in his down stairs crate(We have two one up one down) And slept on the couch so My hubby could sleep!

[bellaismybaby]

I have never crated my pup. She will go in the crate and stay if needed, but never at night. I bought a foldable, wire (metal) pen and opened it part way to give her a corner of my room. She has her bed, a blanket and a pee pad or two. She is pee pad trained, so this helps. She rarely goes potty at night, but if she needs to she has the pads. She sleeps contently there all night...although she does fall asleep on my bed and then I put her in her bed when I turn out the light. I'm not sure if this will help you...

[Bnot]

It does improve, really does. Only time Venus (she's barely over 4 months) cries in her crate now, is when she wants to go out in the middle of the night. Only time I put her in it, is bedtime.

I try to use the same words each time when we go to bed. Like either "goodnight" before lights go out, or "bedtime" right before lights go out.

I know of one night, I thought she'd drive me nuts (not a far ride, lol). She'd whine, I'd take her out...nothing happened. Put her back in the crate, she kept whining. I got up, me and her went into the kitchen (where her pee pads are), and I just got on the laptop. Within 5 minutes, she'd peed and pooped! Laptop wasn't even going good! Took her back to the crate, and she went right back to sleep!

She's kitchen trained. If she whines and gets me up more than 2 times at night....I put her in the kitchen, with something she loves to chew on....and close my bedroom door!! This seems to work pretty good, AFTER the first 2 times. Its just getting through those first few times.

Being consistant helped me a lot. When they know what your reaction will be....helps a lot.

[sweetr72]

Reece's crate is in another room, he cried at first but after a night of crying he knows no one is coming to let him out and he sleeps in there all through the night..no messes nothing!! Once in a while I let him sleep with me and Darla and Sadie and he does well there too. I think I will probably let him start sleeping with us permanently soon. I never crated the other two dogs and they slept with us since day one...dont ask why I dont let Reece..hes a bit of a bugger and I guess I dont fully trust him although he has never had an accident. How old is your boy and do you feel you can trust him to sleep in your bed with you??

Dawn

[SweetCuteness]

Ferdinand did this also, and it just got to be too much. Finally we put his crate in the laundry room, with a towel over the sides (to muffle the whining but allow air flow), turned on the fan in there for white noise, and turned off the lights. He seems to do much better now... but we also finally get some sleep. Good luck!

[Maria19]

Hello,

I had my baby for only 6 nights so far and reading everyone else's story is a nightmare to me because of all the similarities. Here's my scenario:

1st: The bedtime crate thing is driving me crazy. He is 17 weeks old now and i finally got some rest last night because I folowed the advice of my sister, put a sheet over the crate to cover the side window frame and front door partially. The crate is in my room so I usually say good night and turn off the light.
At first I would put a pee pad in and 2 sheets of newspaper and his water bowl with some of his toys and the towel that he had when he came with me. I never knew if his whining/barking was due to wanting to go potty or because he just didn't want to be there. I never took him out because it took 1 1/2 hrs the 2nd night for him to settle down, then 1 hour the next night, then 1/2 hr the next night. But all through the night he did cry at certain times I just didn't want to take a peek so that he didnt' see me because it would make it WORST.

Last night I put in the water & food bowl in the holder so it wouldnt spill over onto the pads/paper, his toys, and one of my old tshirts and he finally settled down within 10 mins. But as soon as I get up to go the the bathroom myself he is barking and whinning immediately. He can't stand to be away from me during the day either. Whether or not I leave him in the crate when I go out or just in the house. He follows me everywhere even for me to potty/showers. I'm scared that Im going to step on him accidentally like the other day when I didn't see him behind me. My heart broke because he thought I was doing something bad to him on purpose.

When I let him out in the morning he gets so excited that he has minor accidents and runs around like crazy until he can finally let it all go. The majority of the times out of the paper I have set up in the bathroom and the dinette area. His #2 is never on the pad/paper. I need better techiques to handle this since my neighbor which has bulldogs told me of getting another type of crate where there is a partition/wall to set up on a larger crate with the removal potty tray in the bottom of a grid floor. Keep him in all day for 1 week w/food and water and that will potty train him faster. Well I feel like Im punishing him if I do that. And I don't want him to fear the crate either. I want him to feel comfortable enough to go in when he is tired/sleepy/resting on his own eventually. What other advice can U give me.

The kitchen is definitely out of the question so is the bathroom since I get up myself. I live in a 3 room apartment so the other place is the hallway or the livingroom to set up a area just for him with gate partitions.

Im trying train him by November/December.

Maria19

[vainchick5]

Coco cried for about a month before I figured out something else, which helped us both sleep. I put her crate on my nightstand, where she could clearly see me. That quited her down. They just feel alone and scared. Once I put her somewhere where she knew I was still there, that kept her quiet. But I never once picked her up when she cried because I didn't want her to think she would get her way that way. I'm glad I didn't give in. I would tell hubby that this is just something he'll have to deal with. I don't know if you guys have kids but what would he do if a baby was crying? What's the difference? Maybe he can take the couch or another bedroom if he doesn't like it.

[Bnot]

Venus, when I first got her, was the "poster child" for I hate this crate, I will never like it, get rid of it.....see pic if it comes through.

This pick was taken August 23rd, at 10 weeks old.

Now, she will go straight to the crate and get in by herself, when I say "lets go to bed". The crate is in my bedroom, beside my bed.

If she whines at all when she first goes in, I say "bedtime". Sometimes she will whine 2-3 times, but it gets lower pitched each time. I repeat with "bedtime" with each little whine.

When she wakes me in the middle of the night, we go outside, like pronto. When she gets back in, and any whining sound, I say "bedtime" again.

This seems to work for me. They will get used to the crate, no matter how much they hate it at first, as you can see from the pic (hoping the pic comes through).