I have just been through this with my dd. Jods i will call you later today!
In my instance i new it was a mixture of teething and something else. It was driving me nuts and sorry to say it lasted a month for me - she was 12.5 mths old when it started. She had all 4 of her molars come through at the same time as well as some smaller ones!
I took her to the dr as well and she also had an ear infection which i did not know was there as she was not pulling at her ears. Lucky i took her to the doc. She was put onto antibiotics and settled within two days and was back to about 60%. She recovered from the ears and the teeth and still was haviong tantrums etc etc. so this is what we did:
Controlled crying. She was trying to see how far she could get with us giving in! TODDLERS/BABIES are smart and they know what is going on! I did the following from the book Toddler Taming a guide to your child from one to four if you want to try it:
toddler wakes initially it is gentle crying, which then turns to a noisy protestl
leave them crying for 5 mins if you are average, 10 mins if you are tough and 2 mins if you are delicate and 1 min if very fragile. the length of crying depends on the tolerance of parents and how genuinely upset the child becomes. DON'T give in easily to grunmbling or noisy crying with dry tears, but genuine upset with fear and hysteria needs quick comfort
go into toddlers room, lift, cuddle,comfort. Occassionaly you can get away with patting them as they lie in the cot, this is better
when loud upset crying turns to sobs and sniffs, this is the god-given signal to put them down and walk out decisively.
they are taken aback that you dared to walk out. Immediately they start to cry in protest again.
now leave them crying 2 minutes longer than the pervious period (10 +2 mins, 5 +2 mins, 2+2 mins, 1+2 mins).
go in lift cuddle talk comfort. At the moment the crying comes towards control, put them down and exit immediately
once again increase the crying period by 2 minutes. then comfort, increase period of the crying again, comfort increase etc
Be extremely firm, continue for as long as it takes. It is pointless starting this technique unless you are prepared to see it through
once they fall asleep youget rest yourself. If they wake again, once more be completely firm. Do the same tomorrow night, the night after and for as long as it is needed.
It can be helpful to get a freind or support person as you struggle away at 2am trying to be tough half asleep, it is a whole lot easier to be firm if you have to eport your efforts to someone outside the combat area in the morning!
See how you go if you are willing to try this. I actually did this on Tayneesha at the age of 8mths old. It took me 3 nights in total and i felt really bad and awful doing it. I had my DH support me as well as his Sister and i have never looked back once. It was the best thing i did as now Tayneesha knows that i will not put up with tantrums and things like that at night!
I know that some people willnot agree with this i was one of those people originally but i needed sleep so i did it and this has converted me into a believer of controlled crying. The only thing is you have to stick to it correctly otherwise it will not work.
I am not telling anyone on this formum to do this and please do not do this if you honestly feel you can't it will upset you even more it is just my story and how i dealt with it. On the other hand though if you do try it let me know and i will support you through it if you like.
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