Toddlers and Sleep - how much longer to go?!

So, my little miss Bonnie is now a grown up 18 months old now and is terrific fun, charming and funny etc. She has always napped well and always gone to sleep at nighttime with no fuss, so yay for me right? Well no, because since she was a wee bub, we've had night-waking issues.

We went to Tresillian and she was "fixed" from about 6 months to 13 months, but recently she's gotten steadily worse at the sleep thing. She wakes up every 3 hours throughout the night, sometimes she goes to sleep straight away, sometimes she is awake for a couple of hours. Over the past few months, she's become used to me putting her in bed with us, so much so that there is no chance that she will settle in her cot in the middle of the night - she screams until she gets into the big bed with us.

I'm coping. Unlike when she was a baby (when I could do sleep training), for some reason the idea of any form of sleep training just fills me with dread. I mean, I know I could probably start some "controlled crying" but I'm pretty sure that I would cave after 20 mins, I am such a soft touch!

I think I can hold on for another few months, surely this bad patch of sleeping will improve? So, can I please hear some stories from you mums of previous bad toddler sleepers who didn't control cry? When did it sort itself out, and can it sort itself out without any "training" on my side required?

:hug: its hard when they stop sleeping well. It is more than likely a phase which will pass and there will be many more too. My 2.5yr DS has good weeks and bad weeks and like you if he's unsettled i just pop him in our bed so we all get sleep and because i dislike CC also.
Anyway recently we have had some success with star charts...what i've done is pick something that he really likes - currently The Fox & The Hound 2 movie - put a picture (photocopied the cover from the video store) up on the fridge with 5 squares next to it.
5 nights of sleeping in his bed and i will buy it for him. Also each morning he succeeds he gets to buy a small lolly from the local shop - so i give him daily motivation as well.
He only has 1 more night to go and he is super excited.
Sorry its long winded but hope it helps.

Clarrie, CC is not worth it if you don't want to do it. It will just upset you and Bonnie, and even more so if you 'cave' in after 20 mins because then the 20 mins was all for nothing. Can you keep co-sleeping with her or is this causing other issues? You could try the book No Cry Sleep Solutions by E Pantley or pop into the Gentle Parenting thread on Bellybelly about No cry comforting. I have two schools of thought with babies and sleep 1. Nothing stays the same (what happens one week/month won't happen the next, 2. Nothing changes if you don't change. Confusing I know! What this means is either Bonnie will grow out of it (but may not if she has been doing it since infancy) or else it is how she is and nothing will change it unless you change. Usually this means sleep training but if you are uncomfortable with it, don't do it! Probably haven't been any help at all. I would just keep co-sleeping with her.

You have my baby!!!! :p

Dd is also 18 months now, started sleeping through one night in the week from about Feb. She is waking at night, sometimes goes to sleep before I can get to her, other nights she is up for two hours. Then we just lay on the matteress on the floor, staring at the ceiling in the dark :) She does not really want to play and will lay down next to me quietly, but if I put her in the cot and walk away ... bloody murder :rolleyes: So I will stay with her on the matteress till she falls asleep and then just put her back, lucky for me I know that when she does this, she will have a sleep-in and only wake around 8am *yay*

ATM she is cutting molars, so I am blaming that. Have you stuck your finger in her mouth and felt if there are not some white devils poking out?? I only noticed it one morning I was changing her diper and she laughed at me :o , very daft mommy!!

I think it feels worse, because you KNOW they can sleep through :dunno: I feel that way. I feel that if she can do it one night, she MUST be able to do it 7 nights a week. I don't mind the getting up and popping the dummy back in and her going back to sleep in 5 seconds. It's the staying awake and not getting any sleep myself that is irking me atm.

I hope (pray) it's just the teeth, just a phase ... I'm still learning :)

Hope things get better real soon. Goodluck and sweet dreams ... when you get to them ;)