Sleep allergies - How do you deal with long term sleep deprivation????

[Mak]

My girls seem to both have a sleep allergy! Miss 4 has been a horrendous sleeper until 2.5yo - she still wakes up and jumps in bed with us at ~ 11pm every night but we were getting a good 4 hour block. Miss almost 2 has started waking during the night and being really unsettled for the last 3 months.
We seem to be playing musical beds and everyone is worn out and cranky. I have been putting it down to teething and massive developmental leaps recently but am pretty exhausted with little support.
So any tips? Anyone with similiar experience cos I feel like it is my fault they are stuggling to sleep through....although I am sure I am not alone, just feeling a bit desperate and worn out.
TIA xxx

[delphmoon]

I have no advice but am interested to see the kind of advice you get- I fear I will have similar experiences

[onthefly]

We're on a break from the deprivation right now... was bad for most of the first 2 years, but much better now. But then we'll be back into it soon I suppose.
I don't know long term. For us, just making do and making things as easy as possible was all we could do.
And I'm sure it's not your fault - it's hardly unusual for young children to have trouble sleeping for one reason or another.

Maybe for your older girl you could try some sort of system or something to encourage her to stay in her own bed? I can't really offer any specific advice, sorry. Perhaps DD2 will go back to sleeping better once she's through the current phase...? (or do I sound ridiculously optimistic?)

[~me~]

Our DS2 would quite often come up to us through the night. He is now 4.5yrs old. I bought him a gro clock, which has stars and moon for night and sun for day. You can set it to whatever time you like in the morning. Mine is set for just after 6am. We explained to him that the stars and moon mean night time and can he stay in his bed until the sun comes up on the clock.
It works most nights. We still sometimes see him during the night, no-where near as often as we were. Sometimes he comes up too early and we ask him if the sun is up on his clock yet and says..."Oh not yet, I need to go back to bed", It may or may not work, it has given us a good run. It also has brightness setting so I can set it so it's not too bright.

The 2yr old is a bit of tough one, it could definitely be a mile stone thing that is keeping her awake. Perhaps you could try sleeping with her in her bed until she is in deep sleep and creep back to yours? Is she afraid of the dark, a little night light or one of those glo worms she can cuddle?

I am with Marcellus, it would not be your fault at all, sleep is a tricky one.

[Mak]

Thanks so much for your replies and reassurance ladies - I am generally at peace with the lack of sleep here but yesterday I was pretty down about it all.
We've tried reward charts etc with DD1 and she is not interested. She says that she gets scared without us and needs cuddles to sleep. SHe is a pretty clingy child and this has been worse in the last few weeks so perhaps it is linked? The gro clock sounds great tho - I will hunt one out as at least that will give her an indication of what should be happening?? Infact I will get one for both of them, lol!!!!
We're still to transition DD2 into a bed so have decided to buy a double so at least we'll be semi comfortable in our bed hopping - I do think she is probably getting too big for her cot as well. The weather has been all over the shop and she woke up hot last night so we'll grab some lighter tog sleepsuits too.
I have always figured it would sort itself out eventually but DH and I have to stay sane until then......

[onthefly]

She says that she gets scared without us and needs cuddles to sleep.

Aww, it's prety hard to argue with that.
I hope you can figure out a way to get a bit more rest soon