DD is a little over 20 months. She sleeps for 1 hour during the day at ChildCare and will gladly sleep for longer at home on weekends if I let her (2 hours). We restrict her day sleep to 1 hour because otherwise she is jumping off walls (not literally ) until about 10pm and our night pattern is unchanged...
Here is my problem - and one I am wanting desperately to change. DD is NOT sleeping through the night. She wakes anything from once to 6 times between the hours of 10pm and 6am when she decides she is getting up. I know she CAN sleep through the night because for a period of about 2 weeks, she did this consistently... but that was several months ago.
DD is in a big girl bed and has settled a bit since being in that... we have tried different things to encourage her to sleep through. Not getting up to her cries unless they are "desperate" cries IYKWIM, but then she just gets up and comes in to us! Haha. So we were walking her straight back to bed which was fine except it would take an hour to settle her because she just kept coming back to our room and trying to pull me out of bed .
I've tried reminding her as I tuck her in that she has to stay in her bed all night and that Mummy and Daddy are here and love her.
She has her fav teddies in bed with her.
Her bed time has been moved back from 6:30 to about 7:30pm (been this way for several months).
We don't know what to try next, but we need this little monkey to sleep through. It is taking its toll on all of us. DD always looks tired and can be very trying because she obviously IS tired but won't sleep. DH and I are exhausted and it is affecting our relationship and jobs.
Do you close her door? Claire is same age and she likes to walk out of her room to us too if we dont close the door. If we do close the door and she wakes up, half the time she'll go an find a book or a toy and entertain herself for a while, before calling out to us. Sorry, I know probably not much help, but its the only thing that works for us.
DS goes down at 11.30 - for around 1.5hours or can be known to sleep up to 3 hours at daycare.. and will go down at 8.30pm - unless he asks for bed earlier (eg this week he hasn't been well, so has started asking for bed at around 7.15)
Or you could tie her to the bed
DS still wakes up heaps of times overnight, but is quite easily settled - unless he has something wrong with him - like a belly ache, or a bad dream. We think he woke up last night from a bad dream cos he started yelling out NANNY... and he spent yesterday with my mum... so must of still been dreaming of his day..
He only gets out of bed in the mornings and crawls into bed with us. I think its cos he knows he can get out of bed - but in the dark in the middle of the night - is a bit scared.. you just must have a brave girl there!!!
DD#2 is 3 in February and she still sleeps in a cot - we've tried her in a todd bed and she is a nightmare. She walks around the house at 10pm at night and has no cause for concern. We persisted for weeks, but due to lack of sleep for her, she got really sick and we just ended up putting her back in the cot. That was a few months ago now. Hopefully soon with rennovations she will have her own bedroom (she shares with DD#1 now). By that time i know i will have to put her in the todd. bed. She will be nearly 3 then. Im hoping her level of understanding will be a bit more mature....but yeah, locking her in the cot so to speak was the only way me, DH and the rest of the family were sure not to be woken up at 5am every morning - no one was happy this way.
Good luck, i dont think ive helped, just shared our exp.
I have tried closing her door... it is just met with hysterical screams resulting in lenghty settling
Her day sleep starts between 11:30 and 1200.
She usually settles somewhat easily during the night but it is still very taxing - we need some unbroken sleep! And I really can't believe she still isn't sleeping ALL night!
I have thought of slipping her some phenergen! LOL... she has been alseep for almost 2 hours so far... and all is well... here's hoping she stays there!
I understand about the broken sleep - DS has hardly ever slept through the night - he went down tonight around 7.30 and we just heard him wailing then...
Can't offer you any help unfortunately but can totally sympathise - DS still doesn't sleep through, he has forgotten how too and I'm too exhausted (35 weeks pregnant) to deal with the nonsense that comes with it - we resorted to buying a double bed and now co-sleep somewhat - kind of figured it's only going to get worse before it gets better with new bub on the way - admitedly he does suffer from constant throat infections and needs his tonsils removed which apparently adds to his sleep issues.
PS - We tried phernergen amongst other things - it worked for 2 nights and the mother guilt lasted longer - we tried it for 10 days straight as per my Paeds instructions and he has actually been worse since - I'm praying for a good sleeper this time - the way DH sees it we won't be doing this when he's 15....
DS has just started to sleep through, but dropped his day naps from about 16m... he still has the odd one, but maybe one a week. He'll be up all night and then up all day and still not go to sleep! OK, so he's been a bit better this last month but he can have just three broken hours sleep and be fine and dandy.
So not letting your DD sleep may not be the answer.
Have you tried dietary things? Maybe she's having something different now, or maybe the weather is affecting her - does she have hay fever? It's about that time for you, right?
Ryn - you have some great ideas! I did think it was the weather for awhile - but she doesn't have hayfever. I was thinking more along the lines of heat because we have hot one day freezing the next which doesn't give the body time to adjust... but I think you might be onto something with the diet. I am going to reassess her diet and see if there is something there which might be impacting... although her diet hasn't changed over recent months. But I think you could be onto something there!!!
Last night was a better night. DH came to bed at 11:30pm and told me this morning he attended to her once before coming to bed (I toddled off about 10:30) and then I had to get up for her at 5:30 this morning which was to give her a drink and extra dummy (she likes to hold one and have the other in her mouth) then I didn't see or hear from her until 8am! WOOHOO! The weather was much cooler last night...
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Breaking the Habit
) until about 10pm and our night pattern is unchanged...
.
- the way DH sees it we won't be doing this when he's 15....
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