2 year old crying repeatedly through night. Advice needed.

[babyblue2]

DD2 is 2.1 and has always slept really well. She's in her own bed now and we're struggling to keep her in bed through the night. This hasn't always been the case, just the last month or so. She goes to bed no problem, but starts waking up through the night and goes wandering. When she's put back to bed she just gets back up again, we were up for over an hour the other night, up and down etc. in the end I took her into the dark living room and sat with her to show her there was nothing to get up for (we both fell asleep on the sofa). I think she struggling to get back to sleep on her own because last night (1 am) i just stroked her head and she fell back asleep. She woke at 5 am ready for the day. Has anyone any thoughts? I know there are posts everyday like this but still need some advice.

[lissielou]

ive been going thru the same thing with ds, but (touch wood) has been much better the last few days. can you get to her before she leaves her room? does she go to sleep in her bed?

[babyblue2]

Yeah she goes to sleep on her own no problem really. I only hear her when she opens the door. She doesn't wake up crying, it happens when we try and keep her there.

[lissielou]

i dont know how weve got ds out of it, does she wake at the same time every night?

[TheBlonde]

We are having similar issues - DS keeps ending up in our bed
I have decided to just go for the consistent back to bed approach
As soon as I hear him leaving his room I call out that he is to go back to bed
If he doesn't go back I put him back
We are getting some tears but he is doing as he's told and going back to sleep

[lissielou]

ds was always waking up at 3am every morning. so i was waking up at 2.55 then as soon as i heard him move just put him back into bed before he has chance to leave the room

[babyblue2]

You're very vigilant lissielou. No its different times each night, 10.30pm (she went back no probs) but then 1am too when she struggled a little. The other problem is that when she cries, she screams (as if someone's stood on her foot type scream). DH is director of firm and needs to sleep otherwise cannot function, also DD1 gets woken up and struggles to get back to sleep. The whole house was up at 5am the other morning. Its just too much. Going to buy a gate for her door today to see if that helps, but i get the feeling she'll just scream because she won't be able to get out.

[lissielou]

whats your routine like?

[babyblue2]

Routine is pretty normal, usually get up around 6.30-7.00 (when she was sleeping normally). A nap of 30mins-1 hr at around 1pm (sometimes no sleep) and bed at 7.00pm. Its as if she can't get herself back to sleep on her own through the night. Thanks for the last suggestions, i've seen the bunny clock and I've heard of the sticker suggestions but i'm not sure they will work at 2.1. She's very much living for the here and now and I don't know if she will remember that in 12 hours time she can only get up if the clock goes off, or that if she stays in bed she'll get a sticker. She's ferociously independent and perhaps she needs to be a touch older first. Tonight i'm going to just keep putting her back into bed and kind of try the controlled crying thing (which is gonna wake the entire household). I'll be investing in ear plugs for DH tomorrow.

[babyblue2]

So last night was a little better. No crying. We put the stairgate up over the bedroom and when she woke up she just stood there. She woke up at 3.15am and was still there at 5.20am (the last I remember). When I got up at 6.45 she was fast asleep on the floor and woke up at 8.15am. So basically she sat by the gate for over 2 hours. I went to see her about 7 or 8 times but she wasn't upset. She just asked for me, or asked for milk etc which she didn't get. So do I just continue with this and hope that she's gonna get sick of sitting next to her stairgate or should I try something else?

[babyblue2]

Methinks I shall just carry on. We did the tying the door handle too which remedied the getting up when she'd just gone to bed but if we did it in the middle of the night she would get hysterical so we stopped it. Will let you know how I get on.