To get angry when toddler wakes up

@Nextyearhopes anger is a perfectly normal response to sleep deprivation. Snapping at a toddler is not good, OP knows this and that's why she feels bad about it. Instead of berating her why don't you offer any words of advice? What did you do when your children kept you up at night for weeks on end alongside work?

Sounds like it could be the same sleep regression then, you have my sympathies OP. Is she upset in the day time or only night time? Just because if it's only the night time, it's probably not teething pain.

Apparently around that age they can have a reoccurrence of separation anxiety.

If she won't settle in the bed could you try tweaking her nighttime setup by adding a night light (or taking one away if she already has one?). I also read that it can be due to the drop in temperature overnight x

I ended up getting really annoyed and snapping at her.

Or perhaps you step outside and take a deep breath. Poor little mite. If it were a man ‘snapping’ at an unwell toddler he would not be getting all this fluffy sympathy. And the word used in the title is ‘angry’. Ughhh

Also - if you have a DP - there is no excuse for him not taking DC out in day for a few hours to give you chance for a sleep. This will help his bond with younger one who I get only wants you at night x

Hi @averylongtimeagolongerago
i am a lone parent with no financial support and worked full time to support DC.
i used to feel exhaustion and sometimes panic at how I was going to cope the next day if I didn’t sleep … it was so stressful.
A trick that worked for me on particularly bad nights - I would put DC back in cot and leave for a moment and sit on step outside room, breathe deeply and I would imagine my life without DC, or if something happened to them, how I would feel without them… I would really visualise this and the thought of them not being with me would fill me with so much gratitude/ love/ patience/ relief that they were just there and I could hug them and I could go back in their room replenished!
I didn’t have to do this lots and I know it may sound drastic to some mums - but I did do it occasionally when my patience and understanding were running low and I was at a low ebb. It always worked. Good luck OP.

Growling and snarling? Is OP a bear?

It's frustrating, OP, I sympathise! I hope it passes soon. These sleep blips often do but it's hell when you're in the middle of it.

Who said ‘growling’ or ‘snarling’? No one. Only you did, so at least stay accurate to OP’s account.

There is ‘acceptable’ and there is ‘understandable’, and OP is coming on here for help as she is beyond tired, struggling and feels guilty. So step down from your high horse and start acting like a decent human being.

I honestly cannot fathom how growling and snarling at an upset, tired toddler in pain is acceptable.
I would be upset if someone snarled at me in the night if I was unwell and couldn’t help it. And this little one is barely older than a baby.

It's not toothache. They are two entirely different things.

When my child was going through this he wouldn't co sleep so what I ended up doing was bringing a spare quilt and pillow into their room and sleeping on the floor beside them. He seemed comforted with me being there and I got ok sleep ( better in my own bed of course) .didn't last too long and I was able to get back to my own bed eventually

The OP knows this smartypants, but it doesn’t solve the horror of being endlessly woken.

The smugness..

Of course dad can help, he's just making excuses.

It’s wonderful there are perfect parents about. How do you do it?

Anyway OP it’s normal to be infuriated by an endlessly waking toddler. Obviously she can’t help it, so you want to avoid snapping if you can, but everyone gets pushed past their limits sometimes, don’t bother feeling guilty, just resolve to try and count to 10 next time.

This

Sleeep deprivation is dreadful. Don’t feel bad.

How old is the toddler? At 17 months my DD who was slept very well suddenly started waking in the night screaming her head off. It took me 3 hours to settle her back into her cot, only for her to wake up an hour later. I got her into my bed for the first time ever (she has never ever settled in a shared bed) but she just went straight to sleep. So that's what we did and now almost 3 months later she is back to sleeping through.

I think it was just a sleep regression but initially I was convinced she was having bad dreams because of how upset she was when she'd wake up. She was also teething. It didn't just impact on night time sleep, she suddenly started to take ages to go down for a nap/didn't nap as long and took ages to go down at night.

Don't worry about making a rod for your own back etc, just do what you need to do to settle them and then figure the rest out later. It's so bloody hard dealing with night wakes with a toddler, I found it so much more stressful than when she was a newborn and I was off work!

Poor child is in pain and can't verbalise it. Have you tried sleeping with toothache when paracetamol doesn't touch the pain?

Poor kid. Sometimes I feel internally a bit annoyed by being woken up but I never take it out on my children

Did you use any teething gel / pain medication? If she keeps waking up she is probably in pain.

YABU a little, I'm sure you've had tooth ache and suffered badly with it. It's a god awful pain.

If you can't keep your patience why isn't her dad helping?

Oh bore off. Post your medal why don’t you? Don’t forget to polish it first.

The poor child is in pain! And is way too young to get up and find her own pain relief isn’t she?!

Are you a single parent? If not get your partner to deal with her if you can’t comfort her when she is feeling unwell without being nasty to her.