AIBU to not understand how her sleep has got this bad!

[thebadwife]

My DD is 2.5 and was a good sleeper ( settled by herself, self soothed) till the very day of her 2nd birthday when she learnt to vault out of her cot. From that day on it has descended into a complete disaster.

She would not stay in her new bed, and would spend at least 2 hours getting in and out trashing the bedroom she shares with her brother. We have tried so many things. Rapid return, gradually removing ourselves from the room, no naps, longer naps. The only thing that has work was moving her bedtime to 9.30 and staying with her as she listens to a story cd.

Bedtime is less fraught but during the last 6 months she has lost the ability to self sooth and now wakes briefly at 11pm and again at 2 am where she will regularly stay awake till 5am.

Nothing helps her get back to sleep till 5am arrives and she just goes back to sleep. She has never managed to sleep well in our bed as she sees this as chance to play. So co sleeping for this period of the night has not helped much. If I lay on the floor next to her bed she will stay calm and still- but will not sleep till 5am. She will not stay in her bed unless one of us is with her.

She is mostly active and happy during the day and rarely naps for more than an 45 mins once a day. She just seems to need 5 hours less sleep than every other child her age.
AIBU to think WTF has happened and how will we ever get back to not being tired?

for you. I know your pain. DS1 self soothed and slept through from 18 months. Exactly a year later (2.5 years old) he would become hysterical if we left him in his room so we started having to lie down with him until he went to sleep. By the time DS2 was born when he was turning 3 years old he was waking every night usually between 2-5am.. Almost like clockwork.

DH ended up sleeping with DS1 every night in the spare room on a kingside bed. After a while DS1 only woke 2-3 nights a week for his 3 hour stints.. And now (he is almost 5 years old) he has started sleeping through, and has decided on his own to start sleeping in his own bed. He is autistic so we took things very much at his pace. I very much doubt you will have the same issue for as long as we had, but know there is definitely light at the end of the tunnel.

Have you tried an clock with a digital display? You can tell get her to draw lots of sixes or sevens until you are confident that she recognises the number and you can make a new rule - no getting out of bed until you see 6:00. Then set up a three week long reward chart with a great prize at the end - something you know she really wants - and it will help!!!

PunkyBubba- Thankyou for giving me hope!
Justilou- I will definitely give it a go but she has shown no interest in rewards so far and doesn't really connect punishments with bad behaviour either yet.

U could try a groclock, if ur daughter cant recognise numbers yet. The clock lights up with a sun wen its daytime and darkens down with a moonface at night. Good luck.