Blatant abuse of AIBU

[Strawberries86]

I’m really sorry I’m just really bloody desperate. Night after night of 2.5yr old sacking off going to sleep. Dropped naps, shortened naps, changed nap times. No devises before bed, drugged her (I’m joking, but If I had drugs, I’d try it).

She is tired, she is resisting sleep like she will never wake up.

What the actual fuck do I do? Im knackered, stressed and ready try anything. Legal or not, someone help me get this fucker to sleep.

Added info, never been a bad sleeper, could just put her down and walk away. Then One night 6 months ago, someone must have swapped my child for this beautiful little devil monster.

Hey. My son has Developmental a language disorder. His speech and language was delayed and we had an awful job getting him to sleep at around this age. He would just not lay still etc. we'd spend a couple of hours in his bed. Close but not too close with him until he fell asleep and then he'd wake up early, 5am kind of early. Terrible time and we were all exhausted. I feel for you. I couldn't scroll by when I saw your speech and language comment. Might be worth reading up about it. Even now it takes him ages to fall asleep and he's 10! Good luck OP.

I lie on the floor with almost 3yo DD (on a comfy mattress with a duvet) for anything from 30 mins to 2hrs. I bloody love it! I get all sorts done on my phone and often a much needed nap.
I’ll be gutted in some ways to stop it, it’s so relaxing. DD likes to fall asleep to music, the only shit bit is when she wants Fireman Sam on repeat for 2hrs, that drives me crackers.
I think they are little for so long it’s not a problem or something to “fix”. Just get comfy and find a way to enjoy it.

Thank you so much for all the replies, support and virtual hugs. I was a desperate woman last night. Still am actually, been up an hour because kicked me in her sleep. Joys of motherhood.

I really feel like I’m just not nailing what she needs to fall asleep. Today il have to wake her at 7 and the poor thing will be a zombie and irritable, if I left her, she would wake up at 9 maybe.

To reassure anyone who thinks in evil, if Iv ever left her completely to cry, it’s been minutes. The hours stay time session, Iv been at the end of her bed and didn’t replant going back next to her bed, because I know (from months of experience) that when I did she would just get up and jump about.

I know she will want to nap for 60/90 mins but I’m going to limit it to 30/40 because if I don’t, it will be a repeat of last night but that also means she will be an unhappy bunny most of the afternoon/evening.

I wonder if the audible/book thing might be the key. Iv never thought about this and maybe it will make her want to lay in bed quiet and will help her drop off.

I did audiobooks with my eldest. She had an extraordinary vocab. It was a long time ago but she had them on a tiny speaker on an iPod. About 1000hours of them. Whole series of books.

What does a typical day look like for her? What time does she usually nap and how long for? ( if you don’t limit it). When my kids were that age they got really ratty when I woke them from naps so I found the easiest solution was to just accept that while they continue napping they will need a later bedtime. Pointless trying to put them to bed for 7 when they are just not tired. So our nap days looked something like

up 6-7
nap 1-3pm
bed 8/8.30pm. (Sometimes it might be 9pm before they went to sleep)

We also started to have some days without a nap where we would do an extremely early bedtime, so they were in bed at 6pm and this would help avoid overtiredness.

Glad to hear there’s a plan. Get nursery on board with the shorter naps, too.
It will be rough for a few days, while she (and you) adjust as you’ll have tiredness to contend with until she has caught up a bit, but hang in there. Rome wasn’t built in a day.
Good luck!