Please help me - sleep tortured by my children

[torturedmum]

I have a three year old DD. She had quite a late bed time before. 9 pm or so and she would get up between 7 and 8 am naturally.

She's recently started a new nursery and needs to be there at 8:30 am sharp. So I'm now putting her to bed by 7 pm. It's been around 2 weeks of this. But she KEEPS on waking up in the night and just being awake for hours. She'll come and find me and whinge and cry but I don't really know what she wants. Sometimes she'll cry she needs the toilet, but doesn't do anything whilst there. Other times she says she's hungry, so I give her a snack or whatever. But it's always 2-3 hours that she's just wide awake and DOES not let me sleep.

I also have a 9 month old baby. Sometimes her scramming and whinging wakes him up. Other times, just as she falls asleep, he starts waking me up. So I end up getting very little sleep. Maybe 2-3 hours.

I also don't feel right sending her to preschool when she's been awake all night. It's very very very frustrating.

I've been awake again now since 2 am and I have a migraine and she just keeps whingeing. It all accumulated in me screaming at her just now and I feel so bad, but I'm really at my wits end.

Why is she waking up like this ?? What can I do ?

Could you go back to the 9pm bedtime and then gradually bring it earlier by 15 minutes at a time rather than the big 2 hour jump in one go?
Think I'd rather have to wake her in the morning after 10 hours sleep than deal with the night troubles you've got now.
Good luck x

Yes, return to the 9 pm bedtime. Take her to nursery. Try to get a nap or two while she's there. The nursery staff can decide if she needs some quiet time during the day.

Not all toddlers need 12 hours a night. My DCs had a 9pm bedtime all their lives and were up for school at 7 (school started at 8).

Revert to 9pm bedtime. She can sleep at nursery - reclaim your sanity!
You could then try 15 min increment decreases, so 8.45, 8.30 very slowly perhaps…. in future.