Hi,
My family had to travel abroad unexpectedly due to my father in law being taken ill, he died when we were there. My 22 month dd came with us and from day one was surrounded by a horrible sad atmosphere which really affected her. She had an ear infection when we were there and every night for the 14 nights we were there she woke up and we brought her into our bed so as not to wake my mother-in-law (normally at home she would sleep in her own cot and has sometimes slept with us when ill but has always gone back to routine with a couple of nights of CC).
She was very nervous and clingy when we were there but when we got back home seemed to relax a bit. We tried to get her back into her sleep routine gradually and did some CC, however after 6 nights of her crying almost constantly, she then managed to throw herself out of her cot. So now we have taken the sides off and are doing cot to bed transition. She's chosen a duvet and is gradually getting more used to it but we have had to stay with her every night, stroking her, until she falls asleep which takes between 60 -90 mins then when she wakes in the night we take it in turns to sleep on cushions next to her cot. It has been 3 nights so far of this and am wondering if people have ideas on how we can progress so as to get her to go to sleep on her own and resettle herself. She used to be able to but seems to be out of the habit and needs more constant reassurance.
In the day she is also refusing to sleep in the bed and falls asleep in the pushchair instead - before she was in a great routine of sleeping for 2 hours a day in her cot. I am giving her loads of attention and doing all of her favourite things with her in the day as luckily I am still off on school holidays.
My DH and I are pretty exhausted with everything that we have all been through and both of us are now getting ill. I've no local family. If anyone has been through anything similar or could suggest anything to help us with the cot to bed situation I'd appreciate it.