26 Month SLEEP PROBLEMS....3 x a night.....Help im in tears!

[tiredbutlearning]

Hi magical Mums.

LAst night was the worst - Do little one woke up at 4am...and was ready to go. After ignoring her for 30mins she starts yelling "ive done a poo" as to which when i check she hadnt done one...we have repeated this process till I dragged myself out of bed at 6:20.

Normally DLO has an afternoon nap from 1-3, she is very high energy and will run around till dinner at 5 bath at 5:30 and bed just after 6:00. This routine has worked well for us as untill 3 months ago she was sleeping through till 7 (at the earliest).

RECENTLY she is now starting to wake 3/4 times from 4 onwards. She either wants her

1. lost dummy - which we intend on getting rid of after our holiday next week.
2. a teddy that she cant find

or is juts up and restless...

Whats your advice, I have already spent this morning crying as IM SO TIRED - and she too is grumpy.....HELP US PLEASE!

hi tbl.poor you.you have my sympathy.been there and it is horrible. I am no expert but bedtime seems quite early to me.maybe you could try putting it back by 30mins?
Also think it 2hrs is a long nap for a 2yr old though i know some need it especially if very active as you say. Why not try reducing the time to 90mins then am hour?
Those are the 2 things that immediately strike me.my youngest was always a good sleeper and had stopped naps by that age.my eldest is a different story but reducing daytime mass still made a big difference to his sleep. sorry for typos and paragraphs.this is from my phone.just wanted to reply quickly to you as i know how awful it can feel.i am sure you will get lots of advice and support from others more expert than me!good luck and let us know how you get on.

Mimmit - thank you. As i was writing it i also thought that i will try a later bedtime today and try and shorten her nap. I have relied on the day time nap to catch up on sleep recently, but maybe I am going about it the wrong way.

I will definatly try both today...

I am also thinking of investing in a day/night time clock - to say stay in bed till the clock says wake up - its worth a shot!

Im just broke down this morning as I am so tired of being tired and waking up grumoy - it ruins the whole day, and its a catch 22.....

Its just so lovely to have mumsnet as support and to know that somewhere out there is a mummy who has been through it!

sorry not sure how i managed to post that twice!

lol i got excited that there was another mother who felt my pain!

tbl i know exactly what you mean.when you are so tired you can't see a solution and do things just to get you through the day. I did this even though i knew it wasn't helping the problem.
With my ds i actually used a sleep counsellor because after nearly 2yrs of poor sleep i felt i needed help.she was brilliant and i am happy to pass on details but because yous dd has previously been a good sleeper i think you may be able to sort this quite easily yourself and with lots of us for support of course!
As for dummy and losing teddy i think this may resolve if she was more tired at night and in a deeper sleep.is she in a cot or a bed?
My ds has a groclock.they are good but the problem at the moment is that he sees it is daylight before the sun comes up on his clock so that causes the first tantrum of the day.my hopes are pinned on the hour change!
I would try changes to her routine first before spending money on one and introducing another new thing for her to deal with at this stage.
Get yourself a strong tea or coffee and plan yous changes for today.you will feel better just to think you are taking control of it.xx

I will try an ammend the day time nap and bed time time first and if we are still struggling then I would love the sleep councillors number! Thank you - you are double posting again! x

hello again.bit apprehensive about double posting again from phone!just wanted to ask how today's routine has gone.fingers crossed for you!let me know how tonight goes.i will post sleep counsellor details when i am back on my computer.

Oh Hello, Well yesterday totally didnt go to plan.......As She was up since 4am she passed out in the car at 10-12?!?!?!?!?!?!? however we then had an active day with playgrounds and bike riding and she went down at 6:20 and slept till 7am (god bless the time change) - with two shouts for her dummy but wasnt really awake.

So today I intend on getting the new routine under way as I am more rested and her body is back on track.....

Thank you for your concern, just knowing someone has got back your back ( as husbands are so clueless) is the best feeling. Will try and let you know tonight how it goes! xxx

tbl you may not think that is to plan but it sounds like it worked really well for you.ok she had 2hrs but the timing was better.an earlier nap would make her more tired for bedtime and you managed to push it back half an hour.
So she woke a couple of times for her dummy but it sounds like you were either able to ignore her or settle her back quickly and no horrendously early wake up.think positive i would call that a result!
Hopefully it will be similar today. I would try to do nap time a bit earlier as yesterday.
I am with you all the way to make it work.dh's dont share the same incentive to get sleep sorted.mine seems to sleep through whatever is going on with dc!
Well done you.stick with it and i will be checking in later.xx

morning tbl.how did last night go?hope you are feeling ok today.xx

Hi there,

I have a 26 month old as well and she doesn't go to bed until 7.30/8.00pm, normally wakes up just after 6/7am - in addition to this she normally has 2 hour nap (I wake her up at 2pm as sleeping any later than that will affect bedtime) and in nursery she skips naps all together. My understanding is that kids of this age will need between 10-14 hours of sleep so I would def scale back bedtime till later. You may have to do it in stages though.

Hope it works!

xx