22 months old won't sleep- I HAD ENOUGH!!!!

[fantasyworld]

Why oh why won't my 22 mth old DD sleep?It takes at least 90 mts to get her down at night and then she always wakes up around 2am and it takes the same time to get her back down. She has a good evening routine. She sleeps two hours in the afternoon at the childminders which I think might be a problem, I suggested reducing her nap but he said she still needs it. I work full time and am riddled by guilt thinking this is the real cause of her behaviour. I try to be consistent but I cannot function without sleep so sometimes I do give in and let her into our bed or end ip sleeping with her on the sofa. Please help.

Well the two hours is too long. Or at the wrong time. Don't feel guilty though...put your foot down! Is the childminder insisting? She cant'...it's your child and you are paying for her care. Tell her the nap should be shorter and earlier.

Both my DDs had their naps taken away at age 2 by the way...and were fine...in bed by 7.30 and up at about 6.30 to 7.00.

Yes they get tired and grumpy at about 5 but you have to jolly them along and they soon get used to it.

My sympathies. If you feel anything like I did, it's like all the colour has been sucked out of life when I was so tired.

What time do you try to put your DD to sleep, and when does she actually go to sleep? What time does she wake up?

General wisdom seems to be that daytime sleeps are important for supporting good nighttime sleeps, so cutting the nap isn't necessarily the way to go.

I had a chronic non sleeper, awake 7-8 times a night till he was nearly two, despite good sleep routines etc.

It sounds as though 2 hours in the afternoon is too much at this stage. I agree with isitme in that restricting daytime sleep does not actually help, but you might want to think about the times she is sleeping. If she needs 2 hours in the day, maybe your CM xcould try letting her have the majority of it as a morning nap, and then just a short sleep in the afternoon. We have a rule now that ds doesn't sleep after 3 in the afternoon, and that does seem to help. Also, Ds just seems to need a LOT of exercise if he is going to sleep well - I have told his nursery this and they have been really accommodating in helping with this. I think you need to talk again to your CM.

Good luck!

If you sleep with her does she settle faster? If she does then the nap isn't your problem.

My ds1 was the same. He started sleeping through at 22 months when we cut his daytime nap down to 45 minutes. worth a try?

thanks for your replies. Her CM tells me he puts her down for 2 hours, however for the first hour she usually chats and sings to herself and tries to wake the other children up, then she usually has 1 hour or so. Sometimes if she's had a very bad night she sleeps the full 2 hours though and he has to wake her, which kind of perpetuates the cycle...he reckons that daytime nap does not make a difference, says in his experience it's more about the routine and being consistent...all very well and good but I need my sleep!!Personally my theory is that the more quality time she has with me, the better she settles...those nights she will only settle with me, I get the distinct feeling she's "making up mummy time" iyswim

So what if she's only making up mummy time? She misses you. So if you drop the nap, she crashes out exhausted... Which is great for you as it means a quick routine but in the long run could backfire as she will lose sleep which may manifest itself as tantrums and the terrible twos... But it'll be too late to try and get her to nap again. You might not even make the connection.

I agree with your CM.