Bad night sleeping for 2yr old dd

[Em3]

My 2 yr dd is an angel except for some bad sleeping habits. We moved into my mums for 6 weeks whilst had buildong work done and i was in same room as dd and 3.6yr ds, he sleeps more or less all night if wakes up goes straight back which is excellant. Goes to bed 7pm sleep by 7.30-8pm latest, wakes about 11.30 rush downstairs give her a milk sometimes with 5 ml medised i fall asleep on sofa with her till usually about 3am ( have started timer for half hour to wake me up) take her up to bed and she sleeps till 5am, go downstairs snooze a bit on sofa and ds up by 7am. Dd has sleep around 10.30am for half hour to an hour occasionally let her have 2 hours but none of this makes difference for night routine. Have tried for no sleep but she passes out about 4pm and night routine still same. Since back home last few weeks thought could be strict and say no downstairs butis lot of crying and i dont mind if she wakes once for a milk then back to sleep but its in sofa! I'm jabbering on now but has anyone any tips for sleep all night in her bed?

ok i am definately no expert at this but ds was a bad sleeper so did lots of investigating

apparently if they are waking at the sane tinme every night if you wake them an hour or half an hour before the time they normally wake and take them what they are waking up for it's supposed to break the cycle or routine that they have gotton themselves into, you then wake them half an hour earlier every night

hth

Wow that sounds a spot on tip it makes sense I'll try it tonight, Thank you.

If she always goes to sleep with milk perhaps you need to ditch the milk as it's an association?

I agree with ditching the milk association, DS 15months is still not a great sleeper but since i dont feed him at night anymore he does sleep much better

2 yrs is way too big to be waking up at midnight for a feed. Ditch the milk right away. Tell her she is a big girl now and big girls have milk before they go to bed. When she wakes up at 11:30 PM, tell her it is sleep time, give her a kiss, a hug, whatever, but put her back in bed without going anywhere near a milk bottle or the sofa.

She will of course cry for a day or two because kids are creatures of habit and she will resist this change. But it will be OK from then on.

By the way, at this age, your DD should probably not be having a nap at 10:30 AM but at about 2 PM.

Sincerely not being judgemental here, but at how you made a habit of sleeping on the sofa until 3 AM every night.

Agree with the last poster. Perhaps give her a cup of milk or water in bed so she can help herself during the night and get tough. She will cry for a couple of nights, but it will be worth it. It can't be very good for either of you sleeping like this. Aim for 11 - 12 hrs sleep at night and a decent nap in the afternoon

I think I have kept the milk just for an easy life before we moved to my mums for 6 weeks she would wake up once no crying have milk & straight back to sleep. But the bad routine on the sofa started at my mums & it would go to 3am cos i would fall asleep too! my ds prob still had 1 milk a night to about 2 3/4's but he doesnt now, only if ill. I might do a step at a time and ditch sofa first and doesnt get out of bed. Then tackle milk later, i just worry they havent eaten enough at dinner and are hungry! Cotedazur with not sleeping at 10.30 and changing to 2pm, if she has a late sleep she doesnt want to go to bed at 7=7.30. She wouldnt quite understand about the big girl thing she is actually 23 months.Great advice am going to do bit by bit rather than all at once, keep ideas coming.

Put DD in bed with you. Sleep.

My DS doesn't get through the night any other way. He also has milk through the night (breastfeed).

They won't be doing it when they're sixteen, so just get through the night. But don't accept the second best sofa, use a real bed.

em3 - She will eat more in the day to compensate for the milk at night. Seriously, she will not starve without her midnight milk.

Re afternoon nap, I just wanted to tell you what kids this age usually do. Every 2 year old I have ever seen slept once a day and that was in the afternoon. If she is happy and you are happy with the morning nap, by all means, keep it.

If she does not want to sleep at 7 PM, maybe she should go to bed a little later. Do you eat dinner together as a family with such an early bedtime? ("Early" for me, not necessarily for everybody. dh arrives home after 7 PM, by the time we eat dinner together and put 2 yr dd to bed, it is after 8 PM.)

No matter her bedtimes, you need to (1) break your dd's midnight bottle habit, and (2) keep her in her room when she wakes up at night.

To each their own, and just reading through the couple of messsages on this short thread, you see that there are different opinions on this matter. Personally, I believe in giving good habits to one's kid. Everyone sleeps in their own bed and Nighttime is for sleep are two very good habits for kids.

Mrs boring - she wont sleep in my bed anyway! I have tried in desperation when she wont settle. I stopped breastfeeding at 8 months and think i had a good stint it is so draining and i think made me a bit depressed. I am pregnant with no 3 and am 24 weeks so makes me even more tired
Cotedazur - I am flexible with her day sleep depending what we're doing. She does get tired by 7-7.30 so does ds my dh is in around same time helps with bed if here but we found when kids younger if they are up later we dont have an evening or any peace, cos we want to go to bed quite early.
Last night I tried to wake up at 11am with an alarm gone to bed at 10 but just cldnt get up! dd woke at 12 did bring her down for milk but held her didnt sit her on sofa she was saying sit down i was saying big girl now doesnt go on sofa at night did seem to understand.
Gave her milk in her bed she started to go to sleep but then started saying downstairs and cried and yawned for about 20mins then gave in and laid in bed with her night light music on. She woke at 2 and wantd to go downstairs didnt get a milk and told her bedtime cried for a while then went back to sleep. Woke at 5 and dh got up which was a result.
I feel was good night will now give just one milk keep her in her bed once cracked this then i think will stop any night milk as have new baby coming in March ! so would love it if she slept all night.