Any ideas on getting a 2 year old to sleep through the night?

[Ezzitigger]

Hi, My DS was 2 years old at the beginning of the month and has never slept through the night. Times vary when he wakes(sometimes 1.30, sometimes 4am. Now he has also started to wake at 4am sometimes 5am wanting to get up and play. I dont mind getting up at 6am but I'd just like a good nights sleep. Any ideas anyone, PLEASE!!

Hi ezzitiger,
Does ds have nap at all in the day? I found with mine, they would get grouchy around 12 midday, and then around 3pm. So I got them in to the routine of getting up at 7am.
If I let them they would sleep at both times in the day, but then i'd stuggle to get them down at night, even after warm bath etc.
So I entertained them when it came to 12:00 and after 20 mins or so, they would be over the grouchy bit and back to normal. Then when it came to the 3pm stint, I would let them have a 10 min nap (dont be tempted to let them have longer) And they would still wake grouchy, but I would paint or play, or go for a walk to get them over it, and then they would be back to normal. I would then give them tea at 4:30pm, bath at 6:00pm, and then start to wind down for bed at 7:00pm. If they went to Grans, She would always let them sleep to long, saying they need their rest, etc, and I would struggle to get them down. If they did wake I would hug them and put them straight back. No mummy's bed.

Hi Ezzitigger,
I just wanted to say it can be done!

Just before dd2 turned 2 we successfully tackled this problem! Until then we had to sit by her bed for an hour or more until she fell asleep it also meant if she woke in the night she needed us to settle her back to sleep as she couldn't do it alone. This resulted in 2 years of sleep deprivation for me and my husband. We also tried controlled crying to no avail and we also tried gradual withdrawal where we would move gradually away from the bed over a number of nights until we were by the door but this never worked either although it had worked successfully with DD1 at 6 months.

In the end we decided we had to do something and at 2 she was old enough to understand what we were saying to her so we introduced a very regimented bedtime routine to her. Bath, milk, 2 stories and then into bed. We(my DH and I) even always said the same things to let her know it was bedtime. e.g. Time for bed now...then a cuddle and kiss then putting her straight into her cot...followed by See you in the morning and then we left the room and closed the door.

I'll be honest it was hell on earth for 10 days!!! In the sense that I would go into our bedroom to listen to her cries subsiding sobbing myself and it got worse around 7 days in before it got better. It was really vital to be united with DH about it as we supported each other and took over when the other one was near to breaking point. I know it must sound so cruel to say in the end we just let her sob it out but we really had exhausted all other options. At the end of the day though it has been an absolute godsend to be able to put her down now and know we can just leave her to it and we won't be disturbed until the morning. It has saved endless fraught arguments between my DH and myself due to tiredness and just made our house a nicer and calmer place to be!! I thoroughly reccomend it now but you need to be strong both mentally and emotionally and work together with your partner if you have one. My DD is a real tough nut to crack but even after 2 years she still only took 10 days, so 10 days of hell is worth it for the end result! She is now almost 3 and she still sleeps through every night.

Fingers crossed and let usknow how it goes.

When DS was around 2.5, I explained to him that you grow when you are asleep, but you need to be asleep in one long time for it to work. He's been a pretty good sleeper ever since.

We had a similar problem with our DS. His teething really bothered him at night, but once all those were through he was still waking several times a night wanting to be picked up. We'd tried controlled crying a few times but it didn't work, because as soon as he was genuinely ill / teething etc. the routine unravelled. I just felt that with controlled crying there was nothing in it for him.
So one night I banned my husband from going up to DS and I went up instead. I told DS that if he lay down and tried to sleep I would stay with him and stroke his head. If not I would leave him on his own to cry. The first night he stood in the cot and we argued for 20 minutes and I left the room for 2 5 minute stretches. The second night we argued for 10 minutes, and the third night he lay down as soon as I came in the room. I would stroke his head for a few minutes and then doss down on an airbed beside his cot for a bit, breathing rather heavily so he knew I was still there. After 10 nights he was sleeping through and we haven't really looked back. If he has a bad night one of us might sleep up with him on a foam mattress we have, but it doesn't happen that often. I think what woreked for us was that we were firm, but we met him half way.