dd 2.5 previously excellent sleeper waking in the night for uo to 2 hours, me pg stressed and exhausted help!

[minxofmancunia]

She shouts out and starts crying anytime after 1am ( slept thru from 4m so this is a shock to the system!) we return her to bed, reassure her but she repeatedly gets up screams and begs for us, this can go on for 2+ hours. dh just puts her straight back in and leaves again without staying with her at all orsettling her and last night wanted to out her in bed with usbecause he said he was fed up with getting up but as far as I can see he doesn't make a huge amount of effort to settle/reassure her .

I went in to her lay beside her and sroked her hand for an hour last night but as soon as I tried to sneak out the screaming started again, took 2.5 hours of concerted effort and another hour after that at least for me to relax enough to fall back to sleep.

Was able to lie in this am (even though dh started his "tired" complaining, it takes him about 30 seconds to fall back to sleep) but I'm a bit of an insomniac anyway and when I've got work the next day I just can't function. Am 11 weeks pg and exhausted, if we don't manage to crack this by the time no 2 is born we'll be a family at war!!

Do I drop her daytime nap? Am determined that she won't come into our bed as I think this just creates more problems for the future (I have to sort alot of this at work!)and I don't want to end up kipping on the floor in her room long term.

Suggestions please!

And am trying to research and write 8,000 word essay to qualify as CBT therapist, I'm needing it myself!!

bump!!

anyone?

How long has it being going on for? My 2 year old does this when she's going down with something / recovering from something.

that's interesting thankyoy because today she's had lots of watery diarheaa so think she has a little stomach bug, it's been going on on and off for 2 weeks though, although last week she had a horrible cold so that probably doea have something to do with it.

There are trillions of bugs going around at the moment. It's dreadful. Anway - we usually find that it stops as quickly as it started (the wakeful nights).

Have you told her about the new baby? My DS started waking in the night and crying for us when I was pregnant with DD, although it was more towards the end when I think he realised that there really was going to be someone else living with us - he is a similar age. Agree she could be feeling under the weather - does she say what is wrong when you go into her? Sometimes we offer DS a drink of water and say it will make him feel better (not sure if it really will or not!) and he takes it and goes back to sleep.

I do sympathise, especially about the DH 'tired' complaining - we often have tiredness competitions in our house too!

sympathies to you - i had the same problem(and still do, sometimes) with my dd who's just turned 2. When I was pg with dc3 she started waking in the night too - I had to bring her out of her room as she shares with her older brother. She would refuse to get into bed with me and was having full on tantrums at 3am - it was hellish.

Anyway, I just had to roll with it...I would let her come downstairs and have some milk, but would not engage in any play, or chat, or put the tv on etc - I literally just lay down at the other end of the sofa and closed my eyes. She soon realised that she wasn't getting any more out of me than that and would either crash out on the sofa or would eventually let me take her back up.

We still have problems getting her to go to bed in the first place, but we're relaxed about it and just let her stay up, and from about 8pm will start 'suggesting' that she might want to go to bed now? Usually within the hour she'll ask to go up. We're just trying to bring the time forward bit by bit - ds1 goes up by 7.30 most nights.

She still wakes a couple of times a week, but it seems to be getting better - I bring her down, get her more milk and immediately tell her she needs to go back up to bed - the last few times she's been back in bed within 5 minutes. I think she has bad dreams sometimes and she needs to know she's safe and secure.

Anyway, what I'm saying is perhaps just let her come into bed with you, if she will. Don't chat to her, just get into bed and close your eyes. She may well drop off once she realises it's all very quiet and boring...Then once she's crashed out you can move her back to her own bed? Try to relax about it - if she sees you getting upset it can make everything so much more fraught for everyone!If she sees you remaining calm she might calm down herself sooner.

Hope things improve. And remember - this too shall pass!