toddler sleeping issues

[jay11]

My 2 year old is constantly waking in the night. She is in a big bed and we have finally got her going to sleep ok (before 8)but she wakes up crying in the middle of the night, gets out of bed and out of the room. I always get her back to sleep in her own bed quickly and easily, but then she wakes a few hours later.

She is the youngest of 3 and shares with her big sister, so i can't really leave her to cry it out (especially as she goes back to sleep in her own bed within seconds).

I realise that she is quite young to be in a big bed, but due to redecorating we've had no choice! Also, she was the perfect sleeper while she was in her cot!

Any tips greatly appreciated - I need some kip!!

i dont think it is related to the big bed thing. i had both of mine in a big bed at 2. One of them because he was not sleeping well in his cot. Having been an angel sleeper for ages he then started waking in the 2 months before he was 2. Going into a big bed i thought might be the solution. It wasn't. After a while it became clear that he was waking because he was having nightmares. It is very common and I think difficult to identify in such little ones as they cannot really tell you what the issue is (no matter how good they are at talking - mine was a right chatterbox, but not in the middle of the night in the middle of his tears). it is really common that if they have one nightmare they are likely to have another the same night - and usually about 2 hours after the first. I noticed that my little one was waking at about 1 and 3 every night - it went in cycles, we would have about 2 weeks of waking and then 2 weeks off!

I am sorry to say that i did not find a solution! I thought he was being naughty to start with so did things like move him into the travel cot in another room to cry it out (he shared with his little bro so didnt want to leave him in there). that didnt work! When i realised it was nightmares I just cuddled him and he went back off to sleep. I'm (again) sorry to say that he had them for about a year - as i say usually 10 days - 2 weeks of bad nights and then about 2 weeks off. The older he was the clearer it was that it was nightmares as he was often quite obvioulsy disturbed/ scared. I'm afriad i have just had to put up with the exhaustion.

It was not cheese related or anything like that in our case, but my nephew did the same thing, sister in law cut out cheese and he was fine. So maybe, on a more positive, I have a suggestion note, try that!

thanks for replying. I guess I'll have to continue putting her back into her own bed and hope that she stops soon. . . Never heard of the cheese thing lol - think its def worth a try!