Can we go back to the cot? Help!

[mamablondie]

So I posted the other day about my 20 (now 21) month old daughter who has gone from being the best sleeper to refusing to self settle etc. Literally this happened Sunday, we think because the clocks have changed and there was no nursery etc to tire her out the day after.

Anyway, we are completely exhausted from almost a week of this - no daytime naps, having to be rocked to sleep etc (she won’t let hubby do this, has to be me and I’m pregnant - so it’s actually painful).

My question is, for the past three months she has been in a toddler bed with no issues. We tried to start sleep training last night but it didn’t work because she just kept climbing out of bed - could we put the cot back? Would this work? Or are there issues with this I’m not foreseeing? We are desperate, especially as lockdown is going to be life as we know it for some time I just can’t see this sorting itself out unless we intervene. I need my evenings back :(

TIA x

You could put the cot back if you wanted to but I’m not sure it would help. Have you ruled out her being unwell?

I don’t think the cot will help - it’s likely at 20 months she’d climb out of it.

I’m afraid she’s going to have to learn to go to sleep again. Don’t rock her. What did you use to do at bedtime?

I feel your pain op! The bloody clocks!
Ds has been awake until ten pm each night since, he too is in a toddler bed but thank goodness doesn't get out.
I would keep the naps either cut out or to an hour at the most. Sometimes being over tired can make them not sleep!
We read ds a story then say goodnight leave him with the book for five mins and then go up and switch out the light and take the book away, this seems to work well, before the clocks changed anyway. Usually just nods off with the book on top of him!
Do you have blackout curtains or blinds?
Don't go back to a cot as tempting as it is. Could you try just placing back in bed with no attention, could your partner help with this with you being pregnant?

@LittleBearPad we are doing what we have always done - bath, change into PJs, story, put into bed with a kiss, walk out. This has not been an issue until last Sunday. I think usually the clocks change but she’s back in nursery the next day, they work their magic and all is right again. Lockdown has meant this isn’t happening, my husband was doing the actual putting her back in bed last night but she just kept on and on - hence wondering about the cot. She didn’t even cry! She literally just kept getting out every time he left within seconds. I think we are desperate because of this lockdown situation, she’s not going to get any more stimulation than she is for the foreseeable x

@Nicecupofcoco she has never ever done this before last Sunday, it’s caught us totally off guard

What happens if you just leave her when she gets out? My DD went through a stage of getting out of her bed and after putting her back in several times we would just come to the stair gate and tell her to get back into bed and that we were going to bed, I’d then sit in my room listening to her to make sure she was safe and she’d get back into her bed after a few minutes; it took a few days for it to really work and if she started crying I’d go back in and give her a cuddle and put her back in bed then say night and leave. The flaw in that plan is if they get up and start playing but that never occurred to DD. Another option to keep her in bed that we sometimes use now is to get her to choose a book to look at in bed after we’ve said night.
I’m not sure that putting the sides back on the cot will help; she may try and climb it and while it’ll stop her getting out she’ll still make whatever fuss she is making that means you’ve needed to rock her.

My DS has gone through various stages over the years. We used to be able to finish the story and then just leave the room but then he wanted us to stay, it may just be with the change in routine she needs the reassurance. I would just stay, if she gets up put her back into bed no chat or talk, then sit with her. We sit and read on the kindle or phone, he doesn't need us to stay now (he's 7) but if we don't have to rush off one of us stays for 10 minutes or so. But the cot would probably disrupt her even more, resign yourselves to a couple of weeks whilst she settles to the new normal.

@user1493413286 she will find things like opening the drawers and pulling clothes out etc. We took all the books out because she started taking them out etc. We have nowhere to put the drawers or the clothes in them other than where they are and it’s never been an issue til now.

This is what’s making me tempted to put the cot back, I feel like at least then it’s just reinforcing her going to sleep. I’m also now worrying about her behaviour during the day as she’s grumpier, and I’m sure it’s all this that’s the culprit x

I would just stay, if she gets up put her back into bed no chat or talk, then sit with her.

This is what I’d do. No fuss, no rocking, just back to bed. She will get used to it sooner or later.

@LittleBearPad my hubby has had an idea to reposition her bed and use a bed rail, with a video monitor so we don’t risk waking her when we go back to check etc.

The problem I think is I’m so exhausted, if I wasn’t pregnant I would 100% have the stamina to keep putting her back - we sleep trained before and it worked. X