Hi
I need to vent about my little ones sleep habits. They’ve always been all over the place. My DD is 18 months and has always been a bad sleeper. We have never been able to get a solid routine as what works one week often does not work the next. She wakes a lot, has to nap on me during the day and does not sleep past 4am no matter what time bedtime is. I have tried making it later and much earlier but neither make a difference.
Some days she naps for 10 minutes, some days for an hour but I have to be holding her or constantly driving in the car otherwise she won’t sleep. If I’m holding her, she picks at my skin and pokes her fingers in my belly button which I try to get her to stop doing but when I move her hand away she has a tantrum and becomes more awake.
I feel like a shit parent at this point because so many of my friends with kids don’t have this problem. She does sleep in her cot at night but it’s taking an hour to rock her to sleep. I have tried pick up put down, etc but nothing works and never has done. Even as a young baby she would not sleep in a Moses basket or next to me crib for longer than 10 minutes.
Please tell me I’m not the only one who is dealing with this? The lack of sleep is just debilitating and I feel like I cannot do anything in the evening as I have to go to bed so early to anticipate her waking up hours before sunrise.
I just need to know this ends at some point because it’s very hard work.