2 year old been in a sleep regression for 6 months

[B00ksandWine]

Hi, I’m at my wits end with my 2y 1m olds sleep. She used to be amazing and then at 18 months she started waking in the night and needing us to lie with her to get her back off. She then climbed out of her cot and had to move to a bed which made the issue worse as she then came into bed with us each night (bar about a months worth of nights over this year). She sleeps perfectly through the night and with minimal put down time for my parents and my in-laws but at home we’re now up to majorly resisting bedtime and we’ve graduated to co sleeping.

I have birth to DD number 2 12 days ago and I now have DD1 in bed with me (after taking 2+hrs to go to sleep) plus a newborn as neither will settle with DH overnight. I should add she has a 30 min nap each day and bed time always starts around 6:30/7ish with hope to have her down by 7:30/8. I’m terrified of how it’ll be when DH goes back to work next week as I’m not sure how I’m supposed to be there for DD2 plus wrangle my toddler into bed without it taking hours.

I spend most evenings crying over this and I genuinely don’t know what to do. Any advice would be great

Did something happen to trigger it like starting at nursery so it's separation anxiety? Or does it feel more like a bad habit?

Honestly with a newborn I think you need to do whatever it takes to get the most sleep for now, if that's having her sleep with you so be it.

Tackle it in another while when newborn is settled and toddler understands more so you can work with her better and teach her she has to stay in her own bed etc..

Now you just need to get as much sleep as you can however you get it, it won't be forever

I also wouldn't be starting bedtime so early, make it later and quicker and that will give you time too

if my DD goes to bed too early she wakes up at night so I prefer 9-10pm so I get her to deep sleep until morning.

So we took out the nap today and she was down at 7:50pm which is one of the earliest for the whole of this year. Going to see how she gets on overnight and at nursery. I forgot to say, because we clearly like a challenge, we’re also 4 weeks away from moving house so everything feels very displaced bless her. She also had chicken pox as I went into labour so ended up spending almost 2 weeks apart from me which I think has contributed to the clinginess at bedtime but I just worry about how sustainable having a toddler and newborn in the same room as me is

I don’t think the sleep sounds particularly unusual for a 2 year old. This is kinda how a lot of them sleep. Around 22-24 months is particularly rough and you’ve paired that with a new sibling and chicken pox, so perfect storm.

The thing is, if there’s two of you (I mean you and Dh), unless he works in the evenings, I’d expect him to be doing bedtime while you do baby and doing all the nighttime wake ups for your 2 year old. Getting her used to it before baby arrived would have been ideal, but now you both just need to crack on. It will mean some sleepless nights for him until she adjusts, but in the long haul, he’s got to get stuck in and she’s got to build that nighttime bond with him because you are only one person and you are healing and you can’t be everywhere at once.

Just posted about this as I’m in the same boat with my toddler and baby is due in 2 weeks! How is your little one getting on now?