Weres my sleeping child gone , give her back!

[melsy]

As mummy is now suffereing from terrible broken nights every night, even when dd doesnt wake I wake at the same times. Shes up calling for "mummy cuddle" at 11:40 then sometimes at 2:30 and then 4:30. Not sure whats going on. I dont really want to suggest to her she may be having nightmares , although at going to bed time she has started saying "scary", which may be from tv ? It seems 2 yrs is an age of this behaviour , but just wanted some suggestions. Ive done it all : cuddles to reassure, ignored her and let her cry it out, had a talk and said we need sleep and go to bed etc, held her whilst standing in cot but it doesnt seem to be working. DH is getting so angry during the night and then we fight because I end up really struggling to get back to sleep. Its affecting me really badly right now as I seem to be gettng v irratable and Im drained because of work and angry with her. Ive ended up crying my eyes out today as Im losing it a bit! I can only summon energy/interest to go out 1-2 a week and then the rest I just maunge around the house in my pj;s.

DD seems to do this for a few weeks then we get a break. HV seems to think its because she doesnt always get her day nap. Due to work commitments I cant always come home for that and she doesnt want to sleep in buggy anymore. I do like her having a day nap , as she seems less irratable for the afternoon and do see her tantruming and winging alot more if her lack of day sleep accumulates.

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Could she be getting 2 year molars?

Does she have a night light? At 2, DD went through a period of being fearful at night, after sleeping happily since birth in totally dark room. Took a while before we worked out it was to do with sudden fear of the dark (she didn't have the language to explain, but on a hunch tried a nightlight, problem solved).
Otherwise, maybe try star charts, sticker for every night when she doesn't wake you up, talk and talk about it to hammer message home, praise massively each morning when she doesn't wake you, and after 7 stickers give tiny treat?

Yes jabberwockey have cottoned on today ,(DOH why hadnt put that together qoth sore nappy too),that she may be getting some more. She has one so far. She wont go down tonight after thining she might . She doesnt seem ill or in pain ,as when &if I go in and cuddle her she settles down with no signs of discomfort. So not sure about administering calpol? shes been cring 15mins now , just not sure wot to do.

She does have a night light , so not sure its the dark.

Using my own powers of elimination

1)ok so it may not be nightmnares as she hasnt got to sleep yet
2) she has a light on so not dark fear thing
3) she has had sore nappy - which always seem to coincide with teeth
4)Gone in to find her sweaty /red and chewing the bar on cot!! MIGHT BE TEETH hey

With teething like that and bad sleeping, I do usually go ahead with Tylenol (can't remember the UK equivalent) at night. It really seems to help ds.

IM not ao sure its teething , shes now just crying after just being put in bed. Demanding cuddles and just playng arounbd , as shes bee perfectly ok all early evening. Dh has just gone running in there to sooth , but is that not goijng to make it worse ?? She seems happy after , but its when it happens through the night. Drives me NUTSO.

and lo and behold we had our midnight waking,up for half hr. I just dont know what to do for best anymore. IM getting so knackered & so is little one. She refused to have day nap today and kicked up big stink , but shes sooooo tired.

melsy, ds is 2.2 and has always been an on again/off again sleeper. Actually, he was a terrible sleeper consistently until he was 8 or 9 months old, then got better but gets into phases like your dd from time to time. After several nights to a week, dh says, "OK we're playing hardball tonight." Which means going to controlled crying. I used to say I wouldn't do that, until I was suicidal from sleep deprivation. I do go in about every 15 minutes or so to reassure him, but unless there's a poopy diaper I don't get him out of bed. It takes a couple of nights or so then he's back on track again - at least for a while.

HTH