Hi,
My 2 year old dd was a great sleeper - she would sleep from 7.30/8pm until 6.30am, rarely woke up during the night, and for the past few months had been going to bed awake. My DD breastfeeds occasionally but has cut down a lot and hadnt been feeding to sleep for a while.
My DD went into her big girls cot bed about a month ago. Seemingly the transition from cot to bed went well.
Last week my DD woke in the night very upset, hysetrical in fact. We cuddled her and settled her back into bed, she fell asleep but woke again after about an hour really upset again. This time we took her in beside us for the rest of the night. We dont do this very often but with work the next day my DH and I just couldnt face being up for hours. The next morning I asked my DD why she had been upset during the night and she replied "doggy in mine kitchen taking away all mine things". So we assumed sh'd had a nightmare.
For the past week bedtime has been awful...my DD just doesnt want to go into her bed and has been getting very upset. She will fall asleep in our arms after her story but when we try to put her in bed she wakens and gets really upset. We have never done controlled crying and I'm finding this a struggle.
Last night my DD didnt go into bed until 11.45pm. She was distraught at all of our attempts, even when we were sitting in her room with her while she was in bed. In the end we let her fall asleep in bed with us before transferring her into her own bed when she was in a proper sleep.
We have what I think is a fairl decent routine...bath, story/supper and bed. We have had this routine since she was weeks old and always try to keep my DD in her bedroom after her bath.
Tonight, we have kept everything very lighthearted...bath was fun, storytime was a mix of singing and snuggling. My DD had a short breastfeed but is a bit choked up so didnt feed for long, she had some milk and was getting sleepy when my DH put her into bed. This was at 8.30pm and for the past 20 minutes my DD has been hysterical. We left her room but she got out the bed in her sleeping bag and waddled through to the living room. I find it difficult to let her cry and I am not really a fan of CC but, I want to try and get this sorted ASAP as I dont want my DD to hate her bed or her bedtime.
I think that she is scared? We used to play a game where we looked for lions/giraffes/any animal in her room and she found this fun but I have heard her saying "no lion" "no doggy" so wonder if this is what is scaring her.
Any advice welcome, thanks so much.