22mo screams when put to bed now, help!

[Tanyaaah]

22 month old DD has always been a good sleeper and enjoyed the routine of going to bed at night. She has recently started crying and screaming about 10mins after being put down. We take it in turns to go up and comfort her and she stops crying straight away, we put her down, she says she is tired and wants to go to bed, she starts sreaming again as soon as we are out of the room!

We end up just leaving her to cry, but its awful. It can take over an hour before she falls asleep.

Don't know what to do!

Could this have anything to do with having a new baby brother? Still don't know what to do if it does.

It's a phase, could be the new baby or a developmental stage or anything. Just comfort her till she falls asleep, she needs you!

It could be related to the new baby, but could also be something else eg separation anxiety, developmental stage, or a routine issue. My DS is 22 months too & I have had to make some changes to his routine recently because he wasn't falling asleep for up to an hour. We have had to push his nap later & also start capping it.

I am wondering if this may also be the issue with your dd, and if she really isn't tired when you are putting her down then she is more likely to create a fuss & take a long time to fall asleep. Similarly, an overtired child can also be difficult to settle. If you'd like to post her routine (wakeup time, nap time & length & bedtime) I'll take a look.

x

Try cutting down the nap. Coming upto 2 is when my ds did this. Maybe not tired enough...

Just came out of this phase with ds 17 months. It only last a couple of weeks thank god. We tried everything, until DH hit on the amazing idea of using the white noise (hairdryer) we had previously used to sleep train him - he stops screaming to listen to it, and falls asleep.

2 nights, cycle broken, no more crying toddler. Happy days!

Thanks for your responses.
Had an awful night last night. She eventually fell asleep at 9pm, woke at 2am and screamed for daddy until 4.30am. We went in about 5 times and dh had to pretend to go to sleep on the floor to eventually get her to lie down in her cot and sleep.

Usual routine:
Wake 7am ish
lunch 11.30-12
nap 12.30-2.30 (sometimes have to wake her at 3pm!)
dinner 5.30-6
bath 7pm
story and bed 7.30pm

I think her nap is too long but wasn't sure whether she was asleep because she needed it.

Yes it looks like the nap is too long. She is so well rested after such a long sleep she won't be tired at bedtime at all. You should find that capping the nap helps. Perhaps start by pushing the start time to 12.45 and waking her at 2.30 (capping at 1h 45). Try for 3-5 days & see if it makes any difference to how she settles. If she is still taking ages I would suggest pushing the start time of her nap to 1pm & waking her at 2.30 (capping at 1.5hrs). Capping gently by 15mins at a time will ensure you don't cut too far & cause her to become overtired.

Another thing you could consider if you don't want to cut her nap back any shorter than say 1.5hrs is to put her to bed a bit later. My DS is 22.5 months & he is currently doing

Up: ~7am
Nap: 1-2.30 (sometimes 15 mins later & capped at 1.5hrs)
Bed: 8pm

We opted for this as I first tried cutting his nap to 1hr but he was struggling to last through the day on only 1hr of day sleep. So I've compromised with a slightly shorter (but still decent) night.

HTH.x