Toddler waking in the night - any suggestions

[Welshmum]

This is a nightmare. DD (nearly 22 months) used to sleep from 7 until 7ish. She's been quite ill recently with a nasty bug and a bad cough which was waking her up at night. She's much better now but has lost the knack of settling herself back to sleep. We had 'I want Daddy/mummy/childminder'(not crying just unhappy talking) for an hour last night' from 2 until 3am. I don't know what's the right thing to do - is it like controlled crying were you just leave them so they 'relearn' the skill? It's been going on for a few nights now - can anyone help?

message withdrawn

message withdrawn

My dd did this too! I usually checked her, and just whisper "go back to sleep" Later I just shouted (gently). It makes her cry harder for a minute or two but does usually work. It's hard isn'tit?

Oh, Welshmum, I dread this moment when they can speak. Controlled crying is kind of abstract in that you can learn to ignore a cry. But how the hell do you ignore a direct request for your help?!

DD has also been v. ill lately and waking a lot but at 16 months she hasn't developed the guilt inducing verbal skills to drive me to distraction. Do you go into her? Will she be reassured once she's seen you?

Sorry I can't help. But I'll be interested to see if anyone can.

I had been going in to her and eventually got it down to just one visit of reassurance and then out again. She's got better in the last few days and has now been sleeping through the night again (mostly) or at least is a lot less distressed when she wakes. It's incredibly hard when she's saying 'I want mummy' over and over but when she gives up on me and moves on to our childminder it's excruciating. But as i say it has eased up and I feel a bit more confident now that we're back on the right track....until the next time!