2 Year Old Has NEVER slept through and wakes hourly HELP!

[rachaelmt]

I have a 2 year old daughter who has never ever slept through a whole night and wakes anywhere from 3 times a night to every single hour and sometimes more than that on really bad nights. She was born with severe gastric reflux and was breastfed exclusively for 9 weeks. From the start she woke every single hour and everyone said she would gradually go longer periods between feedings and between sleeping periods but this never happened for us.

I have tried the whole routine thing as if it were a ritual and it just has not influenced her sleep at all. She regularly goes without a nap all day too, she eats small amounts but often and rather healthily. She goes to bed without much fuss but fights not to go to sleep. I have seen me put her to bed by 8am and still at 12 midnight she is still up and literally howling because she's so tired. This then turns into hourly waking's and I feel like ripping my hair out as I am so tired I don't know what to do.

I read all these posts of people complaining on how their little one wakes twice a night and I'm thinking Id give anything for her to wake just twice a night, maybe then the headaches and nose bleeds would stop. I really have tried everything I can think of but as a last hope I am asking if anyone else has some suggestions on how to help her sleep. Thank you and sorry if this seems more like a rant than me asking for help but I really am desperate.

Gosh that sounds tough, you must be exhausted, rant away!

I don't have any magical answers I'm afraid but 2 questions:

Is the reflux still an issue which might be contributing to her waking?

Could / do you cosleep? If not might it help?

Hope you get some more sleep soon

I used to leave her in her cot as she was happy to stay in there but would constantly wake up. I would then have to go to her in order to get her back to sleep, at about 22 months I was so exhausted one night and I was in tears so I put her in the big bed with me and my partner and although she never slept any better, I found it easier to just comfort her without getting up and pacing the house for her to sleep.

I have spoken to 5 doctors, numerous health visitors and 1 consultant. I even made 27 visitors to my health visitors office within the space of one year for the reflux and I was given the dreaded excuse of ''she will grow out of it'' BUT she has not grown out of it! I get told to use the crying it out method and I have tried it but she will then be sick through crying. She's 2 years old and although healthy she weighs only approx. 20lbs and wears 12-18 months clothes so the reflux is affecting her weight too. I am very close to just paying private and having this investigated by a private doctor/medical practice. If I am feeling this awful after very little sleep I cannot imagine how my baby girl feels. She is such a clever little madame and her speech is amazing for a 2 year old but she gets so grumpy from the lack of sleep.

Frankly I would just try the co sleeping. You've exhaused all other avenues by the look of it and at this stage you both need to sleep and worry later about getting her into her own bed.

It could be she's got into a cycle of waking, maybe its anxiety related? If so co sleeping will break the cycle and allow her to view nights as a time of comfort and reassurance instead of anxiety and crying. After a few months try renegotiating her own bed.

Are you me?! My daughter is 2 in dec. she has never slept through the night. I am still breast feeding and we co sleep. The odd occasions she has only woken 3-5 times a night I feel amazing! I can cope with life. The rest of the time, 4 times an hour wakings or waking for two hours from 3-5 am are not unheard of. No two nights are the same. We try our damnedest to submit her to a routine but bedtimes at 8 pm often end in not going to sleep until midnight being overtired or falling asleep at 8pm to be waking at 4am for the day. We aren't soft touches as parents. I don't jump to every noise and I ve been to sleep clinics held by the health visitor and read all the expert sleep advice books that I can get my hands on since she was 4 months old.
I don't get more than 2 hours sleep in a row and 6 hours broken sleep is a good night for me.
I have accepted this is how it is with dd. I have no idea how or when things wil change but I'm sure they will.

For now we get through life as best we can. It's tough going I'm lucky to have a very bright intelligent healthy little girl and a supportive partner.

No advice just sympathy and virtual hugs x

Just read your further post about the reflux. Do different foods affect the reflux? I met a 20 year old girl a few weeks ago who was being given new medication for her reflux and she was telling me all the different foods she couldn't eat that affected her reflux? Does your dd have her head raised to sleep and the cot on a slight tilt?

The reflux will definitely be affecting her sleep. What does she eat? I would be looking at a super plain diet: no onions, minimal windy green veg, no spicy food, no dairy (use calcium enriched milks), no soya - the latter two can trigger reflux. Try this for a week and see what happens. If you're uncomfortable dropping dairy then switch to cheese and yoghurt only but not too much (don't actually need much to meet dietary requirements) and no raw cows milk.

Also keep a sleep diary for a week, take this to your GP so they can see exactly what you're going through and demand a referral to a sleep expert or paediatrician as this is not acceptable. Visit the GP weekly if you must to get taken seriously.

I have two with reflux and had to follow quite a restricted diet for the first 2-3 years. Dairy, soya and green veg were the killers but they have/are slowly improving.

I will add that my nearly 2 year has never slept through and my 4 year old got better from 2.5 ish onwards.

Sorry to hear you are both having such a rough time!

I have no advice through a similar experience, but wanted to ask if you've tried osteopathy? I've heard it can be a real help in such cases.

Sorry your having a rough time Op. Who is managing her reflux at the moment and is she on medication for it? It sounds like that may be the issue.

I also agree with looking at her diet. DS is allergic to dairy and soy which causes reflux, poor weight gain and really hideous sleep. The gastro pead Dr Thomson has some good info in it. When we're on top of it DS will mostly sleep through, otherwise he wakes constantly in discomfort I guess. Sleep deprivation is awful, I feel for you.

Hi
I was going to suggest an osteopath.
Was she born with forceps op? I'm just interested as I have been through hell too and found out assisted births can affect babies for quite some time.
I'm yet to try an osteopath but I have hears good things about it.

Heard