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Can anyone help... my 2 year old is surviving on 7 hours sleep! I'm not!

7 replies

nicgri2012 · 06/06/2014 20:38

Looking for a bit of advice..

My 2 year old Dd has slept through and self settled since she was a baby and we have had very few bad nights with her.... I know how lucky we are.

However, three weeks ago she started asking me to stay with her while she fell asleep at night, she doesn't bother about getting into her cot and seems settled through her bedtime routine but as soon as I start to leave the room she is crying and takes ages to settle. She is then awake at midnight, 3 am and 5am. She comes into our room and stands watching me until I wake up and tell her it's too early and go back to bed. Sometimes she will take herself back to bed when asked to, get in her cot and go back to sleep and other times.... like last night... she will scream and cry for hours only settling when I sit by the bed until she goes to sleep.

During the day she is happy and settled. She sleeps for an hour after lunch and goes to bed at 7pm.

I am at my wits end and need some advice, we have tried everything I can think of.... blackout blinds, gro clock (2 weeks), reward chart (past 1 week), singing, reading to her, sitting further away from her, letting her cry (she makes herself sick in the end), limiting her day time sleep etc....

I'll try anything to get her to sleep for more than a few hours at a time and would welcome any suggestions or just some reassurance that it'll improve please!

OP posts:
carolinementzer · 06/06/2014 21:50

Is she upset at all? My DD started dreaming about that age which made her wake up more frequently in the night - but she was also upset.

nicgri2012 · 07/06/2014 07:42

Thanks for the reply. She doesn't seem upset until I start to leave her. I thought it could be dreams but assumed she'd wake up upset!

OP posts:
keepyourchinupdear · 07/06/2014 08:08

Have her back molars come through yet? Perhaps they're cutting through?

Captainbarnacles1101 · 07/06/2014 08:23

My sincerest sympathy! My 2 yr old DS is the same but has been like this since birth. We have tried sleep training but his will is stronger than ours. So I'm shamelessly marking my place to leech ur advice xxx

carolinementzer · 07/06/2014 09:35

My DD was a bad sleeper until 15 months then we sorted it out with a combination of diet and various complementary therapies - e.g. acupressure to help her get into a sleepy state and homeopathy for the really bad teething, diet also helped a huge amount - after this she was sleeping 12 hours straight, then when she suffered a sleep regression at 2.5yrs we didn't know what was wrong. She would wake up to 7 x a night and would not be left alone getting very upset and her will has always been stronger than ours. Sleep training has always been a waste of time and actually made things worse. Anyway, I've blogged our journey if you're interested. Here's the post from her sleep regression at 2.5yrs - It may give some insight - the other info on acupressure and sleep inducing foods is also on there - mydaughterwontsleep.com/2014/03/13/does-your-child-have-nightmares/
Good luck

ipswichwitch · 07/06/2014 22:56

Thank god it's not just us (sorry!)
2.8yo DS1 has always been a terrible sleeper. He's recently had tonsils and adenoids removed because they were causing his sleep apnoea (he'd wake multiple times, screaming when his breathing stopped) . Everyone said it would be a magic cure and he'd sleep finally. Nope. He's still waking, the only difference is his apnoea has gone, he doesn't snore anymore and his breathing is so much better. He does however have his last 4 molars coming in and I've noticed he gets very hot when he sleeps. Frankly we are at out wits end with it all. Our 6mo DS2 is a much better sleeper and he's bf!!

ipswichwitch · 07/06/2014 22:59

Forgot to add, he won't go to sleep unless one of us is there possibly due to being frightened awake with the sleep apnoea. Sleep training has made bugger all difference (he has screamed to the point of vomiting). He even wakes sometimes crying because he wants to be asleep :(

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