Waking through the night, at my wits end!!!

[batey]

Help, I've run out if ideas. My youngest girl(other is 4 1/2) who is 2 in 2 weeks is waking 3 or 4 or 5 times a night, generally after midnightThey are in bunk beds and always settle well at 7.30pm,but I cant seem to crack her waking up cycle. It's been up an down since New Year, we've had lots of winter bugs and she teethes badly, getting 2 or 3 teeth together each time. She went through a long time of coming into our bed at 5am but it started getting earlier and earlier,i.e. midnight! The last 2 weeks she has stayed in her bed all night but with me sitting next to the bed sometimes for 1 1/2 hrs!! She also asks for juice and has her non-spill cup of very diluted juice on and off all night. She dosnt really find any comfort in a teddy and I'm wondering how I could help her get attatched to something other than me!The one saving grace is that the big girl can sleep through most major diasters! please help!!!!

My dd was waking up about 3 times a night, but when we left her, each time she woke for a shorter period and I swear to you that by the third day we hardly heard a peep. So if your other daughter and yourselves can bear 2 nights of crying, it just might be worth it. Another good book to try is Practical Parenting by Glen Stenhouse, he goes through the 3 options that you have as a parent; 1, go in to her each time she cries; 2, don't respond at all; 3, respond minimally, which means going in to her after 5 minutes, tucking her up but don't talk much, then leave her for 10 minutes and so on, leaving her for 5 minutes longer each time. This works too but it does take longer than not responding at all.

He also says that if she is coming into your room at night and you don't want her in your bed disturbing your sleep, get a sleeping bag next to your bed for her to go in. She will gain the comfort of knowing you are there then. Plus she will soon reject the hard floor for the cosiness of her own bed.

He does stress that you have to be consistent in your discipline. Draw out a game plan with your dh for dealing with it and then stick to it. Once you cave in, she will will suss that the harder she cries, the more likely you are to cave in to her.

Seems like a lot of us are going through sleep problems with our kids at the moment, could it be that they are all communicating with each other telepathically?! Is this a mutiny!

Rhubarb, well tonight is the night to do it properly! A friend reminded me of our portable stair gate, so that's now in place so I don't have to leave her screaming against a door. And the futon has been made up so big dd/dh can go in there if everyone wakes. It's not something I really "want" to do but God knows I've tried EVERYTHING else!!! Tomorrow night I'm off for my first nights break in 2 1/2 yrs!! And leaving dh to it, so I'll check in at the w/e.

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She did it!!! She slept from 7.15-5.45!!! I know it's still an early start but it's the first time since Xmas that she has slept for that long, all by herself.It's her birthday today too! I didn't do the leaving her to cry bit in the end, as that night they were both ill with a cold/cough. and then I ran away for 2 nights and left dh to it.Which I think did help a bit. When I got back and when they were better we did 2 nights of Medised to try to kick start some long sleeping periods, that seemed to help too. As since then we've not had the waking every hour thing.
Anyway, I'm under no illusions that the sleepless nights are over, believe me!! But at least she's remembered she +can do it,
so it's a start if nothing else. I just hope she dosn't expect presents and a party whenever she sleeps through!!!!!

Yay batey way to go!

Thanks Mollipops, its weird thinking of you all the way over in Oz, hope your weather is better than ours. It's been peeing it down all day.

No absolutely pouring here too all day...thunderstorm last night as well! Still about 20 degrees celcius though so at least it's not cold!

Happy to report, still doing well. Only had 1 dodgy night all week. I still can't believe it She's still waking at 5.30-5.45, but who cares, at least she's asleep the rest of the night!

Thanks to Pupace/Tillysmummy, I think being very consistent with her nap after lunch has helped. As well as me going away and a couple of nights kick starting a pattern again with medicine. Not what I really want to do. But desparate times call for desparate measures.
Thanks to everyone who took the time to respond

Glad things are improving. Is she napping better as well ???

Yep, she'll often do 1 1/2 hrs now, still in the buggy. But it's way too late in the day to tackle that one now.