I won't lie, my daughter has had her moments of not sleeping well, but recently things had been going really well. She was able to self settle at bedtime and naptime and was sleeping through the night.
2 weeks ago, out of the blue, she started really crying and seeming distressed as soon as we left the room (having said that, occasionally during this time she'd lie down for a while, sometimes as long as 20mins, before standing up and crying).
In the last 2 days things have peaked - naptime was abandoned and bedtime my husband ended up staying in the room until she fell asleep because both times we hadn't even left the room and she was obviously distressed.
I'm just wondering if this is the 18 month/2 year sleep regression? Are they one and the same thing (a child never goes through both) and what exactly causes it?
I want to do the right thing all round - I have never felt comfortable leaving my daughter to cry alone without going back in to check at timed intervals but I also am worried that if I or my husband always sit in the room until she's asleep that it will make things worse long term.
She is still not talking but I am not concerned as she appears to understand most of what I am saying (she'll find things when asked, point to things that we're talking about and make signs/gestures to show she's understanding what we're talking about (just to add, we haven't shown her the gestures, she's learnt them herself). She has never had an ear infection and I believe her hearing to be very good - she'll often hear something before me.
I'd love to hear from anyone who has been through this difficult sleep period/settling and come out the other side!