From angel baby to sleepless toddler. Please help!

[yorkshapudding]

DD is 22 months old. She used to be a fantastic sleeper, slept through from 7am-7pm in her cot like a champ. We had a few rough patches where she would start waking in the night and only settle if one of us was with her but these always turned out to be teething related and once the offending tooth was through she would go back to normal.

About 3 months ago her two year molars started to come through and she started waking frequently throughout the night. She still goes to sleep ok at around 7pm but now she usually wakes up 2-3 hours later. Sometimes she only wakes up a couple of times but it can be every hour. At first we told ourselves, it's just a phase, it'll pass but the teeth are still not fully through and I think the two back teeth at the top have started now as well as she's been rubbing the gums. I know i'll probably get flamed for this but we've ended up bringing her into our bed most nights after the 3rd/4th wake up as we're so desperate for sleep. She does eventually sleep when she's in with us but she's still very restless (lots of tossing and turning, which she didnt really do before when she was sleeping well) so neither of us sleep well either.

I'm exhausted. My job is very stressful and can be dangerous so I have to have my wits about me. DH has a really long commute and although he says he's ok I worry about him falling asleep at the wheel. We're like Zombies at the moment.

I don't know what to do. A couple of people IRL have suggested I leave her to cry but if she's in pain with her teeth then that seems cruel. On the other hand, I don't think we can carry on like this. My friend asked whether i'd thought about moving her out of her cot into a bed to see if that helps but I can't see how itwould make much difference.

Can those last few teeth really be taking this long to come through or has she just got out of the habit of sleeping through? Should we CIO or is there another way?

Any words of wisdom would be much appreciated. Rationally, I know she'll sleep though the night eventually but at the moment it feels like it's never going to happen and I'm getting despondent.

From a Mum with an 18mo who wakes 4/5 times a night still I'm afraid I don't have any advice. No matter how tied I am I can't bring myself to ignore him. I just wanted to say that his first set of molars took 5 months to all come through properly. And he has been an AWFUL teether. Got his first one at 16 weeks and has had one popping up each month since then - he had 16 teeth at 17mo. When teething he wakes every hour and only dosing up with Nurofen will buy us a longer stretch.

Have you tried putting her to bed with nurofen and using calpol in the night? (Sure you have but it's my only suggestion!) I work with doctors/ dentists and all of them say don't hesitate to use pain relief when they're teething if they're struggling. If you've ever suffered with wisdom teeth then you know how bad teething pain can be. I also use anbesol to numb the gums as find that helps too. My dd has been an awful teether- like queen we had first tooth at 4.5mo and 16 teeth at 16mo. She's 18mo now and I can feel huge bumps at back of gums so know second molars are on the move.

I do know molars can take months to cut due to their size.

Thank you both. Have tried giving calpol/nurofen at bedtime which seems to help her to get to sleep but then she wakes 2-3 hours later. Maybe we need to start giving her a second dose when she wakes during the night.

It's reassuring to know that molars can genuinely take months to come through as DH was saying last night she can't still be teething and it must be that she knows if she wakes up crying enough times she'll eventually get to come into our bed so we're making the problem worse. Maybe there's an element of that but I don't think it's purely behavioural as she is so restless even when she's in our bed.

I have days when I feel quite laid back about it all and feel I can just accept that this part of the baby years and it'll pass etc. Then there are days when I'm so exhausted and I lose hope, feeling like she's never going to sleep through in her own bed ever again. I'm going through a really busy, stressful time at work at the moment and it would be so much easier to handle if I wasn't sleep deprived.

@yorkshapudding going thru something similar with our 16mo. Did things eventually get better for you?

Not ideal, but do you have somewhere else you or your DH can sleep temporarily? If you know she is going to wake (we are currently going through similar with 20m old, after she used to sleep beautifully, self settle etc) then one of you can sleep elsewhere and then there's more room in the bed for you to just bring DD in with the ith t one and hopefully everyone gets at least a better night's sleep.

Oh. Just seen this an ancient thread! Oops!

@HoboHippo I was hoping the OP might be able to reassure me she’s thru it now.

having awful sleep with my 16mo previously good sleeper and no idea what to do about it.