Has anyone dealt with this sleep problem? 15m old not sleeping after 10 months of sleeping through.

[Aderyn]

My dd2 is 15months old. From 5 months onwards she slept through the night. She'd go down in her cot awake and happily put herself to sleep. Sometimes she'd wake in the night and we'd hear her chatting and laughing to herself for an hour!

Fast forward to last weekend. We were staying with relatives. She resisted going to sleep for 2 hours. We put it down to her being unsettled in a strange house.

The next day we were back home. Same thing. She screamed for hours before going to sleep and woke twice in the night for at least an hour. It's been the same every night since. We've tried the pick up put down method but it hasn't had a staying effect - yet. I don't know what to do. She appears to hate her cot and hates going anywhere near her bedroom. She screams as soon as bedtime milk is produced downstairs as she knows it means bedtime.

Last night and tonight I managed to pacify her to sleep by stroking her hair and back but it took awhile and it's not a practical longterm solution, since we have DD1 too.

Has anyone gone through the same? Can anyone help? Is it a phase? Other than us being away, nothing else has changed.

is she getting ill??
sorry to say it but everytime mine go through phases like this they came down with something... but a week is quite a long time without anything happening?

has anything else changed - started nursery etc?

night terrors can also kick in at this age, try leaving a light on low?

sorry, probably haven't really helped, just given you more questions.

No, you have helped. Tell me more about night terrors. I hadn't considered something like that.

with night terrors they just wake up and completely freak out. turning on a light (or taking them where there is a light) calms them down. bringing them back upstairs makes them freak again. i mean clinging on to you and screaming, not a "i want to stay up and play" type of cry, a real freak out.

when my dd2 had them (last was at 13 months) they would affect for a while after, she wouldn't want to go to bed. i left the lights on low in her room and that seemed to help.

also dd1 was terrified of her travel cot. we never actually got to the bottom of it, the first time we put her in it we were obviously not at home and she freaked out. never really got her to settle in it after that. we just put her in a bed when we were away with a bed guard.

Thanks. I'll try leaving her nightlight on.

Hi Aderyn!!

I am also having the same problem with my son Ryan, who is 22 months old.

Over the Christmas periods, he just gone to pot really. He was a very good sleep from 7pm-7am before Christmas.

Now Ryan screamed for hours before going to sleep and woke twice in the night for at least 3-4 hours crying heavy. It's been like this for over a 1 week now.

I have decide to do the CC since Thurday night. It was so awful on Thursday at midnight Ryan decided to screamed and cried for hours till 7am. I'm sticking to my guns and not GIVING UP!! It was so hard and very tired indeed.

Last night it was over a hour for Ryan get to sleep. Then he woke up at 5am crying till 6.05am! Not bad i guess.

Tonight, Ryan hasn't cried since i have put him to bed. (fingers cross)

Good luck!!

Well, she didn't wake up last night so that's a step in the right direction. I wonder, if I gently pacifiy her to sleep for a little while, whether she'll come to need that every night or if that will get her back on track to how she used to be?

Aderyn, this sounds normal to me. DD was a great sleeping - going through the night at 8 weeks. But every so often she would have a period when she could'nt settle. I remember spending nights lying on the floor beside her cot shivering under DH dressing gown because she wanted to hold my hand to get to sleep and I was so tired.

She still has nights now when she wakes, although that could be mor to do with the fact we have just had a DS and me going up and down stairs with him at night could be disturbing her.

I'm sure it will all go back to normal for you soon, just as quickly as it changed for the worse.

Good luck

This could be nightmares. It happened with DS when he was just over 2 yrs old. he was a fab sleeper and the suddenly started resisting bedtime and waking in the night and not settling. It was draining. We could only put it doen to watching a video of Snow White (which he had happily watched for months) and being scared - whenever he watched it during this difficult sleep period he would start to cry and back off at the scary forest bit. It could also be a change in routine, different house etc. Christmas has unsettled my 2 yr old but he's a rubbish sleeper anyway.

With DS1 we tried the 'disappearing chair' routine - the first night you sit right by the be stroking their hair until they fall asleep, the next night (or when they are happy for you to do so) you just sit by the bed, the next night you move a bit further away, the next night a bit further etc, until you are right by the door, then outside the door.... it takes ages unfortunately but just provides reassurance that you are there. The same thing when they wake up in the night.

Be prepared for the fact it may take a few months to get back to normal.

Thought I'd update. Things are getting better - slowly. Last night I was able to get her to sleep just by standing by her cot. I didn't have to touch her. I read some stories with her in her room and I am trying to reinforce the idea that her room is a nice place to be!

Naps are completely out of the window. Sadly. It took her to 8 months old to actually have a daytime nap. But, if I work on her happily going to sleep on her own at night-time, I might be able to get her back ont rack with day time naps in the future.

We have just gone through this with 18month old dd2.Like your dd2,she used to go to bed happily & would chatter away to herself too.Then,after Christmas,things changed.She screamed for 1.5 hours before she slept last Friday night & woke up crying several times.She seems to hate her cot too,but I think the real problem is,that she didn't want to be seperated from us,despite sharing her room with dd1.

We were at our wits end,but knew there was nothing really 'wrong'as the moment we went in,she was all smiles & giggles,but would scream with rage when we left again.

We had to bite the bullet & just refuse to go in once she was in bed.It was hard,but seems to have worked.We have only had to go in to her once since Friday & she settled down immediately after we went out.She still cries when she is put in her cot,but for less time each night,last night was 5 minutes,tonight she had stopped by the time I'd gotten down stairs.

Pick up-put down didn't work for us when dd2 was younger,she just got angrier & angrier,so this time we didn't try it.

I know my method wouldn't suit everyone,but it worked for us.

Good luck,whatever you try.