23 month old sleep nightmare!

[MA2014]

Hi,

We have a 23 month old who has never been a very easy sleeper. He has suddenly gotten worse and seems to get distressed/angry when it's time for a nap or bedtime. The routine which took about 20 minutes now might take up to an hour and a half! I recently found out I'm about 6.5 weeks pregnant and he is breastfed at night. I wondered if anyone else has experienced this as a developmental stage/reaction to change in milk due to pregnancy or if it was just a fast approach to the terrible 2s?!

Same here ma, it's exhausting isn't it! DD will be 23 months this week and for the past week or so we have been struggling. She's usually a good sleeper, self settles etc. But suddenly takes ages to settle, only wants to fall asleep in her dads arms and wakes in the night with repeat demands of 'I see momma!' Also huge nap resistance for her usual 2hr midday nap.

I've read that there is a sleep regression around two years and a huge development leap too, which both have an impact. DD also has a cough at the moment and I think the last molars are coming so seems a perfect storm of sleeplessness.

Our original plan was just to try to get through it and hope she would go back to normal but I work full time and, frankly, am broken. So tonight we started a gradual retreat process. Spent the hour before bed telling her things would be different tonight, that after her story and songs she would be going into her cot, I would leave to do the washing up and check on her in a few minutes. She understood but still shouted and complained albeit no major crying. Went back in after a few minutes (telling her I was back to check her as promised), once she'd calmed down told her I was going to tidy toys and would be back...and repeat. It took an hour and in the end DP went in and sat next to her cot till she'd gone off. I think this is risky as don't want to create another sleep crutch but hoping if we can get her falling asleep in her own bed again we can then work on the leaving bit.

Hope you had an okay bedtime tonight

Thanks for writing about your little one. I have a strong feeling that as they become a little bit more willful in the day they do in their bedtime routines too!!!

I think our little man has a bad combination of an extremely snotty nose and teething pain to go along with his sleep regression. Not a lot of sleep going on in our household at the moment - hoping it'll pass soon!

Hope the changes to your routine are working out well :)

Hi ma how are things going there?

I agree, as they grow up they definitely test the boundaries everywhere, including sleep.

We've had some success with our new approach to bedtimes. DD now happily going in her cot and playing with her teddies for 15 or so minutes before settling down to sleep. I go in and check on her every 5-10 minutes and tell her i'I'll come back after doing x. Make a big deal of her in the morning, telling her I went back as promised but she'd already fallen asleep, tell her we're proud of her etc. We had maybe 2 days (so 4 sleeps) where she resisted and shouted for me or her sad but was never really distraught...I think because we spent a lot of time telling her what the new routine was.

Hope you're getting on okay and getting some rest. And forgot to say congratulations on your pregnancy.

I am having the same problem with dd, she is nearly 22 months, has previously been really good at self settling and sleeping the whole night through. The last couple of weeks she sobs if we leave the room while she's awake at bedtime and if she waits in the night. I have tried the popping back in every 5 minutes but she just stands at the gate on her door and cries until I come back. In the day she'll only sleep in the car (but is fine at nursery). I'm not sure what to do really!