Toddler's stopped sleeping since his sister was born

6 replies

AQ · 08/07/2004 22:57

Since the arrival of our DD one month ago, our DS aged 2yrs 6 mths won't go to sleep until well after 9pm and wakes between 5am and 6am. He will cry 'mummy feeding baby' when anyone other than me goes to him at night and wakes screaming mummy in the morning.

He is getting chronically tired and will sleep for 3 hours in the afternoon (but we usually wake him after 2. How can we get him to sleep better at night? (We already have black-out blinds etc...) Advice please!

OP posts:

tammybear · 09/07/2004 20:26

Im not too sure AQ as I only have dd so I dont have a lot of experience. My only suggestion is to not let him have more than an hour nap and then hopefully he'll be more tired in the evening and go to sleep.

dinny · 09/07/2004 20:38

Poor you, AQ. My dd is 2 years and 2 months and battles against bedtime, wakes usually once in the night and then gets up at about 6am. I'd put it down to her age but am 8 months pg so maybe it's that.

I would definitely agree with Tammybear - cut the daytime nap to one hour max.

God, I am dreading what'll happen to her sleeping once baby number two arrives. Keep us posted how you get on.

oneofeach · 09/07/2004 22:46

AQ, sorry to hear about this. I don't really have anything to add just to say that I'm sure it's only a phase and that your DS will very probably get over it pretty soon. I know it's difficult because I've got a DS and DD with the same age gap, but trying to include DS in the feeding (I managed to master the art of reading a book to DS and feeding DD at the same time) so that he didn't feel left out. Best of luck, and I'm sure it will pass pretty soon.

motherinferior · 09/07/2004 23:14

AQ, my dd1's sleep went pretty haywire when her sister was born. It did get better.

Would baby-style offerings like a dummy make a difference? My daughter wanted one. Weird reversal, but we just went along with it.

Fennel · 11/07/2004 23:05

AQmy dds aged 2 and 4 are so much worse about going to bed since dd3 arrived 10 weeks ago. No sleep advice books deal with "how to get your toddlers to sleep while remaining calm, loving, consistent and firm, while also constantly breastfeeding, winding and joggling a windy baby". I am hoping it's a phase!

ScrumpigMum · 05/08/2004 20:41

Please help desperate sleep deprived parents, any ideas welcome.

We have a 10 month old dd who usually wakes once in the night and will settle with a cuddle, and a 25 month old ds who used to be a fantastic sleeper until a couple of months ago and now wakes anything from once to six times a night. Ds usually asks for more water and may drink a pint in a night meaning he is soaked in the mornings as as well. I have tried giving him unlimited access to water in the day which worked for a bit (but his teeth are going wonky from constantly holding a cup in his mouth). I have given him a dummy in bed which also worked for a bit, although he plays with it rather than sucks it. I think that what he really wants is as much attention as he got before she was born and I can't do that (obviously).

He can unzip his sleeping bag and climb out so leaving him to cry himself back to sleep doesn't work. our flat is also very small so leaving either of them to cry isn't an option as they will wake the other up.

I have been picking dd up when she wakes to settle her quickly which has backfired because she used to be able to settle herself but now doesn't.

We had a terrible night last night and have run out of ideas for both of them. Help.

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