19 mo refusing sleep

[shemakesmewaitonabedofnails]

DS is 19 months old. Always been a reasonable sleeper, but has recently started to need me there. Always me, not DH. I used to put him in the cot at 6.30, and that was it until 6.30. Now, he stands and screams - I used to be able to just go in and say lie down, and he would - and then stand again, and eventually go to sleep.

Now, he's been in his cot since 6:45pm and he's just standing screaming for me - if I can't get him to lie down, if I lie him down he screams and stands straight back up. He fights naps too, but not as much (for me) - today he fought DH for his nap and after an hour he gave up and put him in the car.

He's stopped sleeping through too - he doesn't want anything in the night; when I sleep on the floor in his room he wakes for a minute or two, says mummy, realises I'm there and goes back to sleep. If I'm in my own bed then he stands and shouts until I get there. I invariably sleep on the floor after that - I don't have the energy to wait for him to go back to sleep and then crawl into my own bed.

What on earth can I do?! It's awful, and he's exhausted!

He has got used to him calling and I go in and sleep in there with him so now he expects that all the time, could u try putting him to bed and on the 1st night just kneel by his bed until asleep sand again when he wakes up
2nd night do the same
3rd move abit closer to door and so on until he starts going sleep alone again?

I know, it's such an awful habit to sleep in there, but I'm too exhausted not to!
Maybe that would work - how long do you think before I could just walk away... so take maybe a week or two to move from being by his bed to not being in there ?
He's still shouting now!
Thing is though I sat in with him once and he just played for an hour and a half!!

It will take time I t took me a week n a bit with my dd.
Don't face him either always have your back to him

I just posted about my 20 month DD with same problem (although she wants to come in our bed, not me in hers!) No advice but I feel your pain- it is so hard to fumction with demanding dc during day when nights are so awful as well

Please help. I don't know what to do. I just can't get him to sleep. I've tried being in with him. He plays and rolls around even if I'm just lying on the floor next to him.
If I leave he's standing and shouting and hysterical. I just can't get him to sleep. He's exhausted. Please please help.

I sympathise. I'm currently trying to persuade my 19 month old to sleep. And I know that once she finally drops off she'll be up again at midnight insisting on coming into my bed. Am so fed up of it. But u don't have the energy at midnight to fight it.

I tried going in every few minutes the other night. It got to 11pm and i needed to sleep (I get up at 5am for work) and he hadn't slept so I lay on the floor and he slept with me. I don't know what to do. I'm home now for 10 days straight so I can work on this. What can I do?

@Joinourclub thank you. What are you trying? I haven't brought him into our bed because it's quite high and I worry about him falling.

6.30 sounds very early for bedtime, why dont you just put him down later and by 18 months ny dd had given up on daytime naps. Ds was older.

We had this. Look up 18 month sleep regression. It's some kind of separation anxiety thing. Ours lasted a couple of weeks and was hell but then disappeared almost overnight. Nothing we did in those two weeks helped, we tried everything, she would have yelled all night rather than give in. I spent a lot of time on her floor.

I'm soft. I'm not trying much. Besides I don't want to leave her crying and wake the 3 year old. I gave up putting her to bed as I needed to eat some food, and she's currently downstairs with me now. I normally just sit in her room holding her in the dark until she falls asleep and then transfer her to her cot.

separation anxiety is rife at this age. I do wonder if your bedtime is perhaps optimistically early. Not sure what the day naps entail, but my similarly aged child doesn't go down till 8ish now (naps 90 mins during the day and sleeps till around 7, with perhaps one wake up for breastfeeding/ hungry for a snack or sometimes just developmental nonsense). In the event of wake ups we just get into his bed and cuddle, and he goes back to sleep. Have you thought about moving away from the cot to a bed? If nothing else, it makes things less back-killing for you if you have to be there.

Thanks everyone. He naps for max an hour in the day, and as I leave for work early, I'd rather he did 6:30 to 5:30 or 7 to 6 rather than 8 to 7 (except at weekends of course!!). I'm off to read about separation anxiety. Hopefully this will pass!

Try a floor bed and cuddle to sleep.