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2 year old now waking every night and I'm pregnant

10 replies

Kimwallis · 03/02/2018 02:24

My daughter used to be a great sleeper but for the past few months she has been waking up crying nearly every night. It's not consistent. She can wake any time between 8pm and 5am. She has a great bedtime routine and mostly goes to sleep on her own no bother.

We have had a lot of changes recently but I wouldn't have expected it to go on for as long. We moved around 4 months ago after a bit of upheaval. She was also potty trained 2 months ago but still sleeps in a pull up. However is mainly dry through the night. Potty training was a breeze, she was clearly ready. She also moved into a bed about a month ago as she asked to sleep in it.

I am 6 months pregnant and so worried that she will continue to wake once the new baby is born. I'm finding it very hard to keep calm at night and feel really sick when I have to get up.

I've read so much on the subject but can't pinpoint what is wrong. I feel like I'm failing as a parent I just can't figure her out. The past few nights she has been refusing to put a blanket over her. We have to sneak in once she is asleep to put it on as it's very cold.

We try not to interact with her and try give her time to settle herself before we intervene. Sometimes it can go on for about 4 hours through the night, others she is back asleep in 15minutes. She would settle if we stayed with her until she fell asleep or came into bed with us but I am really trying hard to not get into that habit.

She is a great child through the day. Fairly well behaved and lots of fun. She tends to have 1 nap through the day and I try not to let her sleep past 3pm as she goes to bed at 7pm. The past couple of weeks however I would say she has only been managing to nap half the week. I've been keeping a diary to see if i can pinpoint if there are any similarities. It doesn't seem to matter if she naps or not.

I guess I'm just wondering if this is just a phase. It just seems like a super long phase to me. I'm just so fed up.

OP posts:
Txrx · 03/02/2018 02:31

My little girl did this when I was pregnant. I think she knew something was going on as soon she would have to sleep in between us every night still waking through the night it was awful. As soon as the baby was born it all stopped literally that night she went back to normal sleeping in her own bed not waking like nothing had happened!! I hope it's the same for you

Txrx · 03/02/2018 02:32

Sorry didn't meen to put as soon in there!

Naomilj · 04/02/2018 16:29

I’m in a similar position.

My DS is 2.5 years and has never slept well. I’m now 38 weeks pregnant. We managed when he would wake up once, however for the past couple of weeks he’s been excessively clingy and waking up minimum 4 times, often not going back to sleep after 4am. Wants me over his dad.

Literally feel like a zombie and can’t cope. I can’t see myself surviving this when there is a newborn here any day now.

Hope you get some useful advise that I can steal!

Kimwallis · 04/02/2018 19:39

I think they must sense it! We kept a lamp on last night and she had a good night. Will try it again tonight, so fingers crossed. No wonder you are tired. It's hard enough to get a good nights sleep when pregnant. Difficult to imagine how we will cope, but we will one way or another. I think after one better night I am feeling more positive!

OP posts:
Jasquers · 04/02/2018 20:20

Yep. When I was 6 month pregnant my 3year DD woke every night and wanted to sleep with me. We introduced a sticker reward chart and it worked after a few days. She stopped coming in and has never come into our bed since (2 years ago)

Kimwallis · 15/02/2018 10:32

Well, a little update - for the past 2 Weeks we have only had one night time awakening. However she is waking a lot earlier in the morning now. Goes down to bed at 7/7:30 and waking up at 5am! It has gradually got earlier and earlier. Doesn't seem to make a difference in what kind of day she has had the day before. I've been keeping track of it all. She used to wake up at 8/8:30. Think I had it too good for too long, now I'm getting my comeuppance!!

Obviously I would rather she woke up early than through the night. I'm struggling to sleep anyway with being pregnant. But if I don't get enough sleep I feel I am a terrible mother the next day. Snappy and short tempered.

Naps still aren't great. Finding parenthood a real struggle these days, and wondering how on earth I'm meant to cope with a new born on top of all this. I feel I can barely cope now.

OP posts:
Naomilj · 15/02/2018 10:53

Hi @Kimwallis. Sorry to hear you are still struggling. Don’t have any useful advice as I’m due any day now and he’s still night waking.
We managed to get him to self settle when he first goes to bed through gradual retreat and bought a gro clock. At first he started improving rapidly and we had a row of nights last week where he woke up once and cane in our room but went back to sleep quickly once I took him back and left him. Then since Sunday he’s started doing this this 2-4 times a night.
Things like stickers wouldn’t work for us as he has a language delay and wouldn’t understand.

I know exactly how you feel, feel like a awful grumpy mother and can’t see a light at the end of the tunnel.

Situp · 15/02/2018 10:57

My DCs are 7 and 4. Dc3 is 3 weeks old. Both my older ones are great sleepers but started waking a lot in late pregnancy. It settled once the baby arrived. It may just be anxiety and coming to you for bit of reassurance?1

JuliannaBixby · 15/02/2018 10:59

This happened to me when I was pregnant with number two and I felt so exhausted and ill with it.

I steeled myself one night to let her cry; I lasted about four minutes, crying myself, but actually it did the trick.

I think she realised that if she was going to have to work for the attention it wasn't really worth it. Grin

JuliannaBixby · 15/02/2018 11:00

Sorry hadn't seen your update - don't know how to fix that one I'm afraid!

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