My 2.10year old has taken massive backward steps in sleep, I’m exhausted and need to fix this. She’s never been amazing at sleeping, always been a night waker (even though night feeds weren’t needed) but we had good weeks and bad weeks, which was totally do-able. So I’m not looking for perfection but just better would do!
She has a dairy allergy, is hypermobile and is very long sighted if any of these seem relevant.
She still has her dummy, just for sleeping and it’s been a godsend at times but at the moment it’s affecting the eczema on her face and it’s a MESS. Really sore and woke up with blood the other day. We have tried to get rid of it - changing the brand as she was very attached to a particular one, sticker charts, all-out bribery, cold turkey, etc. We can get the bedtime part done without it (takes about two hours but can Ben done)But she just doesn’t know how to go back to sleep without it when she wakes at night and becomes the exorcist screaming child who cannot be calmed. If it’s wasn’t for the sore face I would leave it, but it’s so sore for her.
Also, she used to go to bed happily and be left there to fall asleep, but then worked out she could get out of bed and had to visit us 20+ times before falling asleep. Now she is insistent (by way of screaming) that we lie beside her to sleep, but it can take about an hour....I want my evenings back! She dropped her nap today but bedtime was still the same drawn out farce, even though she was shattered.
She’s also found her way to our bed at night and will often only settle back to sleep with us. Co sleeping was never in my plan but we both work full time and it’s a case of sleep at any costs.
So, we have a plethora of bad sleep habits and no idea how to tackle them all. We never sleep trained when she was little, more followed her lead and it all fell mostly into place, but we have gone so far backwards in the last couple of months it’s not even funny now.
Any help or advice appreciated!!