2 year old still not sleeping through

[TreaclePumpkin]

Does anyone have any useful strategies for getting a 2 year old to sleep?

He has a consistent bedtime routine, which involves bathtime, story time and prayers before he goes to sleep. It's pretty much at the same time each night and he wakes roughly the same time each morning. But is still up 2 to 3 times a night. Occasionally he self settles and sleeps through, but there seems to be no rhyme nor reason as to why he can do it some nights.

I'm due to give birth any day and dread the thought to having two kiddies keeping me up at night, I'm already exhausted with the one.

We did previously hire a sleep consultant (when he was 11 months) who effectively implemented controlled crying, which sort of worked, for a while. But then he stopped responding to it and over the past year or so we have seen it just doesn't work anymore. All he does is work himself up to the point of vomiting. Which makes it all worse, so not willing to try that again. Also, he won't go to sleep alone in his room, attempts to leave him also result in crying til he makes himself vomit.

Grateful for any suggestions... I just don't know what to do

In the same boat here, sorry! Our 2 year old sounds exactly the same, will scream to the point of being sick if left alone in his cot even for a minute (on the occasion I have needed to pop to the loo!!) but I figured out that it’s because he doesn’t understand where I am going when I leave him.

So now the one thing that does help is if I say I’m going to the loo, going to the kitchen etc then I can leave his room while he settles himself to sleep. This only works sometimes, and if he says no I stay with him and have a nap myself!! I’m hoping eventually he will become secure in knowing where I am and will be a happier sleeper! I emphasise it during the day too - saying I’m going to the kitchen etc so he learns.

I also started off by saying ‘I’m going to get a pillow and then I’ll come back’. And I did that for a while so he got used to being on his own for a minute or two, then extended it to a few minutes always going back though. I also repeat it a few times so he has time to process what I am saying and understand what will happen ( rather than just saying as I am leaving the room)

Hope this is at least helpful to know you are not on your own!!! Good luck with the new baby x

Thank you @icelollies - was scrolling through my old posts and realised I hadn't responded. I did start doing as you suggest and it even got to the point where he would say "ok mummy, you can go do the laundry in the other room now". Because that's often what I would say I was doing. Like you, it doesn't always work, but he's just gotten his first big bed, so I occasionally just stay and close my eyes for a little bit too

And miraculously, in the last couple of months, he seems to have cracked the whole sleeping through the night thing.

So much much improved, though of course I now have a six month old that is still up every 90 mins, but DS1 was the same - only another couple of years and he'll get the hang of it too!