Toddler regularly wakes up every night

[Chelseajo]

Hi, 1st time poster here.....

DD is 31 months and has never slept through the night. Everyone kept saying when she starts crawling she will sleep, when she starts eating she will sleep, walking = sleep but it never happened,

She goes to nursery 3 days per week but we have the same problem regardless of what she has been doing in the day.

She naps for 1- 1 ½ hours after lunch and has no problem going straight to sleep.

Bedtime comes at 7pm and she will scream, ask for water, ask for toilet, cry some more until she eventually drops off at 8. We have always left her to fall asleep herself.

She will then wake up every 2-3 hours during the night. Sometimes we can go and pat her head and she will go back to sleep. Other times she will scream and scream until we take her into bed with me. I don’t like putting her in bed with both of us so we go in the spare bedroom. This is happening 3 or 4 times a week now. She won’t go to bed with daddy only me. When she does she sleeps right through with no wake ups at all.

Can anyone help me with some ideas of how to stop her waking up so many times in the night and in turn sleeping in her own bed al night??

Sorry for the long post!

Watching with interest - you could be me! Going through exactly the same

Some children just take longer than others to get there with sleeping.

However, based in what you've written I would suggest if she's sleeping after lunch she's not sufficiently tired to achieve sleep at 7 hence the fighting it and then not settling into a restful sleep.

It is possible that moving her nap time to before lunch may help. Either just feed her after or give her a small snack before nap then proper lunch after. Or keep her awake throughout day and get her to bed for 6.30/7. Yes she will be grotty but it may be needed for a transition period.

If i was you I would try earlier nap first for around an hour but no nap would be next try.

Also following for ideas. DS is 27 months and basically the same, he’s clearly tired by 6.30-7ish but regardless of whether he’s in bed by 7.30 or 8.30 he’s rarely asleep before 9. Not generally screaming but messing about - we sit with him until he falls asleep or pop in and out doing jobs in the rooms next door. He’s then usually awake at least once before we go to bed and at least once overnight. It typically takes half an hour for me to resettle him in his own bed, DH doesn’t have the patience so on his nights he co-sleeps with him in the spare room from the first night time wake. He’s now got a new baby sister and that’s not helping!

Thanks for the replies. Good to know we’re not the only ones!

We have tried earlier naps and no naps but doesn’t seem to work. They all nap at the same time at nursery anyway so she couldn’t go earlier whilst there.

She does have a dummy to sleep which we tried to give to father Xmas a couple of weeks ago but had no sleep at all for 2 nights so we gave it back to her!!

DrWhy - do you have a set routine for each night? That can be key for readying children for bed. Lots of ppl suggest bath but that doesnt always work for some children/families. It could be as simple as going upstairs to same room and getting into pjs then into bathroom to do teeth then sit for short calming story then maybe say night to certain teddy before lights out

As you have newborn in house things may take longer to settle but they will