History.
When DD was born, she was b/fed, typically lying down on our bed and we would then put her in the moses basket / then crib / then cot (in her room by this point). She was fed like this til 18 months.
At 18 months I stopped b/feeding, we moved onto bottle feeding and it would take us a while, but we'd lie on the bed together, bottle feed and she'd go to sleep, then we'd put her in her bed (as trying to put her in the cot to begin with made her scream until she was sick, she'd only ever go in asleep).
We had a rough few weeks where she refused to sleep, and at 10:00 (her bedtime was 7) she could still be screaming in our room / her room, so I caved, and we started tp get her to sleep in the pram and take her upstairs.
At 22/23ish months we removed the bars on the cot, put up a bed guard and we would take her upstairs, read her a story (or three), she'd have a bottle (or two) and she would go to sleep. So up at 7:00 to bed and asleep by 8:00 at the latest.
However, she now gets out of bed and comes into our room three or four times a night. She'll probably wake the first time around 11:00, sometimes I can sooth her and get her to sleep in her room. Sometimes she comes into our room, sleeps on our bed and I put her back.
If she was SLEEPING in our room i would not be massively bothered because although I dont want her sleeping in our bed, at least we were all asleep. But she isn't. the last three/four weeks, she has been awake between 3:00 until anything between 4:00 until 5:30. Sometimes she is awake and crying, sometimes she is just wide awake.
please help me. I cant cope with the lack of sleep anymore. I work full time, as does my husband, he is in the middle of his nvq for his work, and I am in the middle of my final year of AAT. It cannot be good for her not to be sleeping (she used to sleep 7-7). She is now 2.
Could it be the guard on the cot that is bothering her (I can feel the bars slightly through the mattress, but would it be a disaster to move it?) Is it being made worse by her refusal over the past week or so to eat any tea?
Please help. I dont want to have to do controlled crying but I cant see another way.