2.5 year old waking at night still !!!!!!

[jillnlois]

2.5 year old waking at night crying and screaming still!!!!! is in cot, alone in room, no change to normal routine, she says she wants to just hold my hand??? have tried to stop this by explaining that she is too old to wake up and scream and cry at night, tried telling her off, tried a reward system etc with no results.i dont know what to do about it as i am loosing loads of sleep!!!! please help??? jilly

maybe time for 'big girls bed' so you can sleep all night like a proper princess does. Big it up, let her have a say on the duvet cover etc and put the cot matress on the floor next to the bed incase she rolls out. Put the duvet on sideways and tuck in to keep her snuggly

Do you have a nightlight? - we have one in another room so you can see but it's really dim.

Put stairgate on the bedroom door so she 'can't escape and go wandering'

Good Luck

DD2 started sleeping through the night at 5years, and still frequently wakes up. Not helpful I know, but not all children are a breeze!

She sounds like she needs night time reassurance what with wanting to hold your hand. My dd gets scared at night and talks about her dreams now, I always kept both kids in my room until just recently,(4) (2) now they sleep together in a double bed which helps the alleviate the night fears it seems cos they are not alone. Has she got any comfort toys? She sounds abit young for reward systems? There was a thread ages ago from a dad mumsnetter whose son woke in the night he would go in, not speak at all, hold the hand at first and then gradually wean off to just being a presence in the room. It worked. It just takes abit of patience and perseverence and a calm approach.

Just to say - I only gave the advice I gave as my ds hated the bars of his cot at about 2 and would get distressed from being 'locked in'

Sounds like separation anxiety to me, or something similar. I think the third year is a tricky time for them - hence the tantrums during the day. DS's sleep is certainly more unsettled now than it was 6 months ago. No help, I know! We just tell ourselves it's a phase and will pass, and that does help us cope.

thanks for all your advice, we will try each one in turn. We have said to her that her 'animals' (in her cot with her) will look after her when she wakes so there is no need to cry for 'mumma'. Also her greatgrandfather of 93 suggested to have a word with the nursery school staff to have a 'talk' with her with a reward in a few days, so they did that today, so it will be an interesting night!!! any other suggestions we would be very grateful for!!!! jilly

i see a sleep therapist for my ds 2.5 who wakes in night maybe you could ask your gp to refer you to one as they will help you deal with this the correct way my ds has been in big boys bed since 20 mths and used to stay in bed and sleep all night but got scred one night and comes into our room of a night on ready bed beside ours,

he goes to sleep in own bed but just doesnt sleep through although this works fine for us as we all get our sleep

it seems quite common for children this age to all of a sudden just want there mum i have to read story to my son then sit on floor with my back to him no talking no attention at all just the being there he is asleep within 5 mins

maybe you could just say hush or shhh bed time sit on floor away from cot so she has the comfort of you there and wait till asleep but i would say enquire about sleep therapist it is so helpful to have proffesional know what there talking about

My dd did'nt sleep through until she started doing full days at nursery a few weeks ago, she's 3.8, she still wakes some nights unlike her sister who has been sleeping through since 3 months

jilly, I posted an almost identical 'help' thread about a month ago, regarding my (nearly) 2.5 yr old dd2 who was up and yelling every night.

Things here are better, although not perfect.

I got loads of helpful advice and went with a combo of sleep book, reward chart and controlled crying (although it wasn't crying, more like just leaving her alone).

The sleep book I adapted and instead of having photos of her having tea, bath, story, kiss, bed asleep....I cut to the chase and had a photo of her asleep stored n the computer. After story time we went to the computer and I showed her the piccie and said how I wanted her to sleep at night NO CRYING.

She destroyed the star chart, so there was a treat promised if she didn't cry/shout/scream in the night.

We had a stair gate up in the doorway to her room.

When she woke up she got 1 visit (to check she hadn't done a poo...something she did with regularity). And then we left her.

First 2 weeks were bad...I won't go into details...I'll leave you to imagine it

Things are much better now. We occasionally get a night where (we think) she is sleeping through. Most nights she is still up, but doesn't always cry/scream, and settles herself back to sleep.

She spends a lot of the night on the floor (her choice), but I refuse to let myself get into a habit of returning her to bed several times a night. If she wants to get cold on the floor, that is her problem.

Sorry that was long. We've been where you are, but things here are getting better (hurrah).

i am in the process of making duvet covers etc for her new room which will have a new big grown up bed so she will be in it soon, also we wil big it up when it is finished, so we will have to try all the suggestions and see what happens. she is also very wingy and winey during the day too so it could be her age?

No advice here,as dd2 doesn't often sleep through, and she has just turned 3.
She doesn't wake for anything usually, but shouts to me/dh to tell us she is awake.
One of us stumbles ot her room and either lies her down, or just says Shhh. And she's backt o sleep immediatley.
However, the past couple of weeks she has started to have bad dreams, about a bee stinging her.
Lack of sleep is a killer.

Is she an only child, could be bored and wanting a playmate. Try watching her triggers and what she is trying to communicate. Giving her extra cuddles in the day, Vitamin Love as an encouragement to sleep through at night.

no, she has a 1 year old sister who sleeps in another room, i dont think it is jealousy or anything like that, i think it is either being scared or seperation anxieity but havent quite sussed it out yet, she is a real daddys girl but cries out for me as i do the graveyard shift not daddy as he works. He would be too soft on her anyway, so he is not really an option.