I am so close to the end of my tether and I could really use some help.
My 15mo has never been a great sleeper. She will only sleep at home in her cot, most of her life she would only sleep on us as well. Never lots of sleep during the day. When at home with us it's one 90 minute nap, but when she is at nursery/grandparents (3 days per week) it can be 45 minutes or on bad days even less. But she wakes up happy and cheerful and makes it through to bedtime which used to be 6.30 but the last few months it's been 7 because that's when she falls asleep.
Unfortunately she's always had the habit of night waking, anywhere from midnight to 2am, and this will easily be for 2-3 hours. This habit sometimes disappears and we get excited thinking it's over, but then randomly it will come back and persist for days or weeks at a time.
We keep her room dark when she wakes up, we don't engage, we don't talk or play, just hold her in various positions or the cot (rubbing her back) until she falls asleep. She puts on a good show of being sleepy and wanting to sleep during this time, but it just takes hours before she will actually give in and fall asleep.
We didn't sleep train when she was younger in large part because I had significant pnd and couldn't bear it, I just wanted to do whatever it took to get her to sleep.
She has had five teeth coming through since mid April and two of those are molars that are only just breaking the gums.
She has has multiple coughs and colds since starting nursery that wake her and keep her awake, and she has just come down with another one.
I've also read there is a 15-18month sleep regression that could be playing in.
I don't know what to do! I'm seriously considering sleep training but I don't know if that will solve the provlem, particularly as her current bad spell could be due to teething or regression. All I know is I'm on the edge, dreading the nights, and I need more sleep!