2 year old help

[Dontthowthetoast]

Hi everyone,

Our 2 year old has always been a challenging sleeper but just when you think you have nailed it, he moves the goal posts.

How on earth do we deal with frequent night waking?

He naps fine, for bed we have to sit in his room at the end of the bed until he goes to sleep (up to 45 min). We can almost just tolerate that, the problem is I am recently disabled and we have a 9mo and 9yo and I have have to be a frequent inpatient so how.DH will manage bedtime I'm not sure.

He goes down by 7.30 (despite using huckleberrys sweet spots), then we are up at 10pm, then midnight, then 2am.

At those wakings we are sat for up to an hour at the end of his bed and have to sneak out.

I'd say by 2am most nights we end up giving up and he ends up in our bed.

In comparison our 9mo is a brilliant sleeper. However with the 2yo we have tried absolutely everything.

I'm at the point where I would appreciate any suggestions so much.

Speaking in terms of emotional development - 2yo is too young for most toddler a to be in a bed rather than a cot.

The cot sides help with both a feeling of security and protection and also enforcing emotional regulation. Do this is certainly contributing to his deregulation.

Also lack if consistency. You mention giving up and him ending up in your bed. The consistent answer there would be to start him (and keep him) in your room. A bed next to yours for example. The other consistent answer would be to never bring him in. But that also means to be willing to consistently stay until he is asleep, rather than trying to sneak away before he is asleep.

On from there, have a plan. So gradual retreat is one option. This means always staying until asleep, but week on week be slightly further removed.

He is also old enough for the more distressing options - whereby he will cry a lot (every lot) in order to learn to sleep on his own. Back to Bed is the method to Google here. It basically means repeatedly returning him to lying in bed, then leaving. Over and over again a million times.

Thank you so much