Hi I posted recently about the struggles I'm
having with DD1 (2.5) after birth of her sibling DD2 a month ago. www.mumsnet.com/Talk/parenting/4516208-at-breaking-point-with-2-5-year-old-toddler
I wanted to do a separate post specifically about DD1 sleep.
She has never been a good sleeper from day one. She has multiple wake ups through the night and sometimes is awake for hours but will still wake up early irregardless of how much/little sleep she's had.
She sleeps in her own bed rather than a cot.
Before birth of DD2 we had (FINALLY) got to a point where we'd have a bed time story and a kiss goodnight and then leave the room (massive milestone). And we'd say we'd pop our heads in 5 minutes to check on her. And most of the time she'd be asleep by the time we checked on her.
There were still night wake ups but we felt we were generally heading in a positive direction.
Birth of DD2 and shit has hit the fan. She will not allow us to leave the room whilst she's in bed. Meaning that we have to wait til she falls asleep and then sneak out. She is waking more in the night distressed and then being awake for hours at a time. We've basically gone back a step as this is how we used to put her to bed.
I knew/expected regression in her especially with her sleep but I'm just not sure what to do.
She normally wakes up for the day between 5am-6am
She still has a nap during the day and is absolutely vile come the afternoon without one so I don't feel she's ready to drop the nap yet.
I try to get her to nap midday after her lunch although 2 days a week she has preschool in the afternoon so she has to have her nap in the morning - before lunch and school (the time for preschool cannot be changed). Her naps can last anything between 30 minutes and 2 hours (although recently it's the latter). She's either gone down to sleep straight away for her nap or it's been an absolute battle to get her to sleep even though she is clearly exhausted.
Bed time is 7pm - teeth brushed, clean nappy and a story. All done by daddy (her choice). DP will have to stay with her until she's asleep and then sneak out. First wake up is at about 11:30pm-12am and then every couple of hours. Sometimes she'll go back to bed straight away other times she'll be awake for hours.
Tonight she has been awake since 2am it's now 3am and no signs of sleep.
She's been left on her own for nearly the whole time and not gone back to sleep. Calling out for daddy every 20 minutes before repeatedly getting Now I've put her back in her cot as she kept getting my out of bed. And she's screaming.
I don't know what the best course of action is. I'm running on empty so my brain just isn't working.