Loosing my mind with toddler

[Whatelsecouldibecalled]

Husband away for 6 weeks with work. We are on night two of solo parenting. Toddler has always been a bit shit sleeper. Has point blank refused to sleep since 12am. Just shouting mummy. I go in settle. As soon as I leave he kicks off again. He won't cosleep.

He is dry. Fed. Calpol. Warm.

I'm 28 weeks pregnant and have to get up for work in 3 hours.

I can't do this

Huge hugs to you OP. How old is your son? I have no advice, only solidarity. Will you be safe to get to work tomorrow/be able to work? Be kind to yourself.

I’m up with my 19 month old, he’s had steroids for his breathing which can impact sleep and has been refusing to go down since 22:30.

Will he sleep in bed with you? Not ideal but if you get some sleep then it’s worth it. I’m currently up with my two year old who has a high temp and isn’t nodding off again.

Sorry just read he won’t co sleep. I’ve given my eldest the iPad with CBeebies in these situations and rolled over and gone to sleep myself out of desperation.

If DC is ok, physically and mentally, could you leave them to cry? I know it’s tough when they’re calling you. My DC1 was a good sleeper and only calls out in the night if he really needs it. Comforting and reassuring gets him back to sleep and there’s never a habit of night waking. My DC2 is a bad sleeper and literally wakes up tantruming and will go on for hours. No amount of reassurance makes a difference, in fact, seems to make it worse. It took a while for me to realise that he just needs to be told to go back to sleep and be left to scream it out for 10 mins.

I usually go in, lie him down, say he needs to sleep. I don’t do anything to help him go to sleep. Leave the room as quickly as possible. Leave him for 5 mins. Go back do the exact same thing. Then I leave him for 10 mins. On the third time of going in he usually stays down after that. This needs consistency, my DH had to stop doing the nights because he wasn’t as boundaried with DC2. Always stays in the room too long, or tries to comfort and sing. It just doesn’t work with DC2. Some children just need really firm boundaries..

Any support ie grandparents he can visit for sleep over?

I hope you’re fast asleep by now, OP. Is this normal for your DS? How old is he? With mine, around 18m I had to do similar to PP and just leave her to it. She would wake up and stay awake for hours, and I would lie next to her trying to settle her and stop her from crying and keeping DH up. One night I had enough and I decided that I would go in, comfort her, and then leave. She actually cried very little in the end and she has slept really well since then. Sometimes wakes due to illness or a bad dream but settles very quickly. On reflection I think my attempts to soothe and settle her actually encouraged her to wake up and not go back to sleep.

Solidarity from me. My DS started the day at 4 am again this morning - third day in a row. DH is away with work and I've got a big presentation to do today. I am dizzy with tiredness.
What I would say is, as tough as it is now, this too shall pass. My older one was also a shit sleeper and it's hard to wake her up for school nowadays.