2yr old waking numerous times in the night

[Autumnmoonshines]

I did post a while ago about moving from ‘cuddling Asleep’ to putting down in cot etc.

so with DD aged 2.5 we now read stories to her in the cot and she eventually falls asleep.

Problem is, she wakes numerous times in the night crying. We have to sit on the floor next to her cot to get her back to sleep. Quite often 2 - 4 times.

She goes to bed 7:30 ish. No naps. Eats well. Happy I’m daytime.

Any help would be much appreciated !

My 2.5 year old does the same.
She is slowly killing me off.

We got a double bed in the end so that if she wakes up, I can just lie next to her and I fall asleep there when I'm exhausted!

Doesn't solve the issue but helps get some sleep!

I just co sleep with mine or DP does. We take it in turns to do a night so we can survive. Shes never really slept through so on the plus side I don't have that "but she used to sleep so well!" feeling to contend with!

You need to consider that how she is falling asleep initially is a different environment to that when she wakes. It is normal human behaviour that this disturbs your sleep and prevents you from going back to sleep easily. She needs to be falling asleep in the same conditions as it will be when she wakes so she can then self settle easily. Reading books with lights on until she goes off isn't doing anyone any favours.

Mine slept well until 6 months! Same with middle child. Eldest I think was ok by time she was 1. But that was 13 years ago.

we don’t co-sleep. Only when she’s been ill. Unless you count co -sleeping as laying on the carpet next to the cot…

The reason being, is that she/we didn’t sleep better when she is in our bed. And also we wanted to break the habit of cuddling to sleep as we thought it would help the night times.

@DelilahBucket we don’t actually read her to sleep. I didn’t mean that.

we read 2 books then light off. She cries on and off, and we go in every 4/5 mins to ‘reassure’ This usually takes about 15/20 minutes then she is asleep.

Is there any reason she's waking up or crying? DS always woke as he managed to kick his duvet off, things have been much better since we got clips to keep it on the bed. We also used to live opposite a pub and the noise of closing time tended to wake him, which white noise helped with.

DS still wakes a bit randomly but gets himself back to sleep pretty quickly. I think we probably went in too soon initially as he tends to yell when he wakes, which sounds very alarming, but actually if we gave him a minute he'd sort himself out but if we'd have gone through it would have woken him up more.

My dad woke at night until she became dry at night. I think she woke whenever she did a little wee. The night waking miraculously stopped once she was dry, aged about 3 or 4.

My two year old is the same

@Merrow that’s the thing also- we don’t know why she wakes. She’s still in a sleeping bag. It’s really quiet where we live. Not a draughty house, so it doesn’t get really cold.

we both lay there for a bit listening and I would say 30% of times she does go back to sleep. But other 70% of time she gets progressively upset calling mummy daddy etc.

@Rushingfool love your message - assume you mean Dd 🤣

she is still in nappies. Could be ?

Following with interest! My 2.5 year old is the same. She's never been a great sleeper but at the moment it's every single night! We've tried everything and she falls asleep on her own mostly (unless she nods off mid story!). We've got another baby on the way and I've no idea how I'll cope with two kids waking in the night!

@bigfamilygrowingupfast you have my sympathy

currently sat in her bedroom! She’s quiet though so I’ll sneak back to bed soon 🤞🏼

Admittedly we did change a lot of things in the hope they were the reason for the wake ups (banana immediately before bath in case he was hungry, earlier tea in case he was uncomfortably full, blackout blinds in case it was the lights from the cars outside, long walks to tire him out, more time at home so he wasn't exhausted...) My post definitely gives the false impression that it was an easy fix! Water in bed seemed to help too, sometimes now when he wakes up he'll just have some water and get himself back to the sleep.

Equally could just be something he outgrew and waiting it out would have led to the same end point. The joy of toddlers!

@Merrow i think we as a couple are prone to over analysing it. When like you say, she could just grow out of it.

well it’s 7am and she woke at 11pm for 5 mins (then me and dh went to bed so not big deal) then 3am and i sat in her room for 5 mins. I did have to go downstairs and get her ‘milk’ first though…

so last night was ok really!

She really needs a bed and duvet at that age. She's probably too big for the cot and a sleep bag won't be comfortable. She must feel so restricted.
Have a bed and duvet. Then set a good sleep pattern. Controlled crying is awful. Look up rapid return and use that method. Psychologically it's damaging leaving a child to cry.

Try a toddler bed and toddler quilt. Less restrictive.
my 2 year old occasionally wakes up. I tell him it’s night night time and give a kiss then go back to my bed.

I have wondered on and off about a quilt now. She is still really tiny and her cot bed is massive. It’s a toddler bed with sides.