My daughter is 22 months and the last week or so has been waking up around 2am crying and screaming for me whilst standing at the end of her cot. She’s previously slept through from around 11 months. I’m at my wits end honestly, I’ve tried going in and getting her to lay back down, sitting beside her, even laying on the floor beside her cot but she’ll just stand and look over the edge crying. When she’s picked up she still seems tired but will start talking, her current obsession is body parts so she’ll point and say ‘eyes’, ‘ears’ etc, and then it seems she’s awake for 2-3 hours before finally crashing again. She has to fall asleep with me or her dad before she’ll go back in the cot, she just will not lay back down and settle herself which she’s always been fine doing before.
We’ve kept her nighttime routine as consistent as possible, she goes to sleep between 7:30-8pm after a bath. It’s almost like because she’s had a few hours sleep, she needs to be awake for a little while before she can sleep again which is a right pain in the early hours of the morning.
I don’t know what to do for the best - her daytime naps have been getting shorter, between 30-60 mins but I wouldn’t say she fights them. Do I cut them out entirely, get her to try and nap longer maybe? Any advice welcome!
We also have a 6 month old so I can’t just leave her to cry it out because she’ll wake him (and it’s just something I’d rather not do anyway).
I don’t know if she’s having nightmares perhaps, maybe it’s simply a sleep regression but please please tell me that there’s light at the end of the tunnel! 🙏🏼