DD 15 months, still a problem sleeper and new baby due!

[soon2befamilyof4]

She goes through phases and sometimes will just go down fine, maybe wake up but as soon as you give her a bottle of milk she goes straight back down - this is fine with me. BUT a lot of the time she refuses to go to bed, screams as soon as you try and put her down, dispite being tired. And then even if she does go to bed, she wake up in the night and doesn't want to sleep.

She sleeps a lot better at night if she hasn't slept int he day, but it is so hard to keep her up. She gets SO tired and grumpy and often will end up falling asleep somewhere because she is exhusted which is then worse as it is later in the day than if I had put her down for a sleep!

There have been nights where I have only got 2-3 hours sleep because she is wide awake or screaming and the only way to even get rest is to put her in our bed with a DVD on, which is far from ideal and I know its not a long term option.

DH has resorted to sleeping on the sofa when he has got work the next day now. He works 12 hour shifts and has been in trouble for being overtired at work.

I am 38+ weeks pregnant and absolutly exhusted. I had a long labour last time and worried:
a) how I will go through labour when I start off this tired
b) How somebody else is going to deal with her sleep while I am in hospital
c) That this is all going to be so much harder for everybody when the new baby arrives.

PLEASE let me know the secret to getting her to sleep!

Anybody?

Hi soon2be...oh you poor love, you must be exhausted. I had a 12 1/2 month baby when my second was born.

The key thing is to get the routine in place and stick with it - even if DD is screaming blue murder (which is agonising I know)- so after bathing, giving her milk and bedtime story put her in her cot awake and say its time for bed and Mummy and Daddy are going to bed too now...then lay her down and leave the room, shutting the door. You may for a few nights have to go in at intervals dependant on the degree of upset but do try to resist picking her up, a hand on her to reassure her and then explain again that its time to sleep may be all you need. I am afraid that you may need to be cruel to be kind (silly saying but you know what i mean). You need a break, you will not be able to do this when number 2 comes along...so try to implement now - and don't worry, she will give in eventually.

Also, don't dread all of it - pyschologically you need to be convinced that this IS going to work....you CAN do it and you are FAB so don't worry! All the very best!

Also at 15 months she probably does still need a sleep in the day, so try to get her to sleep 1 - 2 hours after lunch, so she is wide awake by 2.30 in the afternoon and then get her out toddling in the fresh air to tire her out so by bedtime she is really ready !!! I sore by Gina Ford second time around I can tell you (although not everyone is a fan!)Most of my NCT mates are however! Good luckx

I feel your pain

dd2 wasn't still waking frequently at 22 months when gecko was born

gecko is now 26 months and is still waking every two hours

sleep? whats that?

All I can offer are and good luck

was still waking....

Trouble is mary - we had to take her out of her cot. By 11 months she worked out how to climb up and by 12 months she was climbing up and then falling down the other side and hurting herself. So she is now in the cotbed made as a bed with a bedguard. She only gets out if she is left to cry for more than about 10 mins really. Before that she just screams and throws everything out her cot and takes her clothes off! And after even 10 mins of crying, she is soo upset. She ends up vomiting everywhere because she gets herself in sucha state. If she was just crying/winging then I would be happy to leave her but she is absloutly screaming as soon as I leave her.

Hi soon2be - I feel your pain, we have a 15 mo who is exactly the same. Although she is still in her cot at the moment she has managed to climb out once (last weekend) so I'm thinking the cotbed may not be far away.

A couple of things seem to help -

Naps - like yours she hates napping during the day but whenever I have the patience I try to wind her down and get her to nap either late morning or afternoon, this can take up to an hour of shushing, quiet play, whatever, but ultimately leads to a more relaxed bedtime which seems to help the sleeping at night.

We ended up with a spare mattress in her bedroom. Now when she wakes up, one of us will go and just sleep in the room with her. Sometimes that is all she needs to settle down again - and it saves DH (or me) sleeping on the sofa. I feel like it's a better solution than having her in the bed with me which usually ends up with neither of us sleeping much. For the past few months she's been getting better but she still goes through phases when the mattress comes out again, usually associated with disruptions in her little world.