Hi Everyone!
My 2 1/2 year old daughter has always been a good sleeper until about 6 months ago. She sleeps in her own crib, in her own room. Around 2 years old she started realing we stay up after she goes to sleep and would cry to come out with us. We didn't give in and still don't. She then started throwing up when she got very upset. We clean it quickly and put her back to bed. In the past couple weeks she's been waking up several times a night. She's not hungry or thirsty, she just wants to get up and come out of her room. We are exhausted. We also have a 1 year old who gets woken up by the older one, or who wakes up herself and wakes the older one. They sleep in different rooms, but the rooms are next to each other. We are going on night five when we have slept maybe 2 hours because one of them is up and crying. Both are taking one nap a day from 11:00 a.m. to 1:00 p.m. The younger one goes to sleep at 7:00 p.m. and sleeps until 7:30 a.m. and the older one goes down at 7:45 p.m. and sleeps until 7:00 a.m. Thanks for reading and for any possible advice.
My 3rd daughter will be 3 in December and she has just started getting scared at night. Your little one may be getting scared of the dark and being alone at night. We would either leave the light on for her or stay beside her until she went to sleep. She doing much better now. She told my husband to leave the room last night. She just needed us for a little while. hope this helps.
My kids are older now but, the best $ spend was on a book by Marc Weissbluth "Healthy Sleep Habits, Happy Child".
Good luck!!
OKay - You said she noticed that you stayed up after she went to bed. But... this also started when there was another child in the house and she was no longer getting all of the attention. When I was 1 , and just starting to walk, my mom came home with a new baby brother. She said I sat down and didn't take another step for 3 weeks. I wanted to be the baby and be carried around. My question is... What changed 6 months ago... besides the 2 year old becoming more aware...? You said the baby was about 1 year old now? Maybe if you can find the trigger that will help.
I also had this happen with our son when he was about the same age. I did away with his afternoon nap ( with much reluctance) and ever since then he passes out at night and we don't here a peep out of him until morning. I know it seems to early for no nap but it will save your sanity
That happened to my sister's youngest. He just wanted to get up and play. They would take turns getting up with him and letting him play for an hour and then they would try to put him back down. But after several months of that they just let him cry.
Have you tried to refer to any books? Dr. Sears has a book that focuses on helping children sleep at night. maybe that might be helpful to you!
Good luck.
Maybe going to bed at 7:45 is too early for her. You say she sleeps until 7:00, but she is not really sleeping that entire time. Or maybe lessen her nap by an hour.
I feel for you! So exhausting! My son, who will be 4 in a few weeks, has had trouble sleeping ever since he was put into a toddler bed, too. I think he realized that he could get out of bed and come to me whenever he wanted, so he would wake me every couple of hours all night long. It has been going on for close to 2 years now. But, now, finally he's not waking me up at night all the time. He still will sometimes, but at least it's not every day anymore. He also used to come out of his room and mess around while I was in the shower at night and when he was supposed to be napping. He would do this on the days my husband was gone driving his semi. Nothing I did would make him stay in his room and go to sleep. I tried spankings, I tried taking him to his room silently, I tried reasoning with him (even though I knew I couldn't reason with a small child). So, finally I changed his doorknob and put on one that has a lock on it. I've only ever had to lock it a few times, and it wasn't for very long each time. Just long enough for him to realize that I mean it and he'd better stay in his room and go to sleep. Now, he doesn't come out and mess around when I'm showering or when it's naptime. Still working on the night wakings, though. I've been wanting to try the product Good Nite Light for a while now. It's a night light that you program to shine like a moon when you want your kids to be sleeping, and when it's ok for them to be awake you program it to be a sun. That way your kids know that it is ok to come out and be awake. It has lots of great reviews. We just can't afford to get one right now.
My 2 boys are in separate rooms, too. I run a box fan in each of their rooms to drown out the noises of the house so they sleep well. You could try that. Then your 1 yr old won't hear your older girl when she cries.
Hang in there! You're not alone in this battle! :) It will get better. Just be consistent and firm. Hope you get a lot of great advice to help you out, and I hope this reply helped some!
A. M.
www.homewithmykids.info
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