Bedtime Problems - Redford,MI

Hi K. -

I have a 28 month old little boy that did the same thing at one year, again at 18 months, at 22 months and just did it again last week.

He normally sleeps great and I was surprised the first time that he did this. But, it seems to be a phase that he goes through. I'm not sure if it is happening at the same time as a growth spurt, or a teething time, or what!

As long as you stick to your routine, your daughter will probably return to her habit of nicely going to bed on her own.

I've found that I can shorten the length of these phases by taking my son out of the house in the evening and completely wearing him out one night. Last week we went to Chuck E Cheese's (we have a 5 year old that picked the "fun place" to go that night). We ran around and played until about a 1/2 hour before bed. Then, we came home, had a quick bath and he was too sleepy to argue about going to bed. In fact, he seemed happy to be laying his head down on his pillow and snuggling up with his blanket.

Good luck!

--R.

Sorry you are having this trouble - it's so hard to know what is going through their little heads. My 20 month old has been a very good sleeper his whole life, except for two things - an ear infection, or sometimes in a certain day or string of days when we have had less time together for whatever reason. He just wants to be with me and doesn't want me to leave. Talk about guilt. I will not do cry it out, so on those nights I just rock him for awhile - I figure if the routine is going to take longer I would rather have it be quiet rocking than trying to leave and screaming. Maybe its seperation anxiety? One of my friends experienced that - her son never showed signs of it except at night.
If she hasn't had a lot of ear infections, it could be worth checking into that. But if you feel sure she is healthy, maybe its a phase of needing more time with you or seperation anxiety. Whatever it is, I hope it passes soon, for everyone's sake. Good luck!

I have found myself that what the heck happened we had a great routine and now she doesn't like it... Well it might help if you change up or maybe add something in your nighttime routine that will keep her interested. For example, I would do a bath, all kinds of books and then milk and bed. Now she won't settle down with me reading books. She wants off my lap and wants to read them herself on the floor. She's 14 months. So to change it up so she wouldn't be so fired up, I got a wooden puzzle and we do that along with books and we put it in a drawer by it self and at the end of the night before bed we put all the animal pieces in the drawer and it seems that she doesn;t mind sitting on my lap and then doing the puzzle. It's amazing how they change day to day isn't it? Your routine is your routine. Changing it up I believe works. We get bored of the same things and I know they do as well. Maybe try some soft music and put the lights down and rub some lavender lotion as your doing all of those. That might work. Hope I helped. Let me know what happens!!!By the way, is she teething. I'm also a new mom and let me tell you my daughter will not have a restful night without interuptions of sleep if she's teething. And if that's not it my second guess is does she feel okay? She might be sick but I'm not a doctor. that happened to my daughter. After 5 days of her waking in the night when that's not her style I made an appointment and low and behold she had the start of a double ear infection. I would call your pediatrician if this continues.

Did she just start walking or have some other physical advance? My son went through this when he started walking, it lasted a few months and then he went back to his regular routine. My ped told me sleep cyles and habits are often disrubted when child make physical advices.

Did you try putting her to bed latter. Also how long are her naps maybe if you have more then one nap a day you should cut it down to one nap.

Music works for us. We have a music maker that goes on the bed. They are able to turn it on and off. This really helps with them sleeping.

What is your last name? My maiden name was O'Halloran. I am also a K. O

My daughter goes through this same thing every now and then (she's in the midst of it now, actually). It usually lasts anywhere from a couple of weeks to a month and a half. We never let her cry it out either. As awful as it is at the time, we remain patient and it passes. I'm guessing it's because of reaching a new developmental milestone (or in the process of reaching one), a growth spurt, teething, or learning to talk a lot more. Babies practice things they learn in their sleep (which may be waking her up more at night), and when they're learning something new (especially when it's language) they have a VERY hard time calming down to fall asleep. Does she respond to soothing music, or being sang to? Maybe that would help her decompress. I can empathize with you for sure! It's hard to deal with sleep fighting after a long day. It might take time, but I'm sure she'll go back to her normal sleeping habits soon.

I think your daughter is testing you about going to bed. Now that it has been 3 weeks it is really going to be hard to get back to your old routine. I couldn't do the cry yourself to sleep method either, so I started the first night out next to the bed holding her hand until she fell asleep. The next night I was in the room and a few steps closer to the door. The next night closer to the door and so on. I even sat outside the door a couple nights to give her the reassurance that I was there. It was a pain because my daughter was relentless. It is so hard when they start waking up in the middle of the night and you don't know why. Maybe they are having nightmares and cannot express that to you. If she wakes in the middle of the night I would make sure she is o.k. without saying a word to her. Then once that is confirmed I would walk out of the room. But make the decision early on if you are going to let her cry at all. If you let her cry the least bit and then go in her room after 20 min or 30 min whatever, you have just taught her if she cries enough you will come and get her. Above all 14 1/2 months or 14 years they are smart little cookies and they know what they are doing. Stay strong and don't be like me, I did that method when my daughter was 4 years old. She fell asleep every night in my bed and then I would move her. Finally, I got this advise from the doctor. It worked.