Toddler Sleeping - Willoughby,OH

Have you thought about going ahead and moving her to a toddler bed with rails? Both of my kids went into one by 15 months and did great.

Sounds like she isn't getting nearly enough sleep! You may wish to consult Dr. Weissbluth's "Healthy Sleep Habits, Happy Child" to learn more about how much your daughter should be sleeping, when to put her to bed, how much she should be napping, etc. I know all kids are different; at 1 my son was still taking two naps for a grand total of 4 hours of napping then going to bed at 6:30 pm and waking up at 6:30 am.

You could try a few things - shoot for a longer nap during the day. If she won't take a longer nap during the day, maybe scoot the bedtime earlier to compensate for the lack of needed sleep during the day. Also, what do you do when she wakes up in the middle of the night? If you are constantly running to go get her, then of course she is going to continue to wake up and scream and cry because that's what she has learned she is supposed to do in the middle of the night.

I highly recommend the book. Not only is Dr. Weissbluth a practicing pediatrician, he is also a nationally-known expert in infant/child sleep issues with over 3 decades of research with thousands of children. Even if his philosophy does not align with yours (that's fine, you don't have to follow it), whatever techniques you do decide to employ should be followed consistently every single time to avoid confusion.

Is it that she won't sleep in her crib or just won't sleep? There is a difference. See if she will sleep in a play pen, a sleeping bag, whatever. If the answer to that is "no" then you are dealing with another problem all together. Maybe a toddler bed with guard rails would be an answer.

It might be time for a big girl bed.

We have a gate in front of our daughter's door, it was mainly to keep the cat from pawing at her door, but it serves a second purpose. If our daughter gets up she can't leave her room, she has to call for me to let her out. This works well. There isn't anything in her room that can hurt her, in fact there's very little in her room just for this reason. If she's not tired when I put her down she has a few things to play with , mostly stuffed animals. Nothing noisy or too active, she eventually gets tired again and goes back to bed. You can try this too.

Good luck.

I agree with pushing the bed time earlier. I have a 14 month old son and we went on a trip over his first birthday. We got out of our regular routine of putting him down at 7:30 and over the holidays we let him go to bed at 8/8:30 just because of being out at family gatherings and such. Since his first birthday trip he has not been sleeping well at night. He would wake up at least once or twice and we would bring him into bed with us until he fell back asleep. Last week I was reviewing Weissbluth's book and we started putting him to sleep at least by 7:30. For the past three nights he hasn't gotten up once! Sometimes it's more convenient for us to put them to bed later (especially if you're working and don't get to see her during the day), but there's something about a toddler's sleep patterns/REM sleep cycles where going to bed earlier helps them sleep better. I say it's worth a try. Hope you're getting more sleep soon!

Perhaps she is getting a new tooth in?

Let her know she must stay in her crib. If she is crying, find out what she needs- diaper change, drink, is she cold? Stop the nap in the daytime if need be to get her sleeping a little longer a night; and try putting her to bed at 9:00. Sometimes it becomes a habit after a few nights of waking at the same time.

Is she getting enough physical activity to really wear her out? My husband and I used to (well, we still do) bounce Kaitlin around on the bed, tickle her, chase her around the house, etc. for a good solid hour every night. When she started walking pretty well, we started going to the HS track - first she could only do 1 lap then built up to 2 right before the snow came... Now we run around in the basement (ours is presently unfinished), so there's plenty of wide open space for her :) Good luck! Oh, and as much as you're ready for some "me" time by putting her down around 8, try pushing it back to 9 or 10 if you can.

There's actually a sleep regression documented for 13 months and my girl hit it a few weeks early. It's a hard period of time because you feel like you've had all this bedtime stuff settled for awhile...I guess that's why they call it a regression. :)

Here's a link: http://www.askmoxie.org/2007/10/55-week-sleep-r.html

Also, I'm sure you know this already but it bears repeating:

You know your child best so follow your heart and not what everyone else (including me!) is telling you. Our strategy for bedtime (and eating and potty training and pretty much everything else) is to not get married to a strategy.

It's all a series of adjustments to what the child needs and don't let anyone (or any book or pediatrician) bully you into doing something you're not comfortable with.

Best of luck and remember...this too shall pass! :D

J.

She might not be getting enough sleep. We just went through that again with my 2 year old. He started waking up and needing me to pat him to go back to sleep. We pushed his bedtime earlier, and it solved our issues. My grandmother always told me that an overtired baby doesn't sleep well. Boy, is she right! Also, the book "Healthy Sleep Habits, Happy Child" is great about explaining all kinds of things, including this, with kids and sleeping.

Don't give her the option. Nighttime is sleeping time, so make sure you never take her out of the crib while she's supposed to be sleeping. If she wakes up, give her time to get herself back to sleep. My daughter was a terrible sleeper until I decided that I wasn't going to go in anymore at night. I knew she didn't need anything, and instead had just developed a bad habit of screaming for me everytime she woke up. So, it took 3 nights, but by the fourth night she was sleeping the whole night through. I'm a huge cry it out advocate. It teaches children to follow rules and does NOT make them think mommy doesn't love them, which is absurd. Anyway, it's the quickest way to break kids, and she needs to learn the boundaries regardless of how you do it. I wouldn't get her out of her crib though, it's giving in to her. My daughter cried off and on for 2 hours that first night because she just assumed that I would be coming like every other night. After that, the time was shorter. The second night, it was maybe for 30 minutes, the third maybe 10 minutes, and then she learned that she could calm herself and just fall back to sleep without crying for mommy. In the morning, she was the same joyous bubbly happy same little girl I laid into her bed the night before. It doesn't damage them. They don't even remember much at that age. But, it's an age you have to teach them that they can't always get their way.