Hi Moms! We have a 2 1/2 year old who all of a sudden is waking up almost every hour during the night. She cries and says she wants to cuddle with mommy, which is sweet, but not in the middle of the night! Has anyone else dealt with this? We have had a bit of a different routine lately so maybe she's just reacting to that? She shares a room with her older sister so we're all losing sleep here. Any advice or suggestions would be appreciated!
We went through this at 2yr. 2 mo. Rest assured, it passed. In all fairness, he had a virus coming on (which led to a double ear infection) and four teeth coming. After a week of telling him he had to stay in his room, things were back to normal.
FIrst try to rule out problems such as teething, ear infection or other medial conditions. A lot of the time, these medical issues and illnesses only manifest at night and I would be suspicious if this came totally out of the blue.
If you rule out illness or teething then this may just be a phase. the experts always say that right before a period of developmental growth there is often a regressive period where the child seems to slip backward. Only you know when you've crossed the line btw a passing phase of insecurity that you can suffer through and a real problem with sleep habits. Try spending a lot of time with her during the day, don't push her to be a "big girl" and indulge if you can some of her regressive behavior.
If it keeps up then you have to decide on one of the sleep training approaches and stick with it. there have been many discussions of these issues in this forum and I'm sure just reading through some of those dialogues will give you an idea of the different schools of thought on this and where to get more information.
GOod luck!!
It is a very good chance that the change is what is causing this. Is she requesting just you or will she also cuddle to daddy? Since you are her main support, she may be trying for a sense of security.
Give her the favorite doll (rag doll if you have-they're most cuddeling and lifelike). Tell her it's sleepy time any you'll cuddel in the morning. Let her cry if she's warm and dry. She'll cach on if you don't go in and out of the room all night. Good luck mommy.
A change in routine could definitely be the culprit. My kids were all really good sleepers, but changes in routine can still throw off their sleep schedule. My best advice is to get a copy of Healthy Sleep Habits, Happy Child. I used this book's approach with all of my kids and it works. It has special sections that you can use to reference sleep issues by age so you don't have to read the whole book. Who has the time, especially when you're tired right?
Maybe put her in a playpen in a separate room to start so big sister won't lose sleep.
then when she wakes explain that it is not time to be awake and she has to go back to sleep. Gently make her lay back down and pat her bottom or sing to her for a few minutes and then walk out. Check on her every 15 minutes or so and then go back and gently lay her back down and tell her it is not time to be awake. Keep doing that until she gives up. If you pick her up and cudddle with her each time, you will be starting a terrible habit that you will have a terrible time breaking.
It might take a few days to get her to go back to sleep, but she will. It took my oldest about three days. Each night the time she cried was shorter and shorter.
I'm working on my seven month old son now. He seems to think he needs to eat in the middle of the night about three or four times. I'm a walking zombie.
