2 1/2 Yr Old Not Sleeping Through the Night

hmm.. not uncommon about 4 years having nitemares. but she may be advanced and doing this??
with my son, we got a can of monster spray.. lol.. it was just like glade, and the next one i put a mr yuk on a can of glade.. and voila.. he was a happy camper. 2 is hard to put what is going on in words. you might be in the dream. but she can point to where she is worried. i sprayed the closet and under the bed. i remember when i was little. i dreamt that there were snakes under my bed, so i was afraid to get out and go to the bathroom. well.. for what its worth..

take care
J.

My girls used to wake up crying during the night at this age as well and I figured out that they really needed to use the bathroom. Sometimes they wouldn't even wake up but I would put them on the toilet, they would go, and I would put them back to bed and they would just continue sleeping. As I am writing this my daughter just stated that she remembers this.

2 ideas:
1. Get _Healthy Sleep Habits, Happy Child_ by Marc Weissbluth. It saved us.

2. "Couch time" is a concept from "Growing Kids God's Way". You and your husband sit on the couch for about 10 minutes per day. Your daughter sees you together, but can't interrupt. The idea is that kids feel more secure when they see the 2 people they care about most together. Sleep problems have reportedly been solved through this. It will start out just a few minutes, then gradually increase. Can also be at table after dinner. (options exist for single parents too)

Another recommendation is Mary Sheedy. She wrote Sleepless in America. I've actually sent her an email regarding my situation. My son had night terrors. http://www.parentchildhelp.com/

Hi D., I have a little one that will turn 2 in April and has been getting up at night also. Some nights it could be one time or upto 6 times. She has been doing this since Aug when I went out of town for 5days. My husband has night duty on Fri and Sat and she seems to sleep through the night. We put her in a big girl bed and I lay with her til she falls asleep and I go back to my bed. I'm in the same boat as you and looking for any suggestions to help. Just like you, I'm a daycare provider myself. Do you think they are having problems with many kids in the house. Let me know if you get any suggestions. M.

It's a phase which will pass with time. My little boy did the same thing. He's now 3 but exactly at 2 1/2 (May 2007), he began waking up several times screaming and screaming. We realized that at times it would be night terrors so he truly wasn't awake even though we thought he was and other times, it was bad dreams. I talked to several moms at ECFE and in my Mom's Club of BLoomington and the ones whose children went through this said it was due to brain development. It was natural and would pass with time. Sure enough, in the fall he went back to his usual sound sleep and it disappeared. We did buy him a very soft blue nightlight (thomas the train which he loves). We also had to humor him by helping him remove everynight for the months that the night wakenings occurred anything in his room which "bothered" him at night (i.e. books, videos or toys). He always put them back in the morning. It was just before naps and bedtime that he always wanted to remove them.

Have you heard of the Sleep Lady? Her book Good Night Sleep Tight is really good. The book goes all the way up to five years old. Kids go through different things that upset their sleep and the lack of sleep at night might be causing the fits during the day. Does she still nap? If you read the book you would be surprised at how after about a week of her methods your child will be sleeping through the night. Trust me I have a two year old and that book has saved us since she was six months old. It is amazing how so much of their behavior is related to sleep. Oh and her methods are very gentle, she promises minimal crying. Good Luck.

I'm currently going through the same thing with my 2 1/2 year old son. I wrote in last week asking for advise also. I do believe some of it is the night terror, we went through it with my daughter but not to the extent we are going through now. I followed other advise and took my son to a chiropractor this weekend because we have to try something. The chiropractor picked up on a kink in my son's neck right away and asked if there had been any recent falls. Of course there was one about a month ago that was pretty bad. That night my son slept through the night! Now as the days progress he is waking up once a night, but went back to the chiroprator this morning. They mention that his neck had gone back but was not as sever as Sat. I know some people don't go for chiroprators but I was in tears myself over how tired we are. Hang in there!
N.

A night light or flashlight is a great idea. Our oldest is 5 now and still like the comfort of having a flashlight, just in case.
We put a CD player next to our son's bed so he could hit play and hear his "pretty music" whenever he had a hard time.
We also had a little talk with him before bedtime every night to give him a chance to talk about his day and air any concerns, we let him pick 3 stuffed animals to sleep with and keep him company, and we reviewed the bedtime rules (stay in bed and no yelling).
Sometimes, we eliminated the problem all together if we let him sleep on his floor, camping style. I don't know why this made a difference but it did.
Every once in a rare while, he will want to sleep on the floor just outside of his bedroom so he can be that much closer to us. As long as it makes him feel better and we're all able to sleep, I don't have a problem with that.
Good luck!