Hello everyone! I've gotten wonderful responses before so I thought I'd try again. I have a very smart 2 1/2 year old daughter who was always a great sleeper - until about a month ago. Since then she's gotten up no less than 4 times a night and runs into our room screaming. At this point the first two times she just wants to be put back to bed and goes right back to sleep, but then after that she insists one of us stay in her room. And on top of that she is up and ready to go no later than 5:30am every morning, regardless of bedtime.
We have tried rewards, punishments, asking her why she's getting up, asking her to stay in bed at night, different night lights, music at night, those things that project light on the ceiling and walls, we put a humidifier in her room to act as background noise, and she no longer watches ANY TV. We are at a total loss. I'm ready to put the crib back up just to keep her contained and let her cry for a night or two! (She's on the small side so climbing out wouldn't be a problem - yet). I just requested a copy of Dr. Sears' Nighttime Parenting so I'll read that as soon as I get it.
Thank you everyone for the great advice. The 2 yr molars never even occured to me, she doesn't have those yet. I did end up taking her to an ENT because I noticed one night that she stopped breathing several times. The ENT said her tonsils are HUGE and she's scheduled for a tonsilectomy and likely they'll remove her adenoids as well. Apparently the tonsils are flapping over at night during deep sleep and blocking her airway, causing her to wake up. The poor thing just must be prone to large tonsils, she's never had strep or an ear infection! Thanks again for all the great advice and we're keeping our fingers crossed for some sleep in the near future!
Read Night Time Parenting by Dr Sears or visit the Web site in the mean time. It saved my saved life!
J.
Our son (also age 2 1/2) went through a similar phase recently. We made sure his room was very child-proof then but the baby gate on his door. He screamed at the gate for a couple nights when he woke up and then went back to sleeping all night.
Good luck to you. This is a very trying time!! Hang in there....like you have a choice, right?
She's at the age were she feels your doing something exciting without her. I started a routine bedtime with my son. It started at 7 and ended at 8 (at first)We'd first watch JJ the jet plane than I red two short stories to him tucked him in and he went right to sleep he tried pulling the same stunt a few times but when he realized that we wouldn't have our special bedtime 'time' together if he did that (I wouldn't do it the next night) He stopped his act!!!
He went to bed every night at 8 and I got the whole night to myself!!!
A.-- mother of 3
We had that same problem and ended up putting her toddler bed in our room for about six months. it is a little difficult at first but the full night of sleep was worth it, and finally we asker her if she wanted to help us put her bed back in her room and she did and after she helped move it and make it up she was fine and has been since.
mom to almost 4yr old
My daughter just turned 4 this past weekend. We have been where you are at right now. Could she be having night terrors or dreams? Our daughter wasn't able to tell us exactly what was going on, but she tells me now on a regular basis about her "dreams". At this point, she doesn't understand why they aren't coming true...but that's all a process.
What we did: Comforted her and put her back in her own bed or at times, let her sleep on our floor. I usually cuddled with her for awhile (10 min) in our or her bed and then let her be. It lasted a couple months, but our tired nights were worth it as she is sleeping comfortably through the nights again.
Another thought: does she have her 2 year molars yet? Our daughter's didn't start until she was 2 yr 4 mo.
She maybe having nightmares or at least vivid dreams, at this age their imaginations start to really take off, i would try to talk to her about why she is screaming and reassure her that she is safe. both of my boys had about a year long stretch that started about that age where they would come into our bed in the middle of the night. I think part of it is just wanting to make sure mom is still there. If it woke up up i or my husband would put them back in their beds. We didn't make too big of issue of it, just put them back when we noticed them in our bed (both my husband and i are heavy sleepers) and they eventually stayed in their bed on their own.
It may seem like a hassle right now but trust me it is just another phase and won't last for ever.
I don't have a cure for you but can share that this may be a combination of nitemares and niteterrors. This is the typical age for their imaginations to start developing and this then can cause them to have nitemares and niteterrors.
You can always try to but a baby gate in the doorway to keep her in the room. I have not tried this but I am going to I have a 1 1/2 year old and he wakes up everynight to sleep in our bed, I got this idea from the daycare lady it is want another family has to do for their twins.
