Toddler STILL Not Sleeping All Night!

WOW A. you sound like you already have allot of experience! Poor you I bet you are loosing lots of sleep! Go out of the mainstream... go see a natural doctor, acupuncturist or even a chiropractor... I had issues with sleeping, depression, etc and they have helped me and my kiddos! Check out www.CrossRoadsInstitute.com Dennis Cripe & team helped my son finally get some sleep! Our brains don't develop properly if they don't have down time to replenish and build... Good Luck! I would be very very very careful with drugs drugs drugs... they all have side effects.

Ask about the ferber method it worked for me. also limit her sugar intake. Babies do need rest how many naps does she take during the day. Try to limit her midday nap to an hour. Keep her active with learning toys and start a routine of bath, book, bed. Also, ask the dr about hyperactivity that is extreme but it is worth the question

have u treated her for parasites?

I feel your pain (and exhaustion!). My eldest didn't sleep through the night until well past his 3rd birthday. From the time he was a baby, he literally slept a total of 8 hours in a 24 hour period and that included naps! (and I tried it all too). Now he's 8 and has been a great sleeper for about 5 years. It will work itself out. Good luck!

Hi A.
I had the same problem when my daughter was little 'till she was 2 years old when she went to sleep all night long.
And it is very hard, best wishes for you and your baby.
G.

I have found that putting my kids to bed a little earlier helps them sleep better. When they go to bed late, they don't sleep well. I am also a believer in cry it out. It is horrible to hear your child scream for all hours of the night for a few nights, but after those few nights, it is bliss.

I do think they need good sleep even if they don't want it. If she is cranky when she gets up in the morning, she hasn't had enough sleep!

Hope this helps!

T.

Hi A.,

Have you tried Marc Weisbluth's, "Healthy Sleep Habits, Happy Child"? It involves a modified "cry it out" method. It has totally changed the life of my toddler. He is active, curious, fun and so much happier now that he is sleeping 10+ continuous hours a night. It took about a month for it to work.

-S.

HI, my son has sleeping issues, but we give him some heavy foods at night at about an hour before he goes to bed with a large warmed bottle of milk. He is 21 months and that is the only bottle he still receives. Sometimes we give him tylenol too to help with growing pains or teething pains. We tried a nightlight, but that didn't work. I also try to get him outdoors during the day and try to wear him out more which helps. I use lavendar in his bath as part of his nighttime ritual. One of his physicians recommended a tube sock with rice in it incase he was having a little separation anxiety with being left alone in his room. I put it on his butt and he thinks it is my hand with slight pressure. I try to make sure his nap is not too late in the day or too long. I do feel for you and hope something works for you. Good Luck!

I have a 20 month old as well and she doesn't sleep through the night either. She's now down to waking up just once and seems fine. I think it's child specific. My little one takes a long nap during the day.

Mel A.

Hi A.,
Have you tried the no-cry sleep solution by Elizabeth Pantley? I began reading it because my ten-month old is having sleep problems. I have not tried the solution yet but I have heard it has excellent results. And it sure beats listening to your child cry. Hope this helps.

Well you obviously have other children so you know the routine. I would see if you can find a doctor that is willing to try testing her for sleep apnea. A friend of mine went through this with her child...she always wondered if it was her parenting but always felt it was more than that. She had to really fight with doctors and family to find out the real problem. People are beginning to look more at sleep apnea in toddlers so check it out, you never know! Here are some links I found. http://www.drgreene.com/21_85.html
http://www.clubmom.com/display/258514
http://pregnancyandbaby.com/pregnancy/baby/Toddlers-with-...

There are many more links you can search for. I hope you find your answer to her problems.

What is she doing when she wakes up? Is she hungry? I would try more solid food.
Is she energetic? Try sleep deprivation during the day. It is very hard, but they only need an hour after lunch by the time they are 4. So keep this in mind. Make certain she gets plenty of exercise. I always got mine to sleep from 4-6 hours. The hard thing is going to bed as soon as you put them down. That was always when my husband and I wanted to talk or cuddle, then we realized we were depriving ourselves of sleep. As soon as my kids started waking up after only 4 hours I upped the dose of rice cereal in the milk. You have to cut the hole bigger so they get the cereal out, but it keeps them asleep. My kids would also want to dose off before bed time, don’t let them dictate their own sleeping habits, you will never have them straight by the time they start school. Keep them up until it is time for everyone to go to bed.

Hi A.,
I sure feel for you! Have you read the book, "Happy Baby, Healthy Sleep Habits" (or it's called something like that)? That book changed my life - and those of several other moms I know. I totally recommend it.
good luck,
L.
PS - I have 3 kids (5, 10, 14) and sometimes one of them will still wake up. But thank God, not often anymore!

How consistent is her schedule? Our son (almost 3), sleeps 10-11 hours every night and has since he was about 4-5 months old. (Yes, I know, I'm lucky). We used the Baby Whisperer by Terry Hoag. Her method is a flexible routine. Her book is aimed at babies but I think in the next book (Toddler Whisperer) she deals with toddlers who don't sleep through the night. We've always fed him 4-5 meals a day (early breakfast, late breakfast, lunch, early dinner and late dinner (with us)) so he's very well fed and prepared to sleep. He also takes a nap in the afternoon although that's sometimes a battle. I've found he actually sleeps better at night when he's had a nap. (otherwise, he seem to tired to sleep). Also, if he cries during the night, we go in without turning on the lights and just pat or hold him (depending on the amount of tears). We stay until he's calm and almost asleep (but not totoally) and then leave him. We never play or do anything interesting with him during the night. All these ideas are in the book but it has really worked for us. Every couple months he will start waking up in the middle of the night (lately its been bad dreams but often its after any big change like a vacation) but we stick to the routine and after a fews days, he goes back to sleeping through the night. We've had other friends with children who wouldn't sleep through the night who tried the book and it solved thier problem also. Its a little tough sticking with a routine (it has to be a little rigid until you get it established) but it is worth it.

Hi A.,
I feel your pain. Both my sons needed help sleeping. I waited way too long with my older one before I did anything. I began using the Ferber Method with both children. At about 14 months with the older one and 6 months with the younger one.

This method worked for me. It took up to a week and the main thing to take away from this method is CONSISTENCY is the key. If you're not consistant it won't work. Be aware...You will have to listen to your child cry.

I hope this helps.
N.

Hi A.,
I haven't had to deal with this but I have had many sleepless nights due to a toddler with sinus infections. But I can advice what I did to get him sleeping through the night when he was an infant. I used a fan. Something with white noise and loud enough to drowned out everything else, but still soft enough to make it comfortable. I think a routine also helps. I know its hard when you are raisng a family but sometimes that is what kids need in order to feel safe and stable enough to sleep. Also I know this was mentioned before, but limit sugar intake and any caffiene if given. Consider why she is waking up, is something bothering her? What do you do when she does wake up? Do you lay her back down? Do you take her out of the crib? She has grown accustome to waking and you being there so that is what she is used to. If you need to let her cry it out for a couple of nights. Turn off your monitor and get some sleep. She will eventually get the picture. I wish you the best of luck. This age is such a hard age and its all about trail and error. Good luck!! Keep us posted.

I totally feel your pain. My daughter turned 2 last month and has never once slept through the night. I feel like I have tried everything (from Ferber to The No Cry Sleep Solution to The Baby Whisperer, etc.). My daugther will sleep for 2 hours and then wake up. If I go into her room, she'll go back to sleep but wake up about 10 minutes after I leave. If I let her cry, she'll eventually go to sleep but then be up several minutes after falling asleep and she's at it again. Our pediatrician has been wonderful to work with but admitted that she has never seen a child like my daugther (in terms of sleep). So, she had 2 suggestions (we tried both): there is a sleep specialist (although I'm not sure what her credentials are) in South Tampa. Her name is Shari Mezrah and her company is BabyTime (www.babytime4you.com). We went for a consultation and she had some good suggestions (although my daughter still didn't sleep through) so it may be worth a shot. The second suggestion the pediatrician had was to visit a pediatric ENT. The ENT was very nice and ruled out problems such as sleep apnea and enlarged adenoids. Because my daughter had reflux as an infant, the doctor speculated that she may still be suffering from the problem which could contribute to the night waking. So he prescribed her prevacid (which we tried for one month and didn't notice an improvement). Although these 2 suggestions didn't work for us, they may be worth exploring to see if they may help your daughter.
Best of luck!!!

Does she stay in her bed? Does she cry? How do you know she's up?
If you can I would just ignore it when she gets up at night as long as she stays in her bed.

And make sure she doesn't sleep during the day so she will be tired at night. Give her more activity during the day to tire her out. But don't give her activity right before bedtime.

I went through this with my now 19 year old son. This is not going to make you feel better though,because I'm sure your tired. He never slept more than 4 hours a night . I couldn't get help from his ped so I took him to my family doctor. This is what I was told . Some kids don't need more than that. Very intelligent children usually don't sleep more then 6 hours. I was so tired at this point I wanted to cry I just wanted sleep. However now my son is on a full academic scholarship to FSU and maintaining a 4.0. And now sleeps till noon! When he was a baby and even older I let him stay awake as long as he wanted I couldn't schedule him it never worked. Good luck I wish I could be more help Jodi

I'm not sure if this is old-news repeat advice from what you received 10 months ago but...

Is she taking any nap during the daytime? If not, I would encourage one by having very vigorous physically exhausting play for at least 45 min - 1hr in the am, followed by having the house set up for very calm, quiet time....no TV, radio, lights, etc....hopefully she will get a small nap. This may take a while to get her into a routine.

Once she has had some daytime sleep, many kids can inwind and sleep longer/better at night.

As for sleeping longer at night....is she getting enough physical/mental stimulation during the day and afternoon? If not, she likely doesn't need as much sleep. Do you notice that after a few hours at the park, beach, long walk, gymnastics center, open play at a jump-house, kids play center, pool, etc that she is tired and is more likely to doze off? If so, that means that she does and will need sleep when actually tired or wor out....meaning there is nothing wrong with her to require meds, etc...she might just need more exercise, both physically and mentally. After you have really worked on wearing her out so that she really needs the sleep, she may develop a nice pattern and routine of sleeping more.

If she has days where she doesn't need/want to sleep then get her used to 'quiet time' or dont use bedtime or naptime terms, just say it is her 'rest time' in which she can sleep OR play something quietly on her own (in a child safe room), ie coloring, reading, dolls, listening to soft music, etc...

Just some thoughts....hang in there and good luck!

A. I totally understand our middle girl had MAJOR sleep issues and it was effecting the entire family.
If you can do it there is ONE sleep center for Children and it is in ORLANDO The Dr. Is AMAZING
http://childrensleeplab.com/
Just went on his site and it looks like he may have an office closer now. It has been 2yrs since we saw him but it worked and he is WONDERFUL with kids

I would take her to a different doctor. She might have medical issues that this doctor is missing.