22 month old new to sleep issues

[rmogk]

My 22 month old daughter has always been an excellent sleeper.  However, in the last week she's developed a couple of sleeping issues.  The first is the yelling and screaming when our night time routine (which has not changed in 10 months) ends with her in her crib and me leaving.  She wants me to stay and sing more songs.  She has mentioned "too dark" so I tried a night light, which made the second issue even worse - she's waking up at night, which she hasn't done since she was 2 months old!  Last night she woke up 4 or 5 times crying each of which she went back to sleep on her own.  She seems tired when we're doing our routine bath, stories and songs, but as soon as she's in the crib she's got all the energy in the world to cry and carry on.  In the past, she very rarely even cried at bed time, if she did it was short lived and she comforted herself to sleep.  What makes matters worse is - I can't just leave her anymore as she has also learned how to climb out of her crib this week!  I would appreciate any insight into where my good sleeper has gone and how I can get her back!

Rhonda
Winnipeg, MB, Canada

[Layla]

HI & welcome to the boards

Is she still napping? Can you tell me what her daytime schedule looks like? Do you have a toddler bed for her?

[rmogk]

My daughter consistently use to wake up between 6:15 and 6:45 AM.  She's at the sitters from 7 am to 3:45 pm during which time she has 4 other kids (all 1 year apart) to play with.  Their morning is physically and mentally stimulating and she is usually exhausted when she goes down for her nap at 12:30 pm.  She used to yack away to herself for about 30 minutes and then fall asleep on her own and then nap for about 1.5 hours.  When we get home I usually take her in her stroller for a walk to the park for about an hour.  We eat dinner.  Play for just a bit. Bath.  Get into jammies.  Read 2 books in her room on a rocking chair.  Stand up, turn the light off, and sing 2 songs.  Kiss on the cheek with the "I love you".  Lay her down.  Say "Good night".  Walk out of the room and close the door leaving it open a crack with the hallway light on.  Which takes us to 7 to 7:15 PM.  So that's the routine we've been using for about 10 months and even if we wavered from it (i.e. later time, less books, no bath) she was always really great about bed time.  She'd just play in her crib until she fell asleep.  It was great.  That was all before this week.

One thing I noticed last night is that she woke when the heat came on (which has only been on for a couple of weeks)...we have a boiler and the pipes creak and pop quite a bit when they're warming up.  I'm wondering if this is what's disturbing her - waking her at night and ultimately causing her stress to go to sleep.  (She is a very, very light sleeper!) 

Yesterday I bought and assembled a toddler bed.  Its currently stored out of sight in another room.  I was hoping to hold off using it as I suspect that will bring an entire set of new problems?!

Rhonda

[georgesmummy]

Hi
I have copied the below from my post to another board about these issues. The other board is  SLEEP / Sleeping For Toddlers / Re: Nap and bedtime issues with 25 month old. I know your daughter is 22 months but issues seem similar. Tonight I had a second night without having to go back in - but I know what you mean in that we had got used to having no problems with going to bed. Hopefully it will just be a phase. Not sure if the naming the routine more was the reason but it has seemed to help us.

"I agree that the increase in vocab might be a factor. My DS has had similar issues lately in going to bed. Saying "Mummy come back" alot and crying. When you go back he is just wanting to chat about anything from Mummy wearing shoes, want to clean teeth again, want to get up etc etc

I have now been refusing to get drawn into the chat just cuddling briefly in the cot until calm then saying its sleeping time now Mummy loves you very much and will see you in the morning and then coming out. Tonight is the first time in a couple of weeks that I have not had to go back in at all   Some nights I have spent an hour coming in and out.

We also seem to have last molars on the move although nothing visible yet. Also can have up to an hour of chatting to himself - usually this involves things he has done in the day, although the crying is a more recent thing. We are not sure if this is delayed reaction to our DD.

I have been naming our wind down routing more as suggested in another post for the last few days so that might  help. Ie saying now we will go upstairs and clean our teeth, chose our stories, read our stories then go to bed. Then saying now we have cleaned our teeth we will chose our stories, read our stories then go to bed etc repeating after each stage. This might be helping him know what is coming (although we have had the same routine forever so its not really a surprise )

Good luck though - as you say it is nice to know other people are having the same issues. "

[Layla]

Do you think the pipes are scaring her & thats why she doesn't want to go to bed?

Have you tried talking to her about the heater, talk about the noise it makes... maybe put it on during the day so she knows what is making that noise. I would try the night light again & perhaps switch it off once she is asleep. Have you thought about doing the gradual withdrawal method (so sitting or sleeping in the same room as her & then moving your chair or mattress towards the door) so she is more confident in her cot. You need to figure out if she's frightened or not. If she is truly scared then leaving her is not good to anyone & will only worsen her fears.

I would imagine you would have to do the same when shes in the big bed.... which I would actually make the transition to. Even though you are going to be faced with sleep problems, its quiet unsafe for her to be in the cot if she's able to climb out