Having sleep issues around the age of 2? Want to chat?

[AfonsoandDinisMum]

Hi Sonia and hugs. Is DS in a big boy bed or still in a cot? Edward did the same when he was in his cot but now when he wakes in the night he will com into mine and DH's room to see if we still are there have a quick cuddle with us both and then last night took hiself back off to bed without any problems. Could he be waking from a bad dream and wants some reassurance everything is OK? Does he have a spill-proof cup with a drink in for the night?

Hello fifibobandmore. Yes Afonso is already in a big boy bed since January and he has always slept well there since day one. Usually, when he used to wake up, he would call for me and after I went to him and cuddle for a little bit he went to sleep again. But now he just wakes up 3 or 4 times a night and it's very difficult to put him back to sleep again.

 He just started potty training 2 weeks ago and we just moved houses this past week, can this be causing the NW problems?

Sonia - this is very similar to the problems we are having!  I think in Katie's case it is some kind of SA that's come in... might that be the case for Afonso?  I ended up sleeping on the floor in her room and have been doing gradual removal so I am now sleeping on a mattress in the corridor (!) - but she still wakes a few times a night to check that I am there....

Hello Bryony: I don't think that the problem with Afonso is SA, because most times, when he wakes up at night he's not looking to see if I'm there... He calls for me but still layed in is bed and fighting to go back to sleep... but on the other and, maybe it is SA... I'm so lost with this...

He's just getting so so so tired, and so so cranky, and I don't know what I can do to help him sleep better during the night...

[Fiver]

Sounds like Afonso has got lots going on at the moment!  Not that I'm any kind of expert, but I'd say that that is probably what's causing your NWs, especially as he's now in a new room, new house...calling out to check that it's still ok?  If he's OT as well, I'd try a really early night.  Seems a scary thing to do when you don't want them EWing, but for us it makes a huge difference.

[AfonsoandDinisMum]

Well another night passed and one more night that we got a few NW...

Now we have another thing to deal with... Afonso seems to be getting sick... For the past few days he has been having some kind of diarrhea, and last night at dinner time he threw up twice... My poor  baby, he seemed so sad and ill... he even asked me to go to bed a lot early than usual... The problem was that he got to bed an hour early, but this morning he also woke up an hour early than usual... Don't Know what to do..

[Fiver]

Sorry it's hard right now   Sickness is such a pain for them and us!  I always think I'd rather be ill than them 'cause at least I know what's going on.

[Lilysmummy]

Are any of us getting anywhere?! I'd love to hear that someone feels like there back ontop of all this as it feels like its never going to end!! We have stopped the night wakings for last couple of nights but takes about 30 - 40 minutes of crying to get her to go to sleep.

Today trying limiting nap to not past 3pm, about 1 1/2 hrs...will shoot for 7pm bed and see how we go...

[Bryony]

Lilysmummy:  I hardly dare say it ..... but.... will say it quietly..... I think we MAY be getting somewhere! 

A month ago, we had SA, problems getting to sleep for both naps and bedtime, multiple NW and EW

We are now down to "just" the hour of faffing before falling asleep in the evenings and only occasional NW - but I am at least not having to sleep in her room and most nights she is STTN - WOO HOOO!!!

I did GW for the SA - moving my mattress a foot each night from her room until it was in my room - cut down her nap from 2+ hours to 1 hour which moved more sleep to the night time and solved most of the NW and the EW - and gave up trying to get her to nap in her cot and let her sleep in the buggy.

Fingers crossed we are on our way....

Hope that everyone else is doing ok

xx

[*Carrie*]

Lilysmummy - we've made progress too. We've not had NWs for ages now and the nap is back to a happy time! In fact we've just had two days in a row when he has woken without crying and we had been having RAGES when he woke until now! I'd say the worst bit lasted about 5 weeks... hope that helps xxx

[Lilysmummy]

Fantastic!! That is so great to hear, you guys have really worked hard so good on you! I think I need to remember how bad it was at the beginning because we have actually come a long way ourselves.. we haven't had a NW in ages just the fight to actually go down and that is getting less and less which is good. Tried the reverse of what I have been doing lately and for past couple of days put her down earlier than normal and the fussing was much better so we'll stick with that for another few days to see what happens.

:-)

[momtonb&ab]

hey ladies, can I jump on board.....

I am looking for a little imput from  you all.  N & A are 25 months now and the last few weeks things have been off -  no major life changes (although we took a stab at potty training for a week only to realize that they weren't quite ready so back to diapers for a few weeks). 

I don't know if our problem is nap or night sleep.

Our day used to look like this

7-7:15 am wake
12:30-1 pm nap
2-2:30 wake
7:00 pm bed (asleep by 7:30)

never a fight going to sleep.  lately, we are having early wakings, then sometimes really short naps or really long naps, but no consistency, and if i put them to bed before 7:30 there is a lot of goofing around.  sometimes it is 8:30 before they get to sleep, and we were awake at 6 am 5 times in the last 7 days.   We also had one morning of 5:30, and one morning of 6:30. 

Can anyone tell me what are normal sleep times for this age?  they seem to be able to do 5.5 or 6 hours A time - should I shorten/limit nap to an hour to keep a better bedtime (which I am hoping will alleviate EW)?  Please, some advice would help.  They had been wonderful sleepers til now, but all this is going on with DH gone 5 days a week so it's just me with them.

[*Carrie*]

Hi Mumtonb&ab,
welcome aboard!!!  We're none of us experts here - just fellow head scratchers having had good sleepers just suddenly change without any real warning!!! I'm coming to the conclusion that it's totally an age thing. Rory was exactly the same - we started having NWs just after his birthday and then v. short grumpy-ended naps or refusals. I came on here wondering what on earth to do as I had been spoilt with a good sleeper up until then. I got advice regarding bringing the nap forward/making bedtime later etc but actually, a few months later, things have settled and we're pretty much doing the same routine we were doing before.

There is some advice that says that the amount of total sleep needed reduces around this age so you may need to shorten the night sleep and/or nap to tweak things back into place...

Personally, we moved Rory into a BBB as we thought his cot was restricting him enough in the night to wake him and apart from that I kept offering the nap, doing WI/WO if he wouldn't settle at the beginning but not worrying about trying to extend if he woke grumpy and needed me. It took around 5 weeks!!!!!!! In retrospect I may have been too quick to "rescue" him on waking as despite napping better now, sometimes he stirs a bit but then puts himself back to sleep....

Anyway, maybe some of the others here will have some more specific advice for you. If not, post your own strand on the board to probe those wiser minds and come back here for a moan or to let us know how things are going. Don't worry if you're feeling at the end of your tether - we've all been there and for you it must be twice as bad!!!!!!! Good luck xx 

Carrie
x

PS Our routine is very like yours except we're on a later nap and bedtime - more like nap at 1.30 - 3ish-3.30 then bedtime leaving him at 8pm.... HTH