NW nightmare

[carybear]

Oh I don't even know where to begin on this one...

my DD age 2 1/2 (almost) still will not sleep through the night.  She goes to sleep on her own in her bed every night.  But it never fails that she will wake up at least once crying.  I try not to go in unless she sounds like she's really having trouble with something, but let's face it, when you are also being woken out of sleep it's hard to remember to wait before you go in.  some times she's waking because she needs to go potty, others it's just she wants a snuggle. 

I can get her to go back to sleep pretty quickly most of the time if I go pick her up, hug her and put her back down. I rarely say anything.  If she doesn't cry she's come out of her room and is knocking on my bedroom door.  i do the same thing. 

I am in need of a full night's rest already.  what should I do? She doesn't seem to be OT, she takes a fabulous nap in the after noon usually from 1-3 or so.   She's up at the butt crack of dawn around 6:30 (which is earlier than I'd like).  I put her to bed between 7:30 and 8 pm.  Her first waking is about 30 minutes after I go to bed (whenever that may be).  Beyond that I have no clue what her usual waking times are since I don't look at the clock in the night. 

i just don't know what to do. Should I try wi/wo?  I've tried homeopathic sleep aids and while she loves to take them they don't help her stay asleep.  Add on top of all of this that ONLY MOMMY can help her when she wakes.  should Daddy try it takes an hour to get her back to sleep.
thanks in advance

[Caroline-Charlies Mummy]

I'm thinking at 2 1/2, her nap is probably too long, and too late. She may even be on her way to dropping it. If she gets up from a good nap at 3pm, and she's going to bed at 7.30pm, then she's only having 4 1/2 hours A time, which is far too short. This would definitely account for the nightwakings, and for the early waking too, as she just isn't tired enough.

It's up to you what you think - try cutting the nap down initially, rather than dropping it straightaway, if you can get her to take it earlier, and cut it down by at least half an hour, that would be great.

Have a look at some of these links:

http://babywhispererforums.com/index.php?topic=138416.0
http://babywhispererforums.com/index.php?topic=75618.0

Hth , please let us know how you get on

[carybear]

Okay since she goes down so easily for her nap I think she still needs it.  So I think I'll try moving it up and cutting it shorter as well. 

I guess I'm just confused, if she goes down easily for bed and naps then how is she not tired enough to stay asleep? 

[Caroline-Charlies Mummy]

I think what happens, is that they have their A time, so feel a little tired and go to sleep. But, because they are too well rested from the day sleep, the body very quickly thinks it's had enough rest and wakes her up again. It's a balance between getting enough sleep in the day that she's not overtired (which would lead to nightwakings/early mornings), but not getting too much so that she's too well rested to remain asleep all night (which would also lead to nightwakings/early mornings). Tweaking around with your routine like you suggested would be a good idea.

Good luck, keep us updated