2 hr long night waking - almost 2 years old

[Eva's Mummy]

Excuse the typing but I'm shattered.  Dd2 has been struggling with bt since starting nursery on Monday.  But tonight was awful,  it took 50 mins to get her to bed, crying trying to get up , wanting out of the room. Settling for a bit then starting again as soon as I left. 

Then she woke at midnight and wad exactly the same till she eventually went back to sleep at 2:10

Dd1 was up at 5:40 so I'm not functioning well this morning.

Our routine has been roughly

WU 6:30
Nap 11:30 -13:30 ish
BT 6:30

Nursery days are different

[Scottishmummy]

Hi!

Sorry you're having such a sleepless time. I'm part bumping this & part asking for more info as I'm not sure what to suggest from your post...

Could you track her routine for a couple of days and post her exact timings of Wu, nap, BT?

Could there be some SA or OT with starting nursery?

[Eva's Mummy]

Sorry, I didn't notice I had a reply. 

So ill post the last 3 days.

Mon wu 6:48
Nap 1-1:50 nursery
BT 6:15

Tue wu 7:09
Nap 12:30 - 13:25 nursery
BT 5:55

Wed wu 6:42
Nap 11:35 -13:27 home
BT 6:27

Woke up at 23:50 and wouldn't go back to sleep.  I ended up bringing her into our bed which I never do. Every time she dosed off I would try to put her back in her own bed but she started screaming as soon as I lay her down.

The following week was pretty similar with lots of screaming at bt

It could well be sa or ot but I can't decide what to do about it.

[jessmum46]

Does she have all of her 2y molars yet? Sorry you're so tired ((Hugs)) xx

[Eva's Mummy]

No. She got all her other teeth by 16 months then nothing. Not even 1 through yet. When she came into our bed she settled and just lay there quietly till she nodded off
 She is so clingy, always jumping in front of me to pick her up.

Not sure if I should be changing her routine or not.

[Scottishmummy]

As you say could be a combination of OT and SA..or more clingy because of OT.

How flexible are the nursery with naps? Is there anyway they could get her down earlier for her nursery nap? I know they have to fit in lunch and other kids but her nursery nap is much much later than her home one.

If not then all you can do is try to let her catch up on sleep at home, either with super early bedtime on nursery days, and/or let her sleep as long as she wants for her nap and night sleep on home days...and maybe try an earlier BT on home days too.

Hopefully it is just part of settling in to the nursery and will improve as she gets used to it but it's hard for now. Big hugs xxx

[Eva's Mummy]

At nursery they all go down for a nap after lunch. So usually 12 but it seems Ella lies down and looks around them when everyone else is asleep then she goes to sleep, and wakes as soon as the first 1 is up. She's been at the cm before th at for a year and even there her naps were around 1:15/1:30 for 1 to 1.5 hours so that's not so different and she was fime.  But I guess the level of stimulation at a nursery is way higher than at a cm's.

So today I woke her from her nap after 2hrs 15 mins , then tried her usual 5hrs a time to bed and she's a sobbing mess it's been 1hr and she's still crying. If I sit in tge chair with her she will go to sleep but as soon as I put her down she's a meas.  She  certainly doesn't look tired at bed time but  I think possibly even after the longer nap she's maybe still very ot abd gotten a bit hyper. What do you think?

I sometimes worry that after a long nap she'll be ut but she's always been HSN. I really just keep double guessing myself and making things worse

The part I hate the most is the more info in the worse she is and the longer it takes her to get to sleep.  But I can't stand not going in. I tried lying on the floor but she just stood up leaning over the cot trying to get me crying harder and harder.

**update  - 1.5 hours after bt she is asleep.  No doubt it will be a long night***

[Eva's Mummy]

Eventually asleep at 8. Woke at 2 back to sleep at 3. Up again at 5 then cried on and off until I got her up at 6.

Dd1 was up at 5:10, I can't go on like this.

[Scottishmummy]

Huge hugs..sounds like you're all exhausted & need catch up sleep.

Can you let her take a longer nap over the wkend? as long as she'll sleep if you are comfortable with that. Or at least 3hrs? And do earlier BT for a while until she catches up?  No later than 6 & she might even need earlier.

Can you do an even earlier BT on a nursery day?

I don't think you need to worry about UT right now, more sleep than normal is just catching up on what she's missed

[Eva's Mummy]

Thanks for your help. It's hard to think straight on no sleep.so im going to pick them up ftom nursery at lunch time today to see if Ella will sleep longer. I'll prob get her down about 12:30/12:45 so would you still go 3 hours and when for bt. Or shorter?

I'll stick to 11:30 for max 3hrs if she will donit at the weekend and 6pm bt.

Nice to speak to another Scottish mummy too,  where are you from?

[Eva's Mummy]

Well today was.

WU 6
Nap 12:43 - 15:03
So when would you do bt? X

[jessmum46]

I would do 7pm on that I think x

[Eva's Mummy]

That's what I was thinking but completly lost all confiddnce in my decisions now.  Previously I would have done 5 hrs after that nap but I think not setting naps and bt is kicking me in the teeth now as I'm waking in the am and nap and doing a time to bed. 

So on nursery days wu can be anything between 6:15 or 7:15 if I let her lie in. Nap is usually around 1 hr at 12:30 ish so when would you do bt then?

Or should I try to keep all days similar and make nap at home 12 to whenever and set bt to some thing.

[jessmum46]

Ben's routine has essentially been the same for months - I really, really recommend set(ish) nap and very set bedtime at this age. 

He does:
WU whenever, I'm not sure!  Lies quietly until we get him up around 6.30-40, very occasionally will sleep in to 7 but rarely - usually if ill
Nap is 11.45/12 at nursery and we did almost the same for months at home - 12/12.30
(Lately it has moved later, often more like 1pm at home as he won't go earlier but that's very recent)
BT always 7pm - it has moved earlier perhaps 3 times due to (a) total nap refusal or (b) illness

Where you are I would set nap at 12-12.30 (within that window) and BT to 7pm and don't budge

[Eva's Mummy]

Thanks and would you wake her in the morning and for naps or just leave her too it.

Half the reason I've been doing it is so that she's in bed before dd1 as she still has melt downs if she has to go first. 

I generally end up lying on her floor until she falls asleep or she just cries which I can't do with dd2 still up and 9 times out of 10 I'm doing bt alone. 

I guess I'll need to tackle both bts to make things better x