ANY ADVICE PLEASE!!! 2 yr old waking several times a night

[karyc]

Our 2 yr old son has always been a great sleeper until we moved house in July 2005.  He then started to improve after a few weeks but then our daughter was born in Oct and he started nursery a month later (which he loves!)  Obviously the new baby and nursery may be main cause of the problem but we are now 13 weeks down the line and things have not improved.  He was sleeping in a cot until 2 weeks ago and then we decided that he might be happier in a bed.  We tried this option gently explaining that he is a big boy now and asking him if he would prefer a bed - he said yes and seemed excited .. until he actually had to sleep in it!!

We are desperately tired as although the baby is now sleeping through the night, our son is waking several times per night and wont settle unless we stay with him. 

Does anyone have any handy tips or advice on how to get him back into a full nights sleep and not screaming out for us when he wakes in the night??

We really need to sort this as my husband works long hours and we are both exhausted day and night putting a huge strain on our relationship also!

[Katet]

I have moved the post to Toddler sleep, as it is more likely to get more approriate answers/views there

[claytonsmum]

Feel free to pm me if you want to hear what we did.

[imsmum]

This is what we did for our older dd who would wake up and come in to our bed every night--although she was 3 when we did this.  Because she was used to sleeping with us once she got a big girl bed we started off taking her back to her room and falling asleep with her.  Then we told her we would lay down with her until she was asleep but would  be going back to our own bed was she was settled so that she wouldn't freak expecting us to be there when she next woke up.  Then we just sat with her, then would just come in and kiss her and leave straight away, then just call out to her etc.  It is a long process and only worked because she  was old enough to understand what we were talking about and to understand that we needed to sleep which your 2 year old probably can't appreciate as well!   Great that your baby sleeps through the commotion though!

[jessica and emilys mummy]

Does he have a night light?
Also does a favourite toy help.
We have had no end of problems with Emily who has just turned 2 but she's still in the cot.
You could try 1 of 2 methods.
First one I know works wonders in the cot,not tried from bed though.
Lay them down,go out of the room,count to 10,go in lay him back down,go out,count to 10 etc.
As I said,may not work in bed as he can get out.

Secondly,this takes longer,the first time he gets out of bed tell he quietly that it's bedtime and take him by the hand and put him to bed.Kiss him goodnight and tell him you're going to bed.
After that when he gets out of bed,don't talk,but gently take his hand and put him back to bed.It will take a while,but he will used to staying in bed and not having a fuss made of him

You really need to try for 3-4 weeks and usually the first few nights are the worst.
Keep us posted