Ugh, my daughter will not sleep!

ajweeks

New member
I'm so frustrated! My used to be good sleeper 2 year old has taken a turn for the worse. Before the holidays, she didn't climb out of her crib and slept a solid 11-12 hours. Then we went on vacation, she learned to climb out of her crib and when we got home we all got that horrible stomach virus that has been going around. She should be feeling fine now, the rest of us are, but she is still crying off and on all night long. It is driving me and my husband crazy! Sometimes she is just crying in her crib and you just need to go in there and rub her back. Other times she climbs out and cries at her door--she can't get out yet because she doesn't know how to do door knobs.

I just returned to the computer after dealing with another wake up which included her taking off her pants and diaper and peeing in her crib. :mad: Ugh!

I just want a good nights sleep!
 
ADS

Yoshi

New member
I am so sorry:( I have that kind of DD also. Sleeps great until there's some upset in her routine, then it all goes downhill and we have some nights she's up till midnight, crying, asking for things, nightmares, etc. All I can say is give it some time....stick to a routine like clockwork during the day (nap, etc) and be patient. Unless she still has some symptoms she can't verbalize? Maybe she has some gas or tummy pain? We ended up getting my dd into a toddler bed at 2.5 because even though she LOVED her crib, she never quite figured out how to "climb" out, and she ended up falling straight on her head one time too many. That transition itself would fill an entire book! it was NOT easy. I feel your pain. And good luck and good rest vibes.:)
 

southpawboston

New member
hmm... a few things can be going on.

my DD1 is one month younger than yours, and right now she is going through lots of developmental changes. lots of changes happen right about now (as i'm sure you already learned from your son). one of those is that they develop anxieties and fears. can she articulate why she's crying? maybe something is scaring her in her crib or bedroom (my daughter gets scared of the most benign things... then after a few days the fear vanishes).

another possibility is that she still feels "off" from that dreaded virus. my DD1, DW, MIL and yours truly all had that horrible virus over the holidays, and it seemed to affect DD1 longer than it did us adults.

lastly, i wonder if it has anything to do with having learned how to climb out of the crib? on a side note, i think it's time she graduate to a toddler bed! once they can climb out of the crib there is the risk that they can hurt themselves.
 

ajweeks

New member
Well last night was another bad night. I'm sure it is a combination of all the things that you all mentioned. I think she mights have some residual symptoms that she can't explain to us because her appetite is still not huge. She also just seems over tired because she isn't sleeping as well during naps either. I have ordered the toddler bed conversion kit for our crib and the tracking says it will arrive on Monday. That will be a whole other transition....

I also think that being sick and also being on vacation made her a bit more clingy to me so she wants constant reassurance. Whining is at its peak right now. Hopefully she gets over this soon and takes to the toddler bed well. If the conversion kit doesn't work well, we'll have to shop for something else. Maybe one of those low twin beds from Pier1Kids.
 

southpawboston

New member
even though she's due for a toddler bed, it might be a good idea to wait until she's 100% back to her former self before having her take the plunge... it's always hard to transition to something new when you've had all sorts of other disruptions to your routine (vacation, being sick, etc).
 

Morganthe

New member
Poor you! The utter exhaustion. I remember it well :( Could she possibly be starting to teeth her 2 or 3 year molars? Are you completely opposed to having your daughter sleep somewhere else once she is up?

I think I mentioned it before that once dd hit 25 1/2 months (biologically she was 2 at that exact point), her brain got really busy with fears, dreams, and panic, plus excitement she could now leave her bed & room. Since we were a nursing couple, it was really no biggie to tuck her in next to me and return to sleep. But once we started the move several months later, everything really went to heck and gone. Illness, change of environment, weather, friends, and all the other stress she would wake up any time past 1am and want to be with me. I solved it by directing her to her travel cot in our room. It's a European style and longer than the Baby versions. About 48 inches long by 25" wide with a zip down door at one end.

I got the idea after reading many postings of parents trying to handle the same waking problems in their 24-48 month olds with different solutions. This was pretty much the summary of what could be done:

--Some did the 'return to bed' every time -- EVERYONE suffered lack of sleep including the child, which would make the next day worse.

-- 1 parent would remain with the child in his/her room sleeping on floor or mattress. Seemed to cause difficulty in adjusting over time when the parent no longer was there.

-- Allowed child to climb into parents bed and sleep :
We tried this, neither of she nor I liked it now that dd is older. After 6am, fine, before that time -- nope.

--- putting down a mattress, sleeping pad, bag, etc within parents room... and guiding child to sleep there before anyone is really awake. Oddly enough, this was the long term solution that seemed to work the best. After a while, with maturity, child remains in own room.

DD's been using the cot for the last 9 months. Her early waking seems to be cyclical. She'll sleep through the entire night until just past 6am for 8 days, then wake up at 2am for another 8 days, then 5am for another 8 days. Then back to staying her own room for the entire night. I think the longer sleep is when she's growing. :p
I occasionally wonder if the train horn that goes by 11 blocks away disturbs her. There's also dogs that bark in the night that are loud.
Occasionally, I ask her why she comes in -- sometimes she just misses us (AWWWW :) ), a bad dream, hurts (the mattress is a good American spring type, but her cot mattress is thick foam), Cold, wet, thirsty, or not feeling well, which thirst is usually her first sign.

I know this will eventually pass, but in the meantime I am sleeping pretty well despite getting up to 'tuck her in' or change the occasional wet diaper. If I'm up longer than about 10 minutes, I'm awake for the rest of the night. Brain switches into gear and that's it, I'm sleepless.

I know I've rambled on as usual. Sorry. I just hope this helps gives you some ideas. With dd's continual sleep difficulties from the very start, I developed the attitude that sleep was the most important habit for her to learn over time regardless of how she did it. It's quiet in the evenings. She has a routine. She loves to go to her bed at night, but she still needs help to sleep when there's difficulties. If joining dh, me, & our 2 dogs in the bed room after she wakes when everyone else is asleep solves it, I'm all for it. :D
 

ajweeks

New member
I'm not opposed to her sleeping in our bed on occasion, but it wouldn't really be comfortable for any of us on a consistent basis. We only have a queen and my husband is 6'3" and we already have a dog and sometimes two cats in bed with us as well :)

I actually tried bringing my daughter into our bed last night. She slept a little while, but was restless, which was keeping us awake. I finally tried to transition her to her own bed. She woke up, cried, but then thankfully went back to sleep for a little while. A small travel bed in our room is an interesting idea, I just wouldn't want it to become a habit.
 

LEAW

New member
My dd will be 2 this week, and I know she's doing the same thing... we did the travel, illness, more illness bit too, AND she can tell me where it hurts right now - she has molars moving. Not even close to cutting, but she's constantly shoving stuff in her mouth and not eating much and whining in her sleep.

Ever have a toothache? I know I can't sleep, and their sleep cycles are so much shorter and lighter than ours, a little pain can cause a lot of problems. Motrin seems to help a little, tylenol is doing nothing, homeopathic remedies work for a very short time, so we just suffer through as best we can.

What we are doing - dd goes to bed in her own room (she's always been in a bed, we don't have a crib) with dh, who usually falls asleep with her... she'll wake and the first time he is usually still there, the 2nd time he goes back to her, after that I take over.. the first time I put her back to sleep in her room, and aftger that I put her in bed with me. It takes a LOT of work, snuggles, patting her back, rubbing her back or legs or hair, and sometimes sshe wakes a few times very close together before getting anohter hour or so of sleep.

Naps are bad too, she whimpers and cries out while napping, I'm sure becauseof the pain. Naps sometimes I take with her, which helps me not be quite so tired after being up at night.

she's also not eating much, and what she does eat she's very picky about, so we get MANY more tantrums and fussies and such because she's hungry adn tired and can't understand that eating would help her feel better, etc.

Also, you might get her ears checked... ear infections HURT and don't always have obvious signs.
 

Morganthe

New member
she's also not eating much, and what she does eat she's very picky about, so we get MANY more tantrums and fussies and such because she's hungry adn tired and can't understand that eating would help her feel better, etc.

My sympathies to you both. When DD's was teething molars, she loved eating frozen food straight out of the freezer. DH's premade homemade biscuits topped the list followed by half an Eggo waffle (full size thaws too quickly :rolleyes: ), peas, & bananas. She also liked eating whole apples or baby carrots that's been refrigerated. Hard and cold was what she wanted and it made it easier on all of us. Once we even froze a peanut butter & lemon jelly sandwich at breakfast for her to eat at lunch time :eek: :D

Hang in there -- it does get better...... eventually.
 

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