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.
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.