Need Advice RE: DD's Sleeping Paterns!

[scanne]

This is me this morning .
This was me on Monday and Tuesday .
My DD (19 months) is - I "hope" - going through a phase. She is up late every night (past 10pm), then once she is asleep, wakes at 3:30am crying hysterically - I get up and comfort her and put her back to sleep. Then I get into bed for only another hour until I have to be up at 5am to get ready for work. I don't get to bed at night until 10pm IF (and that's a BIG if) I'm lucky. So I'm getting maybe 5-6 hours of broken up sleep which is making me cranky and miserable, especially towards those I love most - DH, DS and DD.

I wrote a letter to DD's daycare provider stating that I do NOT want her napping for more than 2 hours. She's been napping 3+ hours every day!!! DH and I think that it's this long nap during the day that is keeping her up at night.

Is there anything you have done to calm and relax your child so that he/she falls asleep easier? If I go on much longer like this, I'm going to have a meltdown.

I keep saying to myself "This too shall pass," but believe me, when it's 3:30am and you're exhausted reason doesn't always make you feel better.

Thank you for listening! And thanks for any advice you may have!

 

[mickeyboat]

I can sympathize. My kids were terrible sleepers when they were little. But I've paid my dues, and now they sleep wonderfully.

My kids sleep the worst when they are overtired or sick. A lot of times when kids don't want to go to sleep, they actually need MORE sleep, and not less. I am not sure that waking her up from her nap at day care is going to help the situation.

What time do you start trying to get your DD to go to bed? Maybe she actually needs to go to bed 15 minutes to 30 minutes earlier. Do you have an established bedtime routine? Does she fall asleep on her own in her own bed/crib?

Good luck to you!

Denae

 

[The Mystery Machine]

My older dd would want to nap for 4+ to 5 hours and then stay up till midnight!!!!

Granted she had health issues as an infant and we lived at my parents house until she had surgery. I would be watching Oprah at 2am and everyone was up like it was daytime.

So when we moved we had to transition her to a normal schedule. After she turned 2 we had a rigid routine we started and stuck to it. We found out she needed things to "be the same". We also included alot of daytime physical activity and that really helped her.

So good luck! Now that she is 14 I don't sleep because I am thinking about her driving and college.