No Sleep Toddler Advice

[mushumadness]

very early morning everyone!

we have been up since 2am, we being me and Morgan whos now 17 months old can you believe

Im needing advice on toddler sleeping or lack of it

we have had to move Morgan into a single bed due to him being able to scale his cot bars and fall out, which he did 5 times.
we opted for a single bed because he wouldnt have been in a toddler bed for 10 minutes due to his height.
he has a safety rail on it as well

he goes to sleep in it just fine, and some nights sleeps through till 7am, but tonight and two nights ago hes gotten up at 2am, I dont know why he not hungry, not wet, not too hot, I just dont get it.

I do normally get him back into bed by 5.30am and he will go back to sleep till 9am, trouble is Lucas will be up at 6am to feed and start his day.

Im walking round like a zombie, DH is on nights so no help really.

Luckily my mums taking both boys at 7am so I can sleep, I called her at 2am at my wits end.

he used to be such a good sleeper 8.00 to 6.00 now this.

any suggestions

he goes to bed awake, we sit in the room till he starts to drift but dont sleep with him

 

[natalielongstaff]

ok here goes ....i consider myself a bit of an expert here

1st establish a going to bed routine and stick to it, put him to bed tired but DO NOT sit with him. go and sit outside his door where you cant be seen

if he gets up go back in and WITHOUT eye contact lie him back down and say night night or go to sleep or whatever you prefer ( dont have a conversation tho)

repeat the process until he is asleep and also WHENEVER he wakes in the night/morning

it is very time consuming at 1st and will take a week or so but it does work

google controlled crying for more info

good luck

 

[tennisfan]

ok here goes ....i consider myself a bit of an expert here

1st establish a going to bed routine and stick to it, put him to bed tired but DO NOT sit with him. go and sit outside his door where you cant be seen

if he gets up go back in and WITHOUT eye contact lie him back down and say night night or go to sleep or whatever you prefer ( dont have a conversation tho)

repeat the process until he is asleep and also WHENEVER he wakes in the night/morning

it is very time consuming at 1st and will take a week or so but it does work

google controlled crying for more info

good luck

Thats what my mum does when my niece stays, if she wakes up in the night she will put her back without saying anything to her & it works

Good luck, it may just be a small time thing

 

[Booknut]

We had a bit of trouble with Matilda getting up a lot at night at not going back to sleep. For us it was definitely a case of her having too much milk and not knowing at the time that she was lactose intolerant so she was having tummy aches. Now she only gets one bottle of lactose free milk and we leave water next to her bed for her.

There have been a couple of times when she wakes up crying in the middle of the night, maybe a bad dream, who knows, but she will just WAIL and nothing you do or say will console her and she basically only goes back to sleep when she's exhausted herself. No idea why she does this so don't really have any helpful advice other than to say I probably don't think it will last for a long time.

Sending lots of sleep-inducing pixie dust your way

 

[strawberry blonde]

ok here goes ....i consider myself a bit of an expert here

1st establish a going to bed routine and stick to it, put him to bed tired but DO NOT sit with him. go and sit outside his door where you cant be seen

if he gets up go back in and WITHOUT eye contact lie him back down and say night night or go to sleep or whatever you prefer ( dont have a conversation tho)

repeat the process until he is asleep and also WHENEVER he wakes in the night/morning

it is very time consuming at 1st and will take a week or so but it does work

google controlled crying for more info

good luck

Go Supernanny...Are you sure your real name's not Jo Frost Remember it well and kids are now 17 and 14!! I started off sitting by the bed and each night moved nearer to the door until eventually I was sat in the hall like Billy no mates. It worked though, you just have to persevere.

 

[PoppyAnna]

ok here goes ....i consider myself a bit of an expert here

1st establish a going to bed routine and stick to it, put him to bed tired but DO NOT sit with him. go and sit outside his door where you cant be seen

if he gets up go back in and WITHOUT eye contact lie him back down and say night night or go to sleep or whatever you prefer ( dont have a conversation tho)

repeat the process until he is asleep and also WHENEVER he wakes in the night/morning

it is very time consuming at 1st and will take a week or so but it does work

google controlled crying for more info

good luck

Go Supernanny...Are you sure your real name's not Jo Frost Remember it well and kids are now 17 and 14!! I started off sitting by the bed and each night moved nearer to the door until eventually I was sat in the hall like Billy no mates. It worked though, you just have to persevere.

I agree, although you're doing the right things not getting into bed with him and putting him to bed awake, I think the "staying in the room until he drifts off" bit that could be the issue. As you probably know yourself sometimes you can nod off and then wake up and you can't tell if you've been asleep for five minutes or five hours. Morgan probably thinks he has been asleep for a short time and is expecting you to still be in the room.
I spent many hours outside eldest DD's door when she first went to a single bed, I think I returned her to bed (in the manor that Nat mentions) over thirty times one night. To start with it feels just as tiring, and it's hard not to give in, but it does pay off in the end. I found it took a week to turn it around.
At the time I had a newborn that had her days and nights mixed up too so I know how you feel.
Very best of luck to you.

 

[Dimplenose]

ok here goes ....i consider myself a bit of an expert here

1st establish a going to bed routine and stick to it, put him to bed tired but DO NOT sit with him. go and sit outside his door where you cant be seen

if he gets up go back in and WITHOUT eye contact lie him back down and say night night or go to sleep or whatever you prefer ( dont have a conversation tho)

repeat the process until he is asleep and also WHENEVER he wakes in the night/morning

it is very time consuming at 1st and will take a week or so but it does work

google controlled crying for more info

good luck

This worked brilliantly for DS and I thought I had it sussed. 3 years later when I had the same problem with DD she'd just scream until she physically vomitted - I did try for a few days but she screamed for over an hour and vomitted every time. It should work, so I hope it does for you. Good luck.

 

[Ware Bears]

Good luck Anna take consolation from the fact that most of us seem to have been through this.

 

[cherjp]

totally agree with natalie, both my boys tried this when moved into their own big boys bed as they realised they could get out by themselves. I tried this too and it worked for my two.

Good luck be strong

just wanted to add wait till he is 15 then you cant get him out of bed!!!

 

[scojos]

we did this with middle child, scott and grace are angels, when they are asleep, they are asleep, heaven and earth and all that!!
josh, on the other hand, is still, at 10, a dreadful sleeper. (classic austism but i didnt find that out til years later)
when he was small we had to do the bed/silent/move/silent thing for hours every night, it took about 12 month for him to get that when we left him him, we didnt leave him, but he would (and still does) wake about 6-10 times every night, sometimes for a few minutes, toilet, light, etc then back to bed other times it can be 60-90 minutes....
...now he is older he will just read or may need our company, we have got used to no sleep (and thats me, dh very very rarely gets up, unless i am that tired i cant move) i get up on average 3 times EVERY night, this is classic autism, and we get the dla due to his inability to sleep. it is exhausting, but you soon get used to it, our problem starts when we go for a few nights without getting up, and then *pow* mommy has to get up and function at work, and run a house...
just to let you know that there are many children out there that cant sleep, as there are indeed many adults with insomnia, i just wish i was one of them
tracy

 

[Nubbedy]

Also agree with Nat - controlled crying works wonders. Also wanted to add that DS2 (26 months) who used to be a fab sleeper has begun waking at night recently, I think from bad dreams. We have go him a Glo Light(?) night light and this small amount of light really helps him settle himself. On the odd occassion I forget to switch it on, he wakes and is inconsolable crying for about 15 mins, and screams 'No Mum, No bed', but as long as it is on when he wakes he just calls out, but then goes back to sleep. Hope you get him settled soon.

 

[T16GEM]

Another vote for controlled crying!

We used to let Shelby sleep with us, mainly because I was pregnant and I couldn't deal with the lack of sleep as well as being heavily pregnant - anyway, when I went into hospital to have Harley DH used controlled crying for the 4 nights that I was in hospital and he said that it was really hard to listen to her cry but she got the message and we haven't had a problem since.
We are very fortunate that Harley is like his father and can sleep standing up if needs be, we have only had a couple of bad nights with him.Shelby on the other hand was terrible sleeper, it got to the point where she and I were both crying and DH didn't know what to do with either of us!


Good luck to you, I know how exhausting it can be.

 

[irongirlof12]

I agree with Nat's approach too It can be hard work and I was liek a Zombie for a few days - but the benefits are worth it.

you just need to make sure there isn't any underlying problem for this disturbance - like a fever or onset of cold- in which case they need you close by

 

[mushumadness]

THANKS LADIES!

we have done as you said and just put him back in bed without speaking etc, let him cry a while
and guess what he slept through last night!

 

[natalielongstaff]

THANKS LADIES!

we have done as you said and just put him back in bed without speaking etc, let him cry a while
and guess what he slept through last night!

great news Anna xx