Bedtime Hell (long)

[phirey]

I haven't posted this yet, since so many others have had sleep questions lately I thought it was just the same phase y'all's babes are going through. But DH and I are at our wit's end.

DD has had a steady bedtime of 7-7:30 since we Weissbluthed her (in two nights!) at 10 months. At the time, the CIO was more for the nighttime wakings, bedtime was usually easy: dinner, bath, pjs, teeth, stories, sleep. We'd lay her down still awake but groggy, she'd roll over and that would be it!

Now for two months we've been battling bedtime. We blamed it on multiple things:
1) We tried to transition her to toddler bed in early December. It lasted about a month before we put the crib side back on late one night.

2) DH is primary caregiver. He's mostly a student and we thought his being home more over the Xmas break might be to blame since it meant she got to sleep (snuggle) a little later in the am.

3) Maybe just the craziness of the season -- from daylight savings to the holidays. But now all that's over and it's much much worse.


She pushed it later and later, gladly participating in bathtime, stories, etc, but whining when we neared the sleep part. Up until this past week she's gone down easily for DH, but has been clinging and crying if I try to put her down. As a result, I often end up staying in her room until she's nearly asleep, then get DH to come in and finish her off.

No she screams and screams. CIO is a lot different (and worse -- IMO) when the kid can scream "Help me Mommy" and "Get me Daddy." We admittedly have crumbled on the steadfast CIO thing. We eventually go in most nights. It's just too hard to listen to.

So has anyone done CIO with a 2+ year old? Do you go all-out Weissbluth it? Does it work?

Oh and also she's awakening at night (2-4 am) agian as well. Last night she had soaked through her diaper at 2 am -- a first for us. I doubt the diaper has anything to do with it but I'll take all ideas/options/opinions/help you all can offer!

Thanks,

[mattiew]

My DD is a few weeks younger than your's; currently we are letting her take books and a sippy cup of water to bed. She listens to music and looks at her books until she is tired and then falls asleep. We keep a hall light on and her door open or sometimes a night light for her "reading". We also had long talks about Mommy and Daddy getting ready for bed too and that we were in the room next door. For during the night wakings we have started bribing her (sometimes it works sometimes it doesn't but it has helped) we tell her she can have a sticker in the morning but she needs to stay in her bed and be quiet until the sun is out (or it is light). Good luck, just when things are going well they throw you for a loop!

Carrie

[luvbeinmama]

Wow. Umm, well, first let me address the night waking. Does she have her 2 yr molars? If not, I'll bet that's what's causing the night waking. Try to dose her with Motrin at bedtime if that is it. DD was up a lot at night (a month older than yours) during the time her 2 yr teeth were coming in.

The funny thing about CIO with DD is that it did NOT work when she was younger, and she is iffy with it now. I let DS CIO really early and he has always been a champ sleeper for me. So I really know there is not one method that works for every child.

For now I would just have DH put her to bed at night. If you like reading the stories, read one and let him read one to finish the routine (sorry I don't know how many books you read, I'm up to 2 per kid, lol!).

Did her naptime change? I would keep it early. My DD naps infrequently and when she does, if it is too close to 4-5 pm she is REALLY hard to get down to sleep (it can take and hour or two after DS is already down).

I guess I don't really have too much to offer by way of advice, but this is it. You know her better than anyone. Try anything that might work for you & DH and see if she takes to it. They sure don't fit into the nice little mould we'd like them to sometimes! LOL! Anyway I HTH a little.

[wendmatt]

Sleep is a constant battle for us here! DD did do the same as your dd for a while. Each time we'd get to bed time she'd really cry. I actually can't remember exactly what we did to help it stop! When we are reading stories I tell her about 3 books before hand that its this one then one more, then bedtime so she gets used to the idea, repeating again for the next book. I let her think she's getting one over and say OK, one more. I let her choose a few books to take to bed (still in her crib), I let her turn the light off, so she feels like she's in control. We didn't do the full on CIO at this age. We'd take it in turns to go in, pat her tummy or back, sing her a song etc but made it quick. We just kept going in until she settled, sometimes we'd stay till she was asleep, somtimes she'd settle on her own. It's gradually gotten much better. We leave the door open so she can hear us and knows we're around. She calls me quite a few times for some reason or another, I go in get whatever she wants, say night night and leave quickly, so she knows she can't get me to stay in there for long.
The night wakings started again when she was teething again, they've improved again mostly. I finally did some crying coz I was so tired.It had become habit to wake up I went in, patted her and left for 3 mins, went in patted her, left etc, till she settled. Try to give motrin at bedtime, that's helped us.If she's wide awake and won't settle, I'll give her a tylenol chewable and she settles immediately.
Not sure if this helps any, hope it improves for you soon, it's so frustrating. Just to boost your hopes, DD went to sleep peacefully and slept till 6.30 this am (first time in ages) so that was very exciting for me!
Sorry so long.