I have noticed a new trend developing in my house within the past couple of weeks. About two weeks ago my little lady started waking up at around two thirty in the morning. For someone who had gotten pretty used to her sleeping all night this is a big problem. I have tried going through all of the possible scenarios that could be causing her to wake up in the middle of the night.
I'm pretty sure it is either her last two teeth that are coming in or her absolute desire to be in my presence twenty four seven. As much as I would like to hope for light at the end of the tunnel and blame it on teething I do believe I have created a little night time monster. Or fairy. I will refer to her as a night time fairy. Now that she has gotten a little older she has figured out the whole "if I cry she will come" thing. I also think that she may be waking up because she's wet. Now that she's been potty trained for the day I'm thinking that a wet diaper at night might be uncomfortable.
The only solution to that would be to nighttime potty train. That's not happening right now. Mainly because she's still in a crib and I'm not ready for her to transition to a toddler bed. I can't imagine her being able to get out of bed whenever she wanted. Unfortunately, if it comes down to this being the reason for her nighttime waking I will have to suck it up and train her.
I know what you will say...Check on her and make sure she's fine then put her back to bed. She'll cry but eventually she'll fall asleep. That all sounds really great if she wasn't waking up so close to my soldier's wake up time. He has to get up at four. If she's waking up at two thirty I don't want her screaming her head off during his last bit of sleep. Not to mention I wouldn't be able to go back to sleep either. So what's a girl to do?
This weekend I am going to try the letting her cry it out if she wakes up. If this doesn't work I am going to try taking away her nap. In the book Healthy Sleep Habits, Happy Child it says that a small percentage of children her age no longer take a nap. Could she be in that small percentage? If that doesn't work then I will have to nighttime train her. I was hoping to wait until after we moved (more on the move later) to train her at night but if she's ready I'll have to get over it. Has anyone else noticed a change in their child's sleep habits around the age of two? What did you do to get them back on track and back to sleeping all night?
I have a little bit of time until I can actually see for myself...but a lot of my friends have kids around this age and I do believe its common-especially because of the diaper. Just curious, what is the suggested amount of time for "crying it out"? or do you come to the rescue when you think or child has had enough?
ReplyDeleteI think the suggested time for crying is anywhere from 30 to 45 minutes. Some of the stuff I've read says that once you check on them the first time, if they're okay, let them cry until they fall asleep. The book that I use (Healthy Sleep Habits, Happy Child) has been really helpful but it's hard to actually sit there and listen to her cry like that.
DeleteI can imagine! Thanks!
DeleteOh goodness. Mine hasn't started that but now I'm nervous! we're getting ready to potty train now though :-/
ReplyDeleteYeah. I think I solved one problem and created another one, haha!
DeleteOh man I know that all too well...Lately I've been getting lazy and getting up to nurse instead of letting him cry. #mommyfail
ReplyDeleteXo Megan
I nursed my daughter too and I always got up to feed her when she cried. Luckily, when I stopped nursing she started sleeping all night so I guess I didn't spoil her too bad. I am about to have a #mommyfail moment if I don't start letting her cry. All I want to do it sleep!
DeleteI feel like my son went through the same thing at that age. The bad part is, I don't remember how we fixed it. I think if it was too close to our wake up time we just put him in the bed with us.
ReplyDeleteThis is exactly what we're doing, except I don't sleep once she's in bed with us. No one told me that toddlers do karate in their sleep. One second she's snuggling me and the next second I'm getting kicked in the forehead. I can't do it anymore, LOL!
DeleteMy son went through the EXACT same thing. I would wake up and let him know that I was "there" with him so that he'd feel ease to go back to sleep. Then, he started doing it again a few months after I transitioned him to his toddler bed. I was too tired to put him back to sleep so I just made him come in the bed with me. LOL.
ReplyDeleteIt's made me feel a lot better hearing that she's not the only one doing this. I have to remind myself that all these little phases are temporary. This too shall pass...
DeleteAround 3, I had problems with my son taking a nap in the afternoon, but then not falling asleep at night. We cut out the naps and it fixed the problem. I would definitely try to see if that helps.
ReplyDeleteGood luck to you. Kids waking you in the middle of the night sucks!!
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