Party Time at 12AM

[Peachthief]

DD (almost 14 mo) couldn't sleep and decided it was party time last night. She was awake for 3 hours! She's at a tricky age for this kind of thing- when she was younger and less mobile, we would shush, pat and sing to her in bed until she settled back down, even if it took a while. Now she will just climb right over me and would probably topple headfirst on to the floor if we let her! I'm sure that someday we'll be able to let her play quietly by herself in her own room if she can't sleep, but we're certainly not there yet either. What we did do is take turns zoning out on the couch while she zoomed around and blew off steam, with dim lighting and minimal parental interaction, until she started showing signs of being tired. Is that the best plan, or does anyone have any other ideas? This is unusual for her, and I really don't want to create a habit- I have a reasonable tolerance for being up with her if she's uncomfortable and/or wants to sleep but can't, but for some reason a wired toddler in the wee hours just really sends me over the edge!

Thanks,
Sarah

[svs79]

My DD has had some of these nights where she can't sleep for some reason. More recently she has had a few nights where she just wanted to sit up in bed and talk, since that is her big development area right now. Fortunately it doesn't happen too often for us. I would just say if this starts happening more frequently, make sure she isn't sleeping too much during the day? Sounds like you have more patience than I do in the middle of the night!