Toddler... and sleep.

[turnquia]

Ok my 2 year old. I'm struggling with what the heck to do about this kid and sleep.

We co-slept until around a year old. He has NEVER slept well. We're talking 20 minute naps, awake all night long (every hour) etc.

Now he is in his own room. He has been since a year. He sleeps well once we get him to sleep. The issue is getting him to quit fighting sleep.

I'm at a loss on what to do.
I snuggle him.... an hour can go buy and he's still awake barely fighting it.
I've tried letting him CIO. Seriously he can go for HOURS and still not get anywhere. And he was such a horrid high needs baby we even tried then too. (I wish I was kidding when I said this kid cried 12+ hours a day until 10 months old).
I've tried giving him lovies, white noise, we even have a puppy for him nothin. (The puppy was from our dog having a litter and he latched on to it, and we thought well maybe just maybe he'd go to sleep with her haha. nope)

We've let him pick out his sheets and pillows and I've tried a very consistent bedtime routine... nothin.

I'm just not sure what else to do. We are expecting twins in the next 6+ weeks and we NEED this kid to not spend 2 hours a night going to sleep. Because I just will not be able to devote that time to him realistically.

Any other suggestions? I've been trying a new routine and trying to work farther out of his room for a good 8 weeks now with no luck. I'm just about to yank my hair out.

lol the only thing that does work is yelling at the kid to go to sleep.. and really that doesn't sit well with me...

[maddymama]

Hi Mama,
Our DD1 was a "hard to get to sleep"er similar to your DS. What worked for us was putting her twin bed in our room right next to our bed, but with the rails on her bed so it created a separate space for her.
Our rule was she had to stay in her own bed, quietly, while I nursed the baby to sleep at night. It worked... she got to be near the baby, but not disturbing her sister, she wasn't alone, and I wasn't stressing about it. She was quiet.
After 3 years of nightly stressing about bedtime, it is magically wonderful. She climbs into bed when I start to nurse DD2 down for the night, lies there quietly in the mostly- dark, and falls asleep by herself within minutes.
And, no, they don't wake each other up at night....

Good luck!
~maddymama

[turnquia]

We have also tried that. No such luck. He just gets into everything, gets up 900 times and it usually results in myself or dh getting very frustrated with him.

I don' tknow I'm at a loss on what to do. He's regressing backwards for naps and with twins OTW I'm not sure I can handle all of this....

[nilatti]

I see that it's been a couple of years since you posted this, and I was wondering what, if anything, ever ended up working. Your son sounds a lot like mine, and we're also expecting a baby in about 2 months. I seriously just want to lay down and cry every single time I put him to bed. He doesn't really get rules like, "You don't have to go to sleep, but you do have to stay on your bed and be quiet." He's only 22 months old. I'm seriously losing my mind here.