Loooong period when she just can't sleep?

[Ruby2]

What is going on? Dd is 18 months and for the past 2 months or so, her body just wants to be awake from about 3am to 5am.

I feel like we've literally tried everything. We've completely night weaned (she was an every 45 minutes nurser. It has greatly helped with sleep the remainder of the night). We've worked very hard at teaching her that it's "night-night" time, and we don't get out of bed until morning. It doesn't make any difference what we do, the poor child just can't go back to sleep until after 5. At first we were getting out of bed with her and rocking, bouncing, singing, etc. She would seem to be asleep but would just wake up again even if we didn't change position or stop moving. Now that she can't get out of bed (we cosleep), she tries SO hard to go back to sleep. She tosses and turns and sits up and lays back down for over an hour nearly every night.

Has anyone else ever experienced this? I feel so helpless that I can't help her. :-( 

[APToddlerMama]

We've been through this off and on with DS who is three now.  At this point, I have him figured out.  If we put him to bed at 830, get will get up in the middle of the night around 2am for two to three hours.  If we wait until 930, he will sleep through.  If he goes down at 730, he wakes up one hour later, like exactly, and will cry for hours.  When the time changed we tried to slowly bring him back to an 830 bedtime but it didn't work so we gave up.  I don't know if this would have worked when he was 18 months because we just discovered it by chance...observing...trial and error really.  I guess what I am saying is maybe keep some sort of sleep journal and try a few things out...later bedtime, earlier bed time, more food before bed, less (if you think there is reflux or upset tummy or something), etc.  It seems like everyone's kids are different and you will hopefully stumble upon the right answer for you.   

[JTA Mom]

I've always used a sidecarred crib, but when older ds went through this (it does pass!), I'd just let him be. He was allowed one or two toys and as long as he was in his crib, he could be up and playing. He had to be quiet though.

This way, while I still woke up when he did, I wasn't as 'awake awake' and I wouldn't be hit all the time.

Ami

[Birdie B.]

Our daughter did the SAME thing at that age. It was dreadful, and I was exhausted and resentful. I don't know what it was, but I suspect all the changes she was going through at the time (trying to walk, getting molars, starting to talk, growing a lot) were the main factor.  I don't know what to tell you, except that our daughter outgrew it and hopefully yours will too!

[Ruby2]

Thanks for the feedback everyone. It's nice to hear that it's not completely unheard of. For the past few days her "middle of the night" waking has slowly been morphing to "very early morning," meaning that she wakes up at 5, nurses, and we just get up for the day at 5:30 or so. It's much easier to handle emotionally if I can just let her wake up for the day instead of fighting a 2 hour battle to go back to sleep!