21/2 yr old and my sleep/nap woes. need advice!

[kfillmore]

21/2 year old wakes every 2 hours. She also takes along time to get to sleep.

 I just wrote a long and better written post- it was deleated.

NOT STTN-I need help! My nursing 21/2 year old still wakes every 2 hours. She sits up and says or cries "mama" or just sits there then whimpers a bit. I have tried monitoring food and we now eat dinner at 4:30 because I thought that helped now I am not so sure, nothing seems to help more than a day or two. 

She is usually in bed at 8 or so. She take 1-1/2 hours to get to sleep. She gets up to drink and poo. And thses have just become part of our routine becasue they are so predictable..She wakes up then every 2 hours or so. I do bring her to the potty at the foot of the bed at her first waking and occasionally another. She tosses and turns if she has to pee. Generally when she wakes she nurses and go back to sleep quickly except at 4:30 waking when she tosses and turns and again at around 6:30 or so until she wakes up between 7 and 8.

Any ideas? I do try to watch what food might affect sleep. and as I said eating early. I have heard chiropractor might help. I have tried more exercise. Any other suggestions? I don't want to wean. I think it would break her heart.

GETTING TO SLEEP-She also takes along time to get to sleep both at bedtime and nap. She never complains about going to bed. She just can't sleep. I wonder if she is overtired but I have tried to fix that too. I can't always tell between not tired and wired.  I think a 7pm bed might help but that only happens rarely. It is hard. Also, I do think, perhaps, that some night she got to sleep late that she sleeps better!?

thanks

[lifeguard]

Have you thought about nightweaning? I found that made a big difference in ds' waking patterns. Before that he was waking constantly & needed to nurse to go back to sleep but shortly after nightweaning he was able to go longer chunks without needing help to fall back asleep (I could still hear him wake up at other times but he didn't need me for those) so I was able to get longer chunks of sleep myself.

For the early morning wakings that is usually when ds comes to bed with me as I find then he sleeps better the rest of the morning whereas if I try to leave him in his room he seems to be fretful in his sleep.

As for bedtime, we struggled with this so much & until ds started to go to bed on his own & we dropped the naps altogether I couldn't seem to get any consistency no matter how hard I tried. I do think some kids/adults just have a harder time letting go & falling asleep. I hear others say their children get all sleepy as soon as they start the bedtime routine but ds is not like that at all. He is either awake or asleep - no in between & I think that makes it harder for him to fall asleep some nights 'cause his mind/body is so busy.