17 month old suddenly won't sleep for me

[Deir]

This is my 3rd time around and my dd has always been a decent to good sleeper. I don't expect too much. In the past 6 months, she started sleeping totally through the night until 6 and in the past about 3 months taking a consistently good 2  hr nap. I always nurse her to sleep but sometimes she would even be in that magical "drowsy but awake" stage. My dh has NO problem putting her to sleep. We thought we  had hit the lottery with this baby. Our other two were not consistently ok until 2.

All the sudden, she won't go to sleep for me and this is a serious issue. I have been very sick for 7 months with a chronic illness and my life is a struggle. A day without a baby's nap for me is Hell x2. My dh is starting work this week (he is a teacher ) so my backup is gone. I am truly panicking about this. She just wiggles and won't fall asleep while nursing and if I try to rock her, she screams. Not to mention that her nursing twiddling is making me nuts because of my illness and I wish I could wean her but for her health I don't want to.(She's tiny)

Any advice? I need her to nap in her crib(not in the stroller or car.)She also doesn't fall asleep lying down to nurse. Weird, i know- my other 2 did. I seriously feel like I cannot handle things if i don't get a little break.

[McGucks]

First, I am sorry to hear you are dealing with health issues on top of an already very demanding life!  Don't know how you do it.  Whew.

Second, any chance she's teething?  Our LO just got two teeth and his sleep is finally a bit better (he "only" wakes up five times or so a night instead of ten or twelve). 

For comparison's sake, his daddy (my DH) has only ever been able to get him to sleep a few times, ever.  Mostly, I am pretty much okay with it, but when I am tired, not feeling well, etc., I really resent it even though I know it's just the way it is for now.

I guess this isn't much help, but just wanted to say hi and sorry.  BTW I love your avatar and the name Nora!

Good luck and here's wishing you some sleep.

[coffeegirl]

Well, I can only tell you what has worked for us and out baby. Yours may be different. But with A., she's almost always slept through the night like a champ, but naps are another story. The only way I've found any peace about that is to stop forcing her naps. She basically falls asleep during the day when she's tired. Usually after eating, and if not, after a period of fussing/being cranky.

Her daytime naps are almost NEVER longer than 45 minutes. And that's a good, long nap for us. She'll fall asleep eventually in my arms or just by herself on the floor or the couch or wherever she was playing. I don't go put her quietly in a separate room. Just let her crash where she is and try to keep things peaceful enough so she'll sleep as long as she can. By not stressing about it and taking away any pretense of a structured nap, we finally have her napping as well as she can during the day. I know that that's sometimes easier said than done. (The not stressing about it part, I mean.)

Just something I thought I'd throw out there. Hope things improve soon for yall. :)

[foreverinbluejeans]

Don't panic. I became very ill while pregnant with my third. Then my leg was paralyzed during his premature birth. The doctors told my husband I would never walk and my son probably had cerebral palsy. He filed for divorce the next day and I never saw him outside of court again. We lived in a tri-level house and I was going home with a pemie and a wheelchair. At my 6 week check-up my pap came back and I had cervical cancer. Then I was in the hospital with pneumonia and septicemia and they figured out I have a rare immune deficiency disease and have to have IVs every 3 weeks. They tested the kids and all three have the immune dificiency disease and they had to have IVs at a childrens hospital. That year was awful.

I made it taking care of 3 kids, breastfeding, and I learned to walk (a PT cam to our house for months). I also have fibromyalgia, 3 kinds of arthritis, migraines, asthma, allergies and other medical problems. My youngest son didn't have cerebral palsy but he did have developmental delays, a low IQ and bipolar disorder (the only thing his father ever gave him). He was a difficult child to raise all on my own. My older two children had a relationship with their father.

I'm now 55 and take care of my difficult almost 3 year old grandson. He also has the immune deficiency disease and allergies. He has been head to toe eczema since he was 10 months old. His mother can't deal with him and went back to work. She has never taken care of him for a whole day. I've moved in with them. Naps and sleep has always been difficult. Anything touching the eczema can be torture and if he gets hot it makes it worse. Sometimes I'm up all night with him. There is a reason women don't have kids when they are 55 - it is a lot harder when you are old.

I limit my out of home activities. I do as much by computer as possible. I eat simply and make as few messes as possible. I rest whenever I can. I accept there never was any way my grandson would sleep in a crib (we never even had one) - he sleeps on me. I didn't have the magic breasts to make milk and that made it a lot harder. I don't expect breaks and if one comes I am excited. Life  drags on and I often don't know what day of the week it is. Now my dil is pregnant again and I will be taking care of a high needs 3 year old and a baby. She actually thinks this baby might be normal.  I'm thinking about running away to San Diago and living on the beach.  

[1stTimeMama4-4-10]

I can relate.  DD has ALWAYS been hard to get to sleep, she fights it like mad.  Sometimes are way worse than others though. What has worked for us is to go to one nap a day, and to get her to bed the SECOND she starts showing her tired signs.  If we wait too long she is too worked up to go down easily. Her sleep habits are also linked to her teeth - when she's got a lot of teeth moving around she can be a bear.  I hope that's all that's going on, and I can relate. Hugs.