I am looking for suggestions. 22 month old dd sleeps with us and has done so since she was 6 months old. She recently self night-weaned for which I am intensely grateful. She has been a bad sleeper since day one and continues to wake frequently....sometimes twice an hour all night. Dh and I sleep on a queen size bed and dd sleeps on a twin that is right next to the queen (making a HUGE bed).. I sleep closest to her and all it takes to get her back to sleep is to re-arrange her back onto her tummy (how she sleeps) and put her covers back on. What seems to happen is she moves or flips out of her tummy position or moves out of the covers then half-wakes and wants to be put back. She has not ever corrected her position herself. She probably would have learned to do this but I am a VERY light sleeper so from day one I would wake the minute she stirred. During her really bad months we found that getting her comfy before she woke up all the way was the only way to avoid hours of being awake. While this helped at the time, it seems to have had the unintended side-effect of making her need me every time she wakes instead of just snuggling up with her pliiow and going back to sleep. I have no idea what to do about this but really need to correct it as I am getting little sleep. We would also like to get her into her own bed but I feel I need to get her to help herself to go back to sleep before this is even a remote possibility. Another clue is that she will sleep for 1-2 hours straight at nap time without moving or needing to be helped. She also will typically got the first 2-3 hours at night without waking but then is up 1-2 times/hour after that. The situation gets markedly worse when a tooth is coming. Anyone have any ideas?
Frequently waking 22 month old
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Just curious...when you say she recently night weaned...is she actually refusing the breast at night? If you offer, does she accept? Perhaps she is actually still hungry at night. As night feedings do supply a lot of needed calories even for toddlers. One other thing I noticed about my DS is that if I cover him, he wakes up all night long. He actually perfers no covers, so I have to dress him appropriately for that. No covers to get tangled in means much more sleep for Mama and Pappa these days.
Good Luck.
Good Luck.
We have the exact same sleeping arrangement with our 22MO son. (nice big bed, hmm?)
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Can you work towards her rolling back over by only half helping her and whispering, "turn over"? Try a cue word/phrase that reminds her -even practice the phrase during the day, so she sees what it means.
I also think that trying to get her to sleep without covers and dressed appropriately might make a difference.
We have a bottle of water always available for DS when he wakes - as he usually does 1-2x each night. Although you don't have the same need of water, we went through a similar period where we had to HAND him the water...now we just remind him it is there, if he whines/forgets/cannot find it. Many times we wake in the AM with him holding the bottle, yet have no recollection of helping him; I figure he must be doing it himself!
And then of course, you could always just let her learn to settle back...play possum, and see how long it really DOES take her to settle. She may just surprise you after all.
Can you work towards her rolling back over by only half helping her and whispering, "turn over"? Try a cue word/phrase that reminds her -even practice the phrase during the day, so she sees what it means.
I also think that trying to get her to sleep without covers and dressed appropriately might make a difference.
We have a bottle of water always available for DS when he wakes - as he usually does 1-2x each night. Although you don't have the same need of water, we went through a similar period where we had to HAND him the water...now we just remind him it is there, if he whines/forgets/cannot find it. Many times we wake in the AM with him holding the bottle, yet have no recollection of helping him; I figure he must be doing it himself!
And then of course, you could always just let her learn to settle back...play possum, and see how long it really DOES take her to settle. She may just surprise you after all.
Lots of good advice! Dd will not take the breast at night anymore. For the last several months she was asking for it then falling back asleep before getting any milk. Then one day she quit asking. I tried offering a few more times but she just got mad.
I am goingto try the no covers and water ideas. Whenever she is sick she clutches her water sippy all night so she is pretty good about finding and drinking it when she wants. It never occured to me to try it now. Dressing her for the night is difficult. It is very hot when we go to bed but cools a good 20 degrees as the night goes on. I have been just dressing her in a dipe and t-shirt with no covers at the beginning then adding a blanket later. I am just going to try warmer pjs and see if she is too uncomfy in the beginning of the night.
Thanks!
I am goingto try the no covers and water ideas. Whenever she is sick she clutches her water sippy all night so she is pretty good about finding and drinking it when she wants. It never occured to me to try it now. Dressing her for the night is difficult. It is very hot when we go to bed but cools a good 20 degrees as the night goes on. I have been just dressing her in a dipe and t-shirt with no covers at the beginning then adding a blanket later. I am just going to try warmer pjs and see if she is too uncomfy in the beginning of the night.
Thanks!
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