2 1/2 yr old girl.. NOT SLEEPING!!

[carleesmom]

Hi!! My LOVELY daughter, Carlee is 2 1/2 (1st child) and she used to be a great sleeper!! We have NEVER co-slept with her (even as an infant), and she has always went down for naps or night-time sleep without being rocked, cuddled or what-not... She used to love to sleep!! I have shortened her afternoon nap from 2 1/2 hrs to 45 mins (yeah I know I'm lucky)... She goes to the potty before bed-time and has all of her 'things', she has started fighting both my husband & I on a nightly basis for a good hour to 2 hours, before she finally gives up!! Then when she does go down for the night she wakes at 3 am... Now I understand that things are different now, considering she's a big girl BUT COME ON!!! I am 10 weeks preggo with number 2 and that is not an issue because we haven't really told her anything yet (we will soon though)... She is otherwise a very happy go lucky child (I mean she is two, but really she's very pleasent), I am a stay-at-home-mom so she isn't in Daycare and nothing is 'wrong' with her... Any little advice will be helpful!! Thank you VERY MUCH!!

[GreenEyedMama]

my girl is 19 months with same issue its driving me nuts!

[rilbrianne]

She's probably at the age where she is becoming afraid of the dark or scary noises.    Try to find out if she'd be happier with a night light or even a small lamp on.  She might also be having bad dreams, it's normal.  You'll have to take her back to bed (keep the lights off and keep quiet - otherwise, you'll wake her completely and it will be harder for her to fall back to sleep)  Keep her groggy when she wakes and she'll likely fall back to sleep quickly.   Don't let her get into bed with you though or she'll become dependent on it and it will be very hard to get her to sleep in her own bed again.  Believe me, you'll want her in her own bed when your further into your pregnancy.  

We had the exact same problem when I was in the middle of my 2nd pregnancy, except that we gave in.  It took us a long time to get our daughter to sleep in her own room again.  We didn't want to fight with her when our new baby was sleeping so we had to wait to put her back in her own room.  Nothing worse then a toddler waking the baby and then having to deal with them both in the middle of the night.  

[rilbrianne]

Oh yeah, when you first put her down at night, keep putting her back, as long as it takes.  It shouldn't take more than a couple nights and she'll realize you aren't going to budge.  I know it's hard but you can do it!