3yo DD has always been a great sleeper (until now), give or take the odd blip when she may have come in with us (usually if poorly or having some kind of developmental 'spurt'!). These spurts have always been short and pretty much over and done with after about a week.
But for the past 3 weeks we have been dealing with really bad sleeping. It all starts as we say goodnight after bath/storytime (a routine we've had since birth), when she will find a reason for us to come back in to her room - usually a non-specific ailment to a random bodypart (one night it's knees, the next it's eyes, the next it's fingers - it's all nonsense and it's just a way for her to get us back in to see her). We've managed to reduced the time spent on this nonsense so she usually settles quite quickly now.
But then it all kicks off with the same thing several times in the middle of the night - not always ailments, could also be that she wants us to pick a teddy off the floor (she's in a bed and perfectly capable of getting out to do that herself), or that she wants us to take a teddy out of her room, or that she needs a poo (that she never does even if we take her to the loo). She's in pull-ups but definitely heading towards dry at night as she usually has a dry pull-up in the morning - we did try taking them away but had accidents every night so thought we'd wait a while.
Also worth mentioning that during the past 3 weeks we have taken away her bunny comforter that she's had since a baby which she used to suck. We did this at her request (we sent it to Father Christmas ?!) and she has never asked for it or mentioned it since.
She has occasional daytime sleeps of up to 45mins but often goes without, which has been the pattern for the last 6mths or so.
Is this a developmental thing? How do we deal with it? We've tried ignoring it but she just screams and screams which is hideous for her and us. We've tried getting really cross and threatening to confiscate toys, we've tried the softly softly rationalising approach.
Nothing works and we're all knackered. Last night it started at 11.30 and between then and 6.30 I think I got three separate lots of 1.5hrs sleep which is making me feel totally rubbish.
DH and I would like to start TTC #2 but there's no chance based on a) how knackered we are and b) we would be constantly interrupted by DD.
Can anyone reassure me that she won't be like this forever? Any tips on how we deal with it? We're off on holiday for a week with my parents on Saturday so I am desperate to crack it before then so we can have a chance of relaxing on hols!
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Behaviour/development
Help! 3yo DD has become a horror at sleeping!
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lisbapalea · 05/03/2013 09:00
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