2 year old bedtime trouble!

[kate_]

I hope someone can help, my daughter will be 2 in a month and recently she will not lie down and go to sleep in her bed and will cry when i iie her down.

she wakes up at 630 every morning and had an hour nap around 10/11ish which she definitely needs! i do keep her quite active all day and she usually starts getting grumpy around 630 so i take her to bed at 7 and read her a story while she drinks milk but then i have to lie with her when she sometimes eventually lies down after lost of crying whilst she goes to sleep (which i made the mistake of starting when we moved 8 months ago and i was scared she wouldnt know where she was!!) which used to take an hour.

I really dont know what to do ive tried leaving the room but she just gets up everytime i out her back and she comes and gets in our bed about 5 out of 7 nights!!
if anyone can help every bit of advice will be much appeciated!! sorry for the long essay just a very tired mummy!

[albaqwerty]

Is her bed facing a different way than your last property?

Sounds silly I know however that can even alter an adult's sleep pattern.

[kate_]

yes because she is know facing the window but her bed is still facing the same way. she was also in a cot intill i changed her cot into a bed about 3 months ago

[bagpuss63]

My son was a handful at that age up to 5-school EVENTUALLY wore him out. He woke at 5an without fail, daily, few friends i had couldn't believe I'd coped. All I can say is take her to park, or play in garden whenever you can,in the afternoon (heard this since son was small) and DON'T let her sleep afterwards, hopefully the exercise and fresh air will make her tired,and after a while, she'll be in routine. Good Luck

[albaqwerty]

From my experience with my kiddie-winks, the older one took about 6 months to settle into a bed from a cot.

Continuous reassurances and sitting beside the bed and yawning all day too.

My younger one couldn't wait to get out ofnanppies let alone into his own bed

[mickrog]

lock the little sod in....lol

[bagpuss63]

Oi mickrog-stay out of this

[mickrog]

woof woof

[erin-x]

I saw an episode of supernanny and it was a similar situation. I'm sure her advice was to just take the child back to their bed without saying anything. It sounds a bit nasty but I think with a bit of patience it did work. xx

[sherrardk]

I still sit with my 3 1/2 year old twins until they have fallen asleep and cannot see anyway of breaking the routine. At least one of them will be in our bed in the morning but it isn't a problem for us. All of our children did the same.

[RAV1D]

Sounds all normal to me, happens to 90% of parents with young one's, problem is they are all different and there isn't an instruction book for them!

[I.Don No]

there used to be a prog on tv called the baby whisperer and she showed parents in this position that the only way to get the child to fall asleep on his/her own is to put them back into bed if they get out without saying a word or make any social contact. It was interesting to watch the parents doing this as they had to do it over and over again each night for a few nights till the child finally figured out that there was no point to getting out of bed once in, and after a few nights this protocol always seemed to work, although as all children are different, different children took different number of nights to settle into the new routine.

I hope this has been a help. I never had to do this myself as one thing all our children could do was sleep...lol

[chattykathy]

I would try saying, 'I'll be back in a minute' and then make sure you go back - so she trusts you, then stay awhile and then say I'''ll be back in two minutes' etc etc. It's all about trust and security, in my book. Don't try to trick her by leaving her. I think the Supernanny approach of not talking to her is unnatural, ok, don't engage in a long conversation but reassure her that you're close by and then I'm sure she'll nod off without you. Good luck x

[nellypope]

The cot to bed thing was definitely an issue for us! It took my daughter 5-6 months to get used to it! She is 2 next month also but is much better now, but occasionally I do have to get in with her, but I was at my wits end for months after getting rid of her cot.

[grasscarp]

My daughter has this musical sea horse for her children who are one and two years old
http://www.fisher-pri...cat=buocean&pid=43203
I sat with the two year old last night while he fell asleep and it definitely seems to soothe him.

[numnum]

i had this bother when i took my 2 year old from her cot to her bed, but i just put up with it and the first night i was up and down the stairs about 50 times, the next it was 40 and got less over the nights till she settled. it took a week or so till there was no visits. she wasn't to greety though. she liked the thought of me slightly closing the door and sneaking out.

when she did come down i'd just say sleepy time and put her straight back in the bed. i also waited till she got right down the stairs as i thought this would help tire her out

have you tried any of those night lights that project pictures on the roof and is also a torch. maybe something like that might help