The girls are now ages 2 years 4 mos. Since Jan 1st we've all been sleeping great. Jake and I were finally getting 8 hours of sleep a night for the first time in almost 2 years. Sleep is very important at our house! For the past year the girls have sleeping from 7-7:30ish and 2-3 hour naps. Which I think is a pretty normal schedule for a 1-2 year old. They go down very easily, sometimes mild fussing from Taylor but never more than 5 minutes.
And here's the problem: For the past 9 days Taylor has stopped taking naps and been screaming/crying instead for 2 hours. Then at night she cries for about 1/2 hour to an hour then falls asleep. A few nights this week she's been back awake crying about midnight and then here's the killer-she wakes up at 5am screaming her head off and wakes the other babies and mom and dad up too. And she doesn't fall back asleep. We leave her in there until 7, but she still wakes everyone up. We have tried going in there at 5 and settling her back down but the minute we leave the room she starts in again, so it doesn't do any good. I understand kids do phase out naps sometimes at 2ish, but she has gone from needing a total of 15hours of sleep(with nightime and nap) to only sleeping 9-10 hours total. She's not sick, she's her normal self during the day, well except I can tell she's exhausted. I feel like she's way over tired which is causing her to not sleep, but how do I get her to sleep so she can catch up? We're going on day 10 of this and its affecting the entire house, everyone's losing sleep. Today she screamed at naptime for 2 hours, which means neither Coby nor Chloe got any sleep.
oh and p.s. she knows she's being naughty. she acts all super sweet and polite as soon as we get her out of bed. Like in her sweetest voice. "oh thank you mommy" and shes super agreeable and overly nice to her brother and sister. Which is not normal for her because she's usually kind of a stinker. And then of course it goes from that to major meltdown because she's exhausted.
And to complicate matters even more she has now officially learned how to escape the crib tent and she takes her diapers off, and yes I've even tried the duct tape.
Anyone been through this or can offer any advice?
Thanks for reading! Oh and yes this is why I'm way behind on my picture posts, I'm back to sleeping 4-5 hours a night with no break during the day. Yuck!
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7 comments:
I don't know about the night time/early morning problems, but what about telling her she doesn't have to nap, but she does have to rest. Let her play quietly in bed (although you would probably have to move her somewhere that Chloe isn't so she doesn't wake her up). Amelia stopped napping around 3 but she still lays down for 2 hours each day. I don't care what she does in there (as long as she is safe and not bothering me....lol).
She sounds like she is figuring out she can do what she wants no matter what you think about it (I HATE it when they learn that....lol).
Yeah my suggestion would be to tell her she doesn't have to sleep but she needs to rest quietly. I use to tell Aden and Lauren that they didn't have to sleep but they needed to stay in bed and read during nap time. Most of the time they feel asleep.
Umm; have you tried putting her diaper on backwards? Sometimes that does the trick because the tabs aren't where they thing they should be. Though I'm guessing you might have tried that because you were already at duck-tape.
Sorry your having a hard time, wish I could be more help.
Well since I am not a mom, I might not have any real advice for you, But I am a nanny to a 2 1/2 year old. I wanted to comment because I was JUST having the same problem. His parents said that his older brother stopped taking naps at two, but It wasn't that he didnt need the nap, he just wouldnt sleep. I knew he was tired, but when it came nap time, he screamed and cried,and got himself so upset that he couldnt calm down to sleep. His parents said that he would wake up in the middle of the night, and then be up for the day around 5:30 am (he goes to bed around 7:30 pm). So I was SO confused about why he wasn't taking a nap in the afternoon, along with not sleeping well at night. He also went from about 13 hours of sleep to a lot less than that, practically overnight. I happened to mention my frustrations at a playgroup, and one of the moms (her husband is a nurse) said that when toddlers are going through growth spurts, their hormones do weird things, and acts as a stimulant. So they cant get to sleep, even if they need it. The problem is that there typically isn't anything you can do about it. Ethan was hysterical over sleeping, when just the week before I think he looked forward to his nap. A couple of the things that I did was made sure he had a ton of physical exercise before nap (but not right before). I think this helped. I also told him that he could read books in bed if he stayed in bed and was quiet. I think this helped him calm himself down. He was out like a light in a matter of 10 minutes. I am happy to say that this week, he seems to be back to his normal napping self. Just remember that this WILL pass!
Hope this much too long comment helps some!
could her molars be coming in? seriously i attribute all crazy wonky schedule weirdness to alani's molars. . . well, really, not just her schedule. . . any personality issue these days, easy meltdowns, rough nights of sleep. . . all get chalked up to molars. . . they are little devils hiding in their mouths, sometimes not revealing for months, but there. . . torturing these poor little babes. anyway, last week alani seemed to be done with naps, then this week she seems to be overly tired. . . i have no other suggestions. . . . i know sleep is less easy to come by in your house than mine! good luck and tell us if you learn any deep secrets to unfolding the mind of a 2 year old!
My SIL bascially solved the diaper removing problem for me . . . .Josie did it at her house and took away both TV and her BLANKET for the entire day. Worked like a charm. She was reminded over and over again during the day why she didn't have her blanket or get to watch Elmo. She even took a nap w/o it.
They reminded her what would happen that nite when she went to bed again (they had her 2 nites that week) and she said she would keep her diaper on. And she did.
Josie hates footie pajamas and now sleeps in cotton bike shorts and an oversize t-shirt. And she hasn't removed it since. So-find out what she LOVES (her chewie?) and use that as a tool. It'll suck for a day-but I bet it works.
Tara and Timbra had good thoughts about growth spurts or molars. The sleep thing might go away on it's own. Or maybe she's ready for a toddler bed. . . .
It must be something about this age. Lydia did this same pattern (not napping, taking off her diaper, and screaming until completely exhausted at 10pm and then right back up at 5. I know how hard it is, but trust me it gets better. We did the backwards diaper thing and it worked for awhile and then we just did the whole panties thing. As for the sleeping, we did something to were her out right before. For naps, I found it to be easier to go outside or exercise, dance, or run in circles. Then I would feed her lunch and she would sleep a little better. Doing any kind of activity after lunch gave her so much energy, you couldn't get her to calm down for a nap. At night we did the same thing after dinner. We found that the more we wore her out the easier and longer she would sleep. This is why we started doing playdates and gymnastics. I know you do a lot with the kids already, but I hope to see you all getting back to yourselves and sleeping:)
Oh, I feel your pain! You know we've been going through the same thing since the beginning of January. It's torture. Linlee's issues are probably more involved than Taylor's, but if I get any good advice from the sleep specialist (we'll be getting hooked up with one soon, hopefully), I will share with you.
One thing I have been researching just this evening is weighted blankets. Apparently they are calming and like a natural sedative. They seem to be used for children on the autism spectrum (Linlee) or kids with ADHD or kids who are experiencing sleep problems. You can Google "weighted blankets" and there are lots of sites. I plan to order Linlee a 3 pound one. I'm desperate to resolve our sleep issues.
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