DD Sleep Issues

zizzabell523

I wanted to post this here to see if any other moms had any recommendations we could try before we took it to the doctor level, hopefully it won't come to that, though.

DD is almost 3 and for the past 6+ months, the only way she'll go to sleep is with someone (preferably me) laying next to her. She usually plays with my hair until she's asleep and then I sneak out of her bed. I don't mind it, except on the nights it takes forever. She also wakes up every night between 2-3 to get cuddles again. I usually am half asleep anyways, so I fall asleep in her bed until it's time to get up for work. The problem now is we're expecting #2 in May and not only can I not lay in bed with her for an hour every night and again a few hours later, but I also won't be able to run off this little sleep, especially with a newborn needing feeding every couple hours. We're also planning on moving her to another larger room and using her current room as the nursery for the new baby since it's pretty much already set up.

Last night, I tried not staying with her until she fell asleep and full on banshee screaming ensued. I was eventually able to get her to calm down, but it took a lot of soothing to get her to go to sleep on her own, about 2 hours total. Then, the witching hour 3am came and I was determined to not crawl in bed with her and ruin what I did for bedtime. It was worse than the initial bedtime. I was so exhausted come 4am, I eventually laid down on her bed and fell asleep with her playing with my hair, like usual.

I know some kids have a security blanket/lovie, but mine doesn't. I think in a way, I'm her security, so it makes me feel conflicted about what to do. I'm hoping a couple more nights will help, but not only am I exhausted from not getting a full night's sleep for months on end, but now that I'm almost 7 weeks pregnant, I'm super exhausted. HELP!

mommaSG

I hate to break it to you mama but you are her lovie. I am i. The same boat as you though except no baby on the way. I was never a mom who could do the cry it out method and daughter is 26 months and stilll wakes up 3 times a night and refuses to fall asleep without me. From my readings its because we are their security blanket. They need to learn to fall aleep on their own and unfortunately they haven't. I do a lot of reading and most of it says for a few nights sit down with them then leave for a few min. Say things like i ha e to go potty and get them to stay in bed and leave for a few min the. Slowly extend that time before you walk in. Its like 2 min away the first few nights the. 5 and 10 and so on. I have tried but like yours. My DD screams like someone is getti g murdered and i cant do it. Hubby is at his wits end. I wish i could help you but figured it would be nice to k ow you are not alone