Help with 2.5 year DD's sleep regression, please!

UBMyBaby

DD has been a great sleeper for the longest time--12+ hours without incident.  Sometimes she would play and talk to her bunny, Nee, and sing.  But always a great sleeper.

In the last 4 weeks or so, she has been waking, quite a bit.  First, it was waking around midnight and then she would cry out.  I'd go in (which I hadn't had to do in FOREVER), comfort her for a minute, and leave.  She'd fall back asleep and then repeat it when she woke again 90 minutes later.

Then she started waking and calling out for things she didn't need---a diaper, her fan on (it already was), some lovey she thinks she dropped out of the crib but didn't.  A case of manipulation, I was sure it was.

The last four nights, she wakes sometime between midnight and 3 am, and proceeds to stay up for the next 2-3 hours, crying out, screaming, you name it.  Nothing is wrong--no teething, no fever, no earache--she just appears to want attention.  Then she gets up super early, around 6:30 am, and then wants to nap from 8-11 am.   Her schedule is so screwed up and she's so tired that she is a bear.  (Honestly, normally we have had very few discipline problems with her, but it's getting out of hand with her tantrums lately.)

And last night she was up from 4-7, screaming like crazy.  We let her cry a little, but she will gag and choke and even spit up very fast.  So we go in to calm her when it gets out of hand.  And then it's quiet for 20 minutes and starts all over.  So she gets up at 7 this morning, eats a bowl of oatmeal and asks to go to sleep.  Sleeps until 11, gets up and eats and plays a bit, has a fit, and screams nite nite again ten minutes ago.  

Is this a phase?  Please tell me yes.  I've never had issues with her and it's getting bad fast now.  Should I be comforting her?  Or am I feeding her frenzy because she is calling to get us in there?  Or should we ignore her?  But then I'm dealing with vomit and gagging and she's even more upset.

 DH and I have talked it to death..we are trying new approaches every night, and we are both frustrated.  Any experiences?  

maxebook29

All of a sudden my DD has been doing almost the same thing. She goes to bed at 8, would wake up at 10 and hang out until 2. Luckily she isn't crying, but does call for me about every 20 minutes. Then she wakes up at 6:30 and is a total grouch because she is tired. She has slept through the last two nights (knock on wood). I stopped letting her go back to bed in the morning. It makes for a rough morning, but then I let her take a slightly earlier nap (noon instead of 1) and don't let her sleep more than 2 hours. This way DD is really tired come bedtime. Not sure if it would help you, but seems to be working so far for us. Good luck!

ccm1203

No experience with that, is it possible she is having nightmares?   

 Have you thought about moving her into a bed? 

docmay25

My DD used to be a great sleeper too and started doing the same thing.  Waking in the middle of the night calling us in for no reason.  Then waking super early.  I wish I had a solution for you.  I wish I had a solution for me.  i will say that when my ds started not sleeping well, we switched him to be bed and he started sleeping much better.  he stopped crying out and tossing & turning.  We are going to try that with my dd, but I am not optimistic that will solve the problem.  You could try it.  I think my ds's crib mattress wasn't comfortable anymore and he needed more space. 

Good Luck!  Hope you get some answers and something works out for you.  I know how frustrating it is...I feel like I have a newborn again (except she slept better when she was a newborn).

UBMyBaby

We hadn't thought of a big girl bed yet.  She has never tried to climb out, and she has a pillow and blanket in her crib.  But now you girls have me thinking.  The thing I worry about is her sudden waking and yelling, "DOWN!"  like she wants out.  I worry if I move her to a bed, she'll just get out.  But maybe it's time?

The funny thing is, she has never tried to get out.  She seems to love her crib until this phase started.  Now she just wants us in there at all hours.

Keep the suggestions coming.  I'm open to anything!

AnnapolisLari

This is the age where they can start having nightmares, could that be it?

DS has always been a lousy sleeper, but recently has been waking with bad dreams. He was screaming last night, and was up at 5 (!) today.

UBMyBaby

I don't know about the nightmares.  She is awake for the 2-3 hours, quiet, then screaming on and off.  It just seems like she is playing us to get one of us to come in.  She is wide awake.

I caught her in what I think was a nightmare a couple of months ago, and it seemed pretty obvious to me.  This seems different, and a nightly occurrance now.  But hell, what do I know?  Clearly I'm not getting it right yet since we can't seem to quell these things.

 

omurray

I would try moving her nap to a little earlier in the day so that she is more tired at nighttime.