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Toddler sleep issues with baby on the way

LMMH09LMMH09 member
in Attachment Parenting
I have a 2 year old that still has a hard time sleeping. He is finally starting to sleep through the night sometimes or at least giving me a 5 hour stretch for the most part but I still have a really hard time getting him to sleep.  He will only let me do it (if Daddy comes in he flips out) and it takes me about 2 hours every night.  The only time he will fall asleep quicker is if he didn't take a nap that day and then he doesn't sleep as well through the night.  He mostly wants to hold my hand but sometimes I can sit in the "sleep chair" while he falls asleep.  Its starting to get really hard for me as I get bigger becuase it is uncomfortable but mostly I am concerned about when the baby comes. I don't want him to feel like he has been replaced but I really don't see how I am going to be able to sit there for 2 hours a night when I have a newborn to take care of also. Especially if this baby is as high needs as he was! Sorry this is kind of rambling. Do you have any advice on how I can get him to go to sleep on his own before the baby gets here? He is in a big boy bed so he just gets out when I leave and cries. Sometimes he just plays in there but he will never just go lay down and fall asleep on his own. TIA!
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Re: Toddler sleep issues with baby on the way

  • handsonthewheelhandsonthewheel member
    We are having the same issues right now and decided my husband would take over bedtime, even though she clearly preferred it to be me. It took some time but they figured out a new routine that works for them. It's completely different to how I put her to bed and it still takes ages for her to fall asleep but it was really important to us that she got used to my husband putting her to bed before the baby came. I still think we will struggle a bit when the baby comes and I'm not sure what the best way to handle it is...I don't see her being able to put herself to sleep anytime soon and she definitely isn't anywhere close to STTN! 
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  • lena.mccabelena.mccabe
    Thanks for your reply. I think that is what we are going to have to do too, it's just so hard because he completely flips out! Its hard to stay out when he is so upset : Does your husband go in there when she wakes up in the middle of the night too then?
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  • KCKappaKCKappa member
    Just wanted to chime in that we do the same thing as PP - DH puts DD to bed every other night so she's used to him, and will likely take over completely once LO #2 is here in a few months. We've been doing this for at least 6 months, and she still says "Mommy put me to bed?" most nights, but we just tell her on his nights, "No, it's Daddy's turn tonight." On the night's it's his turn, yes, he is the one who goes in with her when she wakes at night (whichever one of us it is just sleeps the rest of the night in her bed, so there's only one wakeup and she's almost always back asleep within a minute).
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  • handsonthewheelhandsonthewheel member

    imagelena.mccabe:
    Thanks for your reply. I think that is what we are going to have to do too, it's just so hard because he completely flips out! Its hard to stay out when he is so upset : Does your husband go in there when she wakes up in the middle of the night too then?

    That's where we struggle right now--she does not do well when he goes to her after she wakes and he always ends up bringing her to our bed because she flips out so much. It's an okay system for now but I really want to work on that in the next few weeks because I don't want it to be a huge shock for her when the baby comes home and is in our bed and she suddenly can't come into our bed with us. My husband has said next week he will try sleeping on the floor in her room for a few nights when she wakes to see if he can get her to calm down and go back to sleep in there. I really wish we had bought her a double bed instead of a toddler bed so that someone could sleep with her more easily...I actually think the smaller bed is part of the problem after she got used to sleeping in our bed for so long!

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  • LMMH09LMMH09 member
    Ok great thanks. Yeah luckily he is in a twin so we can fit pretty comfortably with him. My husband just has to wake up so early to leave for work at 4 am I have always felt bad making him take the night wakings. Sounds like we are going to need to make it work tho! Thanks everyone!
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