2 y.o. standing in crib for hooouuurrss

marybeth1699 · May 2013

So my 2 yo is going through some kind of major developmental milestone / sleep regression. The past few nights when we put him to bed he pops up and starts whining for us and will stand there whining for hours on end. He is now doing this during his naptime as well and will blow right through his naptime just standing there whining. He's not crying - there are no tears. He is just whining for us to come in and read him more books or sit in the chair with him. Last night he resorted to saying he had a poop in his diaper so I went in to change him only to find he was lying (I had previously gone in when he said he had a poop and he did have one so I think he realized it might be a way to get me in there). He will also throw his lovie onto the ground and then scream for me to come in and pick it up for him. This goes on for hours each night.

We have tried going in at intervals to get him to lay down and go to sleep and that seemed to make it so much worse everytime we left. So last night we didn't go in at all until 1 am when he had been standing there for 6 hours. He had a huge meltdown when we tried to leave him so my husband stayed and held him until he had calmed down and fell asleep (maybe 40 mins or so).

Has anyone been through this? Have any insight? I really don't want to go in there and start holding him until he falls asleep because I don't want to create negative sleep associations but it doesn't seem like he will go to sleep on his own. We tried waiting him out and he went for 6 hours straight from 7 pm until 1 am. Should we have just waited him out all night?

We took him to the pedi and they checked for an ear infection or anything like that and he checked out OK. I don't think it's a physical health issue.

jebrmbbeb · May 2013

Yes my daughter went through this exact thing. For her it was teething and the two year sleep regression. It has passed but sometimes she acts like that again every once in a while. My best advice is stay consistent and don't create any long term habits you don't want later. We go in, lay her back down, tell her it's okay and it's time to go sleep and say goodnight and leave. We do it however often we feel like it depending on how upset she is. Hang in there, it's super annoying I know! Now my daughter just screams at me sometimes from her bed, it's lovely.

marybeth1699 · May 2013

Thanks! How long did it last?? I don't know how much longer I can take it. I barely get any sleep because I am watching him all night long to make sure he doesn't jump out of his crib and because I like to keep an eye on his level of upsetness (I know that's not a real word).

cyprissa · May 2013

We've had nights where it's really hard to get him down but he's in a bed so I just keep going in his room and picking him up and laying him back down....over and over and over ala supernanny. I keep talking and interaction to a minimum but do tuck in and give a kiss. It has worked for me but is very challenging. I've definitely felt like giving up.

jebrmbbeb · May 2013

marybeth1699:
Thanks! How long did it last?? I don't know how much longer I can take it. I barely get any sleep because I am watching him all night long to make sure he doesn't jump out of his crib and because I like to keep an eye on his level of upsetness (I know that's not a real word).

I feel like the whole ordeal was over a couple of months. It was long enough that I was freaked out that she was going to act like this forever now. The longest my dd would ever whine and stay up was probably only two hours though, so I can't relate to it happening for that long at a time. How awful! Have you tried just being more stern? Sometimes when we were really annoyed and done with it we'd go in and sternly tell her to knock it off and go to sleep. Probably not the best tactic but we have our weak moments. It did work sometimes though. I googled two year sleep regression and sure enough my dd fit all the descriptions. Unfortunately no one gives any advice on how to actually deal with it. I think it's one of those things that will pass on its own. So just try not to make any long term habits you won't want to deal with later.

Oh and when my daughter was getting her I teeth she started this all up again and then stopped once they poked through. Fun times!

Mrs.EMS · May 2013

I think we need to start a support group. I read this and was like are these people in my house...So what i did the supernanny thing too but I alo changed the order enwhich I do night time routine. I also set her up with the next thing before it happens. After your night night show we will brush our teeth and read 2 books.... we get to the teeth ok now pick 2 books and then we are we can rick about then it's night night sleep time. You get the idea. It took 2 nights then she was telling me what was next. BUT we had a set back last night, she said she was scared as she was melting down ( i think she was over tired) I stayed a little longer...I knew she was and I should have started bed time earlier.My fault. I guess it also depends on how tired your child is. I noticed more meltdowns when she was busier in the day... she was tired. SO bed time sooner.... I looked at her last night after she was asleep thinking when she is leaving for college I will be wishing for these nights back... wishing for my baby back.

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