How to get my 17 month old back to sleep at night

Question

She has always been a terrible sleeper to make a story short! She is in our bedroom (just simply not a choice right now, no other place to put her crib:( ) and lays down in her crib at around 8pm, goes to sleep on her own. Usually wakes up around 2:30 and we got to the point where we just brought her to bed with us, gave her a bottle of water, and off she drifted to sleep again...what would happen if we didnt do this? LOTS OF SCREAMING! lol. So then she wakes up again b/w 4-5 for milk, goes back to sleep again. We know we've gotten her into some horrible habits...ugh! I don't know how to break them, should we just go cold turkey with everything? I know if we want her to keep sleeping in her crib we can't bring her to bed either, but what do we do to get her to sleep- i'd hate to let her cry it out, she puked last time we tried that.

Answer 1

sounds like the trials and tribulations of mother hood....she will grow up and she will NOT want to sleep with you..I Promise....snuggle her up and enjoy those sweet hugs and milk breath now...it will be gone in the blink of an eye...oh yes..try to not let her nap too long in the evening and make sure she is not hungry...maybe you snore and that wakes her up....who knows just enjoy it before its gone forever..

Answer 2

Hi,

You don't have to let your baby cry it out to get to sleep ..... there are other ways!  My baby James had sleeping problems and several people said I should use the cry it out method but I just hated it. I felt like a wicked parent and would give in every time and go to comfort him.

Eventually though a friend recommended I try a baby sleep audio program that had worked for her baby. It had a number of techniques that I could use and amazingly the one I tried started to work the very first night. Within two weeks James was sleeping through the night and I'm pleased to say he has never had a problem with sleeping since.

Answer 3

My baby had the same problem. We found that if you give them two sleeps during the day it usually helps. For some reason they seem to sleep better if they sleep more during the day. our baby sleeps until about quarter to seven in the mornings at about half nine we lay her down and again at twelve. if she starts to cry we leave her for about fifteen to twenty minutes. if she is still crying we go up to her with a smile and show that you're happy to see her. But if she has slept for a decent length of time you should go up to her when she starts crying: (

do the same at night and finally she should break the habits. Once she sees that she is not getting attention straight away. To be honest I would also maybe put her to bed at maybe around seven. You don't have to but it may help.If that is what you want to do then you should make her bed time slightly earlier each night until it ends up that her  bed time is around sevem o'clock.This should maybe take 2 weeks.

If you are scared when she starts to cry you may check on her but make sure she does not see you or she will cry harder and for longer.

I hope that this helps.

She sounds like trouble with a capital T

Also make sure you set a bit of time each day to play with her

Answer 4

Don't let her take long naps during the day. This seem to be my problem for a while too. My daughter now sleeps all night and I am so thankful for that. I am grateful that she sleeps because I know how it feels to have a hollering toddler in the house at all times of the day. Try to do some activities with her, to keep her awake because she will for sure try and go to sleep. I know I had to take my daughter outside to play to keep her from going to sleep.

Answer 5

Do you think maybe she might be getting too much sleep during the day?  Maybe you could cut her nap time down so that she'll be much more tired at night.  

Is she eating enough at supper?  Maybe her tummy is waking her up.  

Another thing is TV...my daughter would have nightmares from TV shows we never would have thought possible.  We watch alot of National Geographic/ Discovery channel and we were surprised to learn that some of the material was scaring such a young child.  Even cartoons can be scary to a 17 month old.  At this age she may be unable to communicate that she's having them.

I feel your pain- our youngest daughter came to our room nightly from the time she could walk till age 4.  We'd take her back, tell her to stay put, and in another couple of hours there she was again!  I now believe she actually has a mild sleep disorder.

One more time tested thing is chamomile tea.  It's been used for centuries to help people relax and sleep better- even children.  You might try it for a short time, until her body gets used to sleeping through the night.  It works for me!

I think you know what you have to do.  It will be hard for a few nights but I think she's old enough to understand that when its dark she should be in her crib sleeping.

Good Luck!