Sleep disaster

My son was going through something similar. He would wake up at about those times and sometimes I could get him back to sleep, other times I would just bring him into bed because I didn’t have the energy. I finally pinpointed a couple things. One was separation anxiety. So before bed and naps, I would communicate that mama and dada would be just outside the door (not gone) and he seemed to understand that. He would repeat “mama outside door, no leave”before he would fall asleep. Secondly, the way I was putting him down. I would rock him to sleep every time, and then put him in his crib. I read that if you do this, they need that same action/motion when they wake up in the middle of the night in order to fall back asleep. It’s suggested they fall asleep in the own bed. In just the past three days, we have switched to me laying next to him in his crib holding his hand until he falls asleep and then I leave. He hasn’t had any wakes the last three days.

If your baby is 2, that means you got the 2 year sleep regression! We just went through it with naps. It took 3 total weeks of keeping the routine.

I know it’s tough but you cannot change it up constantly or you’re going to confuse your baby. If she screams so much that you end up going in, you will teach her that if she screams loud enough, it will work.

Here’s what you can do if you’re ready to take this on:

Get her up in the morning (no earlier than 6 am). Do not go in before 6 am :)

If you start the window at 6, she can probably only stay up until 12pm.
Have a short routine (book, nap sack, turn off lights, turn on sound, “it’s nap time”) then leave the room. If she doesn’t sleep at all, give her the full hour to stay in there in the crib. If she falls asleep and wakes up 30 min later, let her stay there until 1 hour of rest is completed.

If she didn’t nap at all, offer a second nap around 3pm to make it to bedtime.

Bedtime should be 6-630pm sharp. Good luck!

crazy, what I thought I was doing wrong is what is working for you. Our son just recently decided to drop naps and bed time is a struggle battle now (he has been always an amazing sleeper). You give me some hope 🙏

it’s def not a one size fits all. This is just worked for us. We also go by wake windows/activity/ bedtime routine. Honestly, I was quite surprised it was a total 180. He was a really good sleeper for a long time before all this. And I remembered I used to put him down in his bed before he fell asleep, not rock him to sleep so I figured I would try again.