My 2.5 year old was an incredibly difficult baby, awake 6,7…8 times a night for about a year. Things plateaued for a while and she was a lovely lovely child, ate well, slept through, so kind and gentle.
Fast forward to now, terrible 2’s doesn’t even cover it. She screams, hits, bites and throws things at me. All. Day. She doesn’t eat ANYTHING, not even her safe comfort foods anymore, she will not go to sleep. It’s taking 3 hours average to put her to bed. I’m eating dinner at 12-1am sobbing through my meal. This is all day, every night. I have gentle parented her, I have kindly disciplined her, firmly disciplined, ignored her, walked away and even gone against my biggest morals and given her a slap on the wrist when she punched me in the eye. I’m at my f*cking whits end and I’m just so depressed and overwhelmed. I genuinely am so patient with anyone and everything but dealing with this day in and day out is making me want to literally run away or in front of a bus.
Video below is after 2 hours of trying to put her to bed and stepping out for 5 mins to gather myself together.
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Does she still nap?

oh honey. i can't imagine the pit you are in. that sounds horrible and lonely beyond words and you don't deserve it. what you do deserve is real help and support. this sounds like it needs expert help, more than we can offer on this app, to make sure you get what you need too - you sound so lonely in this post and i'm worried about you. i would look into getting your child into some sort of early years assessment/therapy so experts can tell you what to do, but also getting some support for yourself. ❤️

Would bringing her into your bed help? Just so you csn get some sleep. Also whats her diet like? Have you tried cutting all suger/snacks. My 2 year old is tough at times but if he has any bad sugers hes a living nightmare, we only give once in awhile. We also dont give snacks unless its fruit only. We also contact nap & cosleep and it really helps him self regulate.

Try Bratbusters parenting. She has a free behavior board on her website with a crash course on toddlers. She also has so many YouTube videos/podcasts you can search for her and whatever youre concerned about. The name is off-putting but she never calls kids brats, teenagers she worked with named her that. She has helped me immensely. My son was like that and still is extremely strong willed at 4yo. She has helped give me tools to handle all the situations and things have gotten so much easier.
Also, just for safety I would bring her to her doctor and make sure she doesn't have an ear infection or UTI that she cant verbalize is bothering her or some other health issue. The not eating is what is a little concerning.
Last but not least, do you have a partner that can give you a break? Sometimes I get so wrapped up in my kids, I forget that I need to care for myself and I deserve a break too. Ive been working on leaving the house and the kids with my husband and just being by myself. Its HARD. But you need it.

Here's a link to the podcast. Its an episode on hitting. She has a bunch more on hitting as well:
https://open.spotify.com/episode/2FdwHVhlmgYZpSbPN1P5ib?si=xR9aYmHOTQatBKGZSFCavw&utm_source=copy-link
https://open.spotify.com/episode/4PJLYpb0Bm4aB4hD48Slp0?si=ud4kQsqtTUa1XcS6mf9pKA&utm_source=copy-link
https://open.spotify.com/episode/7EN9b289EZuMmSPn1UJ5D2?si=mSQ2A9cuQNeMet874IT-5w&utm_source=copy-link
These are all on hitting and biting. Im sorry youre going through this. I totally understand because my son was the same way. This lady says that a lot of hitters and strong willed kids tend to go on to be athletes and powerful people because they use their bodies and minds in different ways lol
Also with my son we had to just put him in bed and let him cry it out. I tried the ferber method and he would just get more and more mad. So we did a bed and nap time routine and put him to bed awake. It lasted 2-3 days and he just started accepting falling asleep on his own. I keep a tight sleep schedule.

This was so difficult to read I can feel your pain through this post 🥲 my daughter is only 9 months but a terrible sleeper so I relate to you on that the best night she has done so far was 3 wakes . I think you should reach out for professional help . I’m not sure where your based but could your doctor recommend or refer you to a specialist to assess the situation . Maybe it’s not just the terrible 2s and it could be good to rule out everything first .it won’t last forever that’s the only advice I take and pass on as it’s the only reliable advice . But please reach out for help this sounds so overwhelming . Sending so much love 💗

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