Who stole my sleeping angel and left me this changeling!!

[Chickadee]

Since 4 months, Chloe has been a dream to put to bed. Other than some bad nights or weeks with teething or being ill, usually I pop her in bed, say good night, shut the door and we're done till morning.

It's all gone wrong!!! It's now 10pm. She's been in bed since 8pm and I think she's more awake now than she was at 8. At this rate I'll be asleep before her. This has been going on for a week now, together with wanting to come into our bed during the night. This evening I have tried patting which is our usual routine, it calmed her but not for long. I have sat in her doorway, at her insistance to "sit there". She just had a drink, again. The only good thing is that she's not crying and doesn't climb out of her cot, she just won't sleep!! Aggggh.

Does anyone have any suggestions for settling toddlers? (although actually I think I mostly needed to rant :rolleyes: ) And please not co-sleeping. I know it can be great but it doesn't work for us. She comes into our bed and starts playing and it takes hours for both of us to fall asleep.

Yells for more water have started. Will be a very soggy bum come morning!

[tickle]

Hmm this is a very tough one. I am probably not the best person to give advice. My O has only just started sleeping through on his own at 16 months :eek: .
So have you considered co sleeping....... :p

To attempt to 'slow' O down in the evenings, we lie down together and read a few stories. This works on most occasions. Sorry if you've already tried this. I just rely on anything that is a quiet, calm activity, that might possibly slow him down.
I wonder why she is doing it. Maybe just a phase. I know how it feels though. O was terribly jet lagged once and it took him ages to get back into the swing of things. We just tried to keep it really quiet. The other thing that worked really well was turning off all the lights and locking up the house and showing him that we were actually going to bed to.
Sorry haven't been much help. :o

[razzle]

Have you tried just ignoring her Martha? Eloise sounds like Chloe - a dream to put to bed, but sometimes she just chatters to herself and/or calls out Mummy for no reason other than she's a little too awake. Tonight she did that for about an hour and a half before she dropped off. I figure, she's not crying or upset, so leave her be.

[kimmy]

Hay my baby girl's name is Chloe also great name isn't it lol :D
Anyway Chloe hasn't sleep through a night yet & she's 8 & a half mths so I'm not one to give advise.
Jakob use to sleep through all the time when he was a babe but all i can suggest is just keep doing what your doing.
sorry not very helpful i now. :)

[Chickadee]

Co-sleeping Happy Rady, hahahaha. Not only does she not understand the "sleep" part of that phrase, she kicks and steals the blankets! We do try to have a wind down period. In fact tonight she even got a bath (not a nightly thing) and then flaked out in front of the Pooh movie. Books would be better, I got lazy so it's my own fault.

Yeah Rach, that's generally what I do - ignore the chatter and just go when she's getting upset. It seems to cycle, if that makes sense? Usually it's only half an hour of play though :( I might try waking her from her afternoon nap. My usual rule is to never wake her unless the house is on fire, but she's tending to sleep 2 to 3.5 hours in the afternoon now. She's been doing that for at least a month, but only now it seems to be affecting her nighttime.

I think she may have passed out. I don't dare look in.

[lil monkey]

Gosh Martha I don't know what to say apart from I know what you are going through!

You have heard me rant many times about Tayla and her sleeping etc but I'm at a loss as to why Chloe is like this.

Maybe it is the afternoon nap thing? I know with Tayla sometimes she can handle 2 2 hour naps a day and still go down at night and sleep and other days she is bouncing off the walls until 9pm.

I agree with non co-sleeping unless they lie very still and don't move until you wakeup in the morning.

Oh dear, the silence, is she awake, has she dropped off or is she 99.9% there but if I peek she will wake up!

I know my cousin's son went thru a stage like this for a few weeks when he was two. Wanted drinks of water, story after story, but he would eventually drop off. He played up the most when his mummy was pregnant again - are you pregnant again Martha?? :p

[razzle]

Gosh our two sound like twins! Eloise goes down for her afternoon nap at midday (give or take half an hour) and I try not to let her sleep past three - otherwise she doesn't go to bed at 7. We're big on the whole routine thing in this house! This afternoon I fell asleep on the couch and she didn't wake until about 3.30-3.45 so that's why tonight, she did the whole chatter thing. I hope for your sake it's just a phase.... have a fiddle with her sleeping times over the weekend.

Happy 2nd birthday to Chloe for Monday too - I just noticed the date in your signature!! :p

[WeThree]

hey martha :) Coops goes through these phases too :) he has always been a good sleeper, like Chloe, but will occassionally have periods where night after night he is waking up, calling out, climbing into our bed.... so actually, i dont have any advice either, although i wish i did!!! my only thing to suggest would be a wind down and routine at bed time, but as your already doing that, i dont really have anything else to say!!! we find Coops settles really well if he has his prayers and his stories, if he doesnt have these its like, its not bedtime or something and he refuses to sleep!!! good luck :)

[Chickadee]

- are you pregnant again Martha?? :p
OMG, that's the BEST laugh I've had ALL day!!!! :D

Kimmy, all input is welcome! I didn't realise when we named her how popular Chloe as a name had become, not that we'd have changed our mind as it was chosen from family names.

Thanks for the b'day wishes Rach. I'll pass them on to Ms 2 tomorrow. I wish she would nap earlier but won't sleep till closer to 2, so sometimes it's nearly 5 before she wakes up. Hmmmm... I suspect that some of this is because I've been busy with work and uni the last few weeks and trying to fit it all in AND look after her, so we haven't been getting out and about as much. I'll try to fit in an outting to the park in the mornings and see if that helps. We're off to some christmas party at a local theme park (?) tomorrow morning so that should tire her out, yay!

Thanks everyone, sometimes it's just nice to know you're not alone and doing the right thing.

[Supermum]

Hi Martha

I'm no expert but this worked for me with both of mine.

If they are awake, but happy enough .. don't sweat it. Apart from the calming routine before bed I don't believe there's alot else you can do. If she starts to get cross and cry for attention - Ferber her. Chloe sounds just like Carter ... came out of the womb having read the manual on good sleeping patterns and then did a turnabout out of nowhere. Bloody toddlers! :p

To be honest, when mine started getting restless in the cot I put them in a bed (trundle on floor). My logic was that if they are mucking around with getting to sleep, nothing is going to tire them more than the effort of getting up, gaining your attention only to be taken back to bed. It gets tedious after a while and they soon get sick of it.

Oh, and I put a drop of lavender oil on a cotton ball and place it under their pillowcases ... it's such a calming aroma.

Good luck M

[lil monkey]

Glad I made you laugh!

You are definitely not alone.

It's hard because we all want our bubs to fit in with our schedule due to the demands and pressures in our lives !

Try 'reprogramming' her tomorrow and let us know if it works!

[kimmy]

Oh HAPPY BIRTHDAY to Chloe for the other day.
My Chloe turns 1 in like 4 mths I'm looking forward to it but not she is almost walking now so by 1 she will probable be running around.
We didn't thing the name was that popular until we named her but Ive always loved the name Chloe since i was about 16.
Well good luck with the sleeping thing hope it all works out for you. ;)