2 year old daughter advice really needed !

My wife and I are having quite a few problems with our 2 year old daughter sleeping and we are both shattered. Any help and advice on the below will be extremely appreciative…

We put her down about 7.30pm most nights, with a bottle of about 7-9oz of full fat milk which she sometimes finishes. Thankfully she will sleep through until 5am when she wakes up and makes it known to the world. This is the problem.

At 5am, I will go into her room and she is sitting or standing up in her cot. We feel this is a bit too early to for her to be getting up, so in order for her to sleep a little longer, I get in the single bed next to her cot. As soon as I do this, she lies down and goes back to sleep/dozes for about ½ hour when she will then start playing in her cot, talking, whinging etc.

We don’t want to bring her into our bed until at least 6am, as this is more of a reasonable hour. In the past (about a year ago) we have done this which she got used to, and was a hard habit to break. We also used to put her in a travel cot in our room when she woke early, and we managed to break this habit.

This waking up early business has got worse since its gets daylight at a ridiculously early hour. So, my mother spent 2 days sowing black out lining to her curtains, and unfortunately this hasn’t helped an ounce.

We have tried in the past, and are thinking of trying it again over the next week or two, to leave her in there, and pop in every so often to reassure her as she is crying the place down and gets hysterical.

As soon as we bring her in to our room/bed she stops and lies down as is happy as can be. She doesn’t go back to sleep though until late morning/early afternoon. She has never been a good sleeper.

I am starting a new job in 2 weeks where I will be working harder and longer than I am now, so we are trying to sort this out now before I start. We are both at the end of our tether..

Please help. Suggestions and advice most welcome.

Thanks and sorry it was such a long explanation.

PS. It feels like we are the only ones this happens too, as all our friends children sleep like angels and have to be woken up. So they say!

Well to be honest my 2 yr old son also wakes early in the morning, and if he goes down before 7.30pm he wakes in the very early hours.

My daughter was good in that she would sleep until about 7-8ish but I think all children are different.

One thing we tried with George is cutting out his afternoon nap, but he would still only sleep the same amount, and be really really cranky on top, but it may work for you?

this is quite a tame problem compared to some so please dont worry.

Id be inclined that when she wakes up to stroke her head say nighty nighty or ssh back to sleep, then leave, if shes fussy then repeat it, it might take a few nights but as soon as she realises that its not getting daddy in there shell give up.

Id be inclined to take away the bottle, give a cup of milk before bed and make it part of the routine, bath, jammies, milk, story or quiet time then bed.

She may be restless if shes got a wet nappy or needs a wee.

Be persistant and every night shes slept without mummy or daddy, then she gets a sticker, what about the nightime fairy, perhaps using that technique when shes sleeps till 7 maybe, then mark it on a chart, then after 7 sleeps without any getting up, the nightime fairy can leave her a toy, maybe a small ball or a little jigsaw puzzle or book.

I hope you figure out something that works and good luck

It is a very common problem

I think Lucy has given some very good advice. I would take the bottle away and give her it in a cup cuddled up with mummy or daddy and a story. The rapid return method is great but once you start it you have to be consitent and it may take time (if she wakes lie her down and tell her it isnt time to get up, repeat again and on the third + time DON'T talk to her she will soon realise it is not getting her any attention) When you feel it is time to get her up then you go in and open the curtains and make a huge fuss of her for staying in her room.

At 2 she is old enough to understand stickers so use a chart, get you Daughter involved let her pick the stickers and set an easy target to begin with (maybe 3 stickers = a treat) and then increase it and keep your daughter informed of what you are doing.

Hi i also have a 2 year old daughter and never have had trouble with her sleeping, she usually goes down 7-7:30 and it can be 8ish when she gets up... but we did have the same trouble when the light mornings arrived too, i used to go in lie her back down, stroke her head and quietly said it not time to get up still nigh-nights. And it seemed to work! Times are now back to normal. Try this i recommend it. Good luck.

have u tried a black out blind?

Thing is 7.30-5 is actually a pretty long sleep. Caitlin goes to bed about 7/7.30 and gets up anything from 5.30-7. I'm a light sleeper and wake up when its light out, she has got a blackout blind but doesn't cover both corners properly her window is huge!!!!!!

Anyway thing I'm going to try is getting an alarm clock for her. Set it to 7 and say she can come wake mummy up then but if she wakes up before it goes off then she has to stay in her room.

Don't give it cause your tired otherwise it is going to occur over and over again, nip it in the bud now or try new methods, spoken to your health visitor?

We had exactly the same problem with our youngest daughter. We tried everything including cutting out her afternoon nap. In the end we just let her into our bed for an hour or so, so that we could all get a little more sleep. She has now grown out of this. However, it would seem that she is just an early riser and doesn't need as much sleep. It has got better but she is still usually up at about 6am, now though she plays in her room until more sociable hour.

When both my two boys didnt sleep well or stay in bed in the morning until a reasonable hour we tried 2 things. One was to put an alarm clock in the room set to what ever time you are allowing them to get up. they had to stay in bed until the alarm. The other one was a nightlight. let them switch it on themselves at bed time and they can only switch it off when it's time to get up. My boys eventually got used to only switching the light off when they heard mummy or daddy getting up and then it became a routine. I ended up making a business out of making special nightlights so children love them and become involved in bedtime and sleep themselves. We have made lovely toadstool ones with fairies on and lots of people I know who have bought them say they wont sleep with out them on!

This is a really common propblem for this age and they usually grow out of it,can I ask if she is having sleeps in the afternoon and if she is how long are they for as you could try cutting the sleeps down,also you could try putting here to bed a little later say about 8,and maybe give her the bottle and a snack like a banana,what about if you put some books on her bed or a few small toys will she play quietly with them while she has a bottle of milk,just a few thoughts really but think its just one of those things they usually grow out of,even thou its a real pain for everybody else lol