Day 14 of No Sleep Due to Sudden "I Am Scared" from Toddler

There is a major cognitive leap from 2.5-3. This means they wake up every night. My first did it and now my second is doing it. I don't have conversations with my son. I take him to the potty and then put him back in bed, saying its night night time. I'm pregnant so if he wakes more than once, I kick hubby.

The more you engage, the more they will expect you to engage.

I wish I had more advice but your options are to just sleep with her or let her fuss a little.

What about putting a comforter down on the floor of your bedroom and let her camp out there?

I once made my child a 'good dreams' cloth. I took a nice piece of soft fabric, sprayed it with a little perfume, and let my child sleep with it. The scent was relaxing and it was something tangible to feel/smell during the night. There's something very powerful about scent and fragrance. We talked about how bad things smell bad (rotten food, dead fish, skunks, and other things) and how good things smell good (mama's perfume, flowers, cookies) and I tried to help her associate good and pleasant things with that perfumed cloth. Of course I only lightly sprayed the cloth, didn't drench it, just enough to release a little fragrance when rubbed. A nice washcloth would work, too, if you don't have a soft fabric piece.

What happens if you lie down to sleep with her and then get up as soon as you notice she's asleep?

We have a king size bed and are often visited by our youngest. He's actually a really still sleeper now, but when he was her age he was not. There were a couple of nights here and there when I would simply get up and go sleep in his bed. My husband said he didn't think our son noticed, and he was able to sleep better because our son was on my side of the bed.

I know it's exhausting, but the more you are there for her now, the sooner she will feel safe again and be able to sleep without needing you.

If she's having bad dreams, she may need your presence and reassurance before going back to sleep.

I am sorry to say this, as we ourselves are in a pattern of 'bad dream' nights with our five year old. No amount of exercise, good food or keeping unsettling news away from little ears changes the bad dreams. Lately, it's been two a night, and so I feel your pain.

What I'm wondering is if you and your significant other can trade off nights of 'nightmare duty'? This is what has kept my husband and I sane. I also need my sleep. Kiddo has a full sized bed, so we just get in with him. If we fall asleep, fine. Not comfortable, but fine. He's not great to sleep next to. If he falls asleep before we do, we usually just go back to bed.

I wonder if putting some pillows between your busy sleeper and yourself would help the night be more comfortable for you in the guest bedroom. If you haven't tried it, consider it. She might bump up against those and stop, so she doesn't kick you so much.

I did not lie to my child and do "boggie man spray" or anything like that. We said prayers and asked God to help us have "sweet dreams." And after my son fell asleep I even prayed over him that God will help him to have restless sleep and not wake up with bad dreams.

I had to watch out for things that he was watching on tv/movies. I never considered it "scary" for Buzz Lightyear to be stolen and missing from his friends in Toy Story 2. But my MIL enlightened me that young children see these things differently. We had a lot of discussion between real and pretend. And we stopped watching "scary" movies. My son has seen Scooby Do once - at my mom's house - and has never even seen Monsters Inc b/c I don't want him to feel frightened or have scary dreams come back into my life. So, perhaps your daughter watched something "scary" in Wisconsin?

I would also consider going back to baby basics and perhaps putting that lavendar-lotion on the neck of her pajamas. Tell her there's nothing to be afraid of because mommy is just in the other room sleeping.

Well, if you are desperate enough, you'll apply some tough love here, or next year you'll be on here asking how to get your daughter out of your bed.

She has now acquired a habit of waking up so that you will come in and stay with her. She is employing every trick in the book to get you to pay attention to her, and you are giving her every incentive to do it.

Either tell her that you are not going to come in any more and she will have to stay by herself, or prepare to be miserable for a long time.

You should lock your bedroom door and stay in your bedroom. If she starts wandering the house, turn her doorknob around and lock her door from the outside. It is a safety issue for her to wander the house, so you need to keep her in her room. It doesn't matter where in her room that she sleeps - as long as she is in her room.

When she gets bored crying, fussing, being in the dark alone, she will start falling asleep. If she figures out that you really mean it, that you are NOT coming in her room, she will stop waking up.

It's your decision whether you allow her to keep you up, or if you give her Mommy's 3 am bootcamp. I'd do the bootcamp if I were you.

Dawn

My niece went through the same thing. My sister's solution was really brilliant. She took a spray bottle and made a label on her computer for it. The label read: MONSTER AWAY. She filled the bottle with water and added lavender oil so that it had an obvious scent. Then she tole her 2.5 yr old that she had the power to banish all bad dreams and imaginary monsters with the spray. Sister showed her how to use the bottle. What sis was doing was empowering niece to handle her issue herself, which made niece feel powerful and in control. After a few nights of sis going into her room and saying, "Well did you use your spray? Lets do that. You spray away those bad thoughts etc..." niece stopped calling out for mom. Let me know if it works for you. Sis said the trick was to make the liquid a strong enough scent (lavender, almond, peppermint) that the child believes that there is something in the bottle other than plain water.
L

My daughter was doing this saying she was scared of "scary ghost-es". So we got her several Scooby Doos and put them all around her room. We also put one in her crib with her. I would go around the room at night and tell all the scary ghosts to go away because Maggie was going to sleep now. Then, it was Scooby's job to make sure they didn't come back. It lasted about 6 weeks, but now she's over it. Maybe see what she is scared of and go from there....Or, I have to second the bed on the floor in your room til she gets over this phase. Good luck tired mama! I can't sleep with her either, she is a bed hog.