2 Yr Old Not Sleeping... Help!

Oh boy, I could've written this post myself. We just transitioned our 2yr old to a toddler bed (crib conversion) because he was climbing out. The last 3 weeks have been hell. He used to sleep so great!
Now bedtime is a fight, and for the last week, he's been all over the map - waking up some nights several times, some nights not at all. The worse was Monday night. He was up from 12:30-4 just screaming. He wanted us in the room with him, which has never, ever been a problem before.
I'm chalking it up to a) bad dreams b) 2yr molars (maybe) c) a growth spurt and d) he knows that a new baby is coming very soon (I'm ready to deliver any day now).
We've reversed the handle on his bedroom to lock him in there. We don't let him sit and scream, but we do let him jiggle it for a bit before we go in. He needs to understand that night time is for sleep.
I literally just said to DH this morning, that I'm giving it another week, and if it's still a problem, we'll do CIO it again. I went in 2x to sit with him and tuck him back in last night (12:30 and 4), and I CANNOT deal with this on top of a newborn. Like you said, it's about his well being too, not only us. He's not sleeping well and is tired and crabby during the day (I forgot to mention that he's also stopped napping during all of this). So CIO will be the decision if this does not calm down on it's own in another week. It's always worked very well for us.

PS: a crib tent just seemed like prolonging the problem to me. It's clear that DS is ready to get out.

Do you think that she might be getting her 2 year molars? They really bothered both of my kids and disrupted their sleep. Try some motrin and see if that helps.

If it doesn't, does she have a lovie? Give her one warning, and then tell her you're taking her lovie away if she doesn't stay in bed. Then do it.

My guess is that once you get the bedtime routine back in place, the middle of the night waking will take care of itself; she's probably just so tired she can't get into a good sleep.

Good luck. Both of my kids did this around 2 as well - it's a killer.

This is a tough one. Her nap during the day may be too long, so I would limit it to 2 hours at the longest. What I noticed with my daughter when she was that age was that when she took a nap her routine would be all out of whack, instead of going to bed at 7 she would go to bed at 10----not good for me when I was pregnant with my son, so her naps were stopped. Sure she was cranky but it got her to go to bed at 630-7 and sleep 12 hours.

She gets up because she can, you need to walk her back every.single.time. It will be exhausting, but once she learns that she cannot sleep in your bed she wont get out of her bed anymore. It took 3 nights for us. Check out the book Healthy Sleep Habits, Happy Child by Weissbluth for some more hints.

GL!

She is getting her two year old molars. Don't worry...this is the LAST of teething!!

I am literally going through the exact same thing with my son! Don't know if it is growth, molars, separation anxiety, dreams etc or combinations but whatever it is awful and we could not function on that little sleep! People kept telling me to be natural and bring him to bed with us but he would stay awake in our bed for three or four hour stretches so that did not work and babies r us told us crib tents were recalled! We bought baby gates for the doors to his room (he is in a jack/jill) so we needed two. And then did cio- it worked easy and fast when I told him what the plan was- 1st night 45 min crying but slept throught. 2nd night 6 ming crying but never got out of bed, 3rd night 1 ming crying. Our only issue is he wakes up at 5am and I am helping stay in his bed until morning which is hard for him to understand. Not sure why his sleep isn't as easy all of a sudden! Naps are back though- huge relief, worked for us and the gates at least made it feel like he wasn't in a box and it wasn't hot in there. Goodluck!

My son did the exact same thing! It took us six months of bedtime struggles and nap problems to figure out we had to stop the naps. It has been over a year, and things are much easier. He still wakes at night several times a week, but my husband or I will take him back to bed and lay on his floor, instead of him sleeping in our room. I strongly suggest the crib tent, I got one recently for my toddler because there is no way I'm ready for him to be out of the crib yet. In place of naps I do quiet time - this was a struggle to get started, but now he enjoys it for an hour most days. I have a gate on his door, have made the room safe, and he chooses a 'big boy toy' to play with. Occasionally he will decide he wants to sleep and climb into his bed, but then he's up past 10 which is way too late for me!