toddler sleep issues....tantrums and fears

DD will be 3 in May.

She has always been a good sleeper. In bed by 8 and up at 7:30/8am.

For the last 3 weeks she has been having a hard time going to bed. after we do our routine and then say goodnight, she freaks out the minute we walk out of the room. she starts screaming that her belly hurts because she knows we will come in and take her to the bathroom. she obviously doesn't have to go because we take her right before we start the routine. if we leave her, she will scream and wake up my youngest. last night she even came out of her room to cry. she seems to be afraid to be alone. she has nightlight next to her and we have started leaving the door open a bit and the dog sleeps in her room. i dont know what else to do. she is taking sometimes 2 hours to fall alseep and then waking up at 6 or 6:30. she is not getting enough sleep and is miserable. is this a phase? shoudl we ride it out?? is there something more i can do?? i even brought her little potty in her room so she understands we are not taking her out of her room.
we are all miserable from it.

Re: toddler sleep issues....tantrums and fears

I don't have any answers, just sympathy. We've been going through this in my house lately with my 3 year old DD and it's driving me insane. She wakes up my DS several times a night before finally going to sleep (they share a room) and by then I'm drained, have no energy left to take care of whatever I need to do and DH and I wind up eating dinner at 9/9:30 or even later..

The only thing that "helps" is if I'm willing to sit there with her until she falls asleep.

Re: toddler sleep issues....tantrums and fears

thanks. we used to each lie with her at night before bed to help but then she was constantly asking us to keep coming back in to lie there.
it's so frustrating and then everyone is tired. i'm hoping the phase is almost over.
i'm going to try giving her a little flashlight tonight to help with the fear part of it.

Re: toddler sleep issues....tantrums and fears

I deal with this the same way I CIOd with my kids.. no drinks, no more trips to the bathroom or anything..bedtime and that's it.. sometimes I'll hear her still yapping away or tossing and turning but then she will just pass out.to me, it's time for bed.. I think it's a stall tactic more than anything.. I hope it's the same for you and not anything wrong with your DD.