18 month old sleep issues! help!

My 18 month old is suddenly not sttn. She wakes up in the middle of the night and wont go back to sleep. She will be up for 2-3 hours before finally going to sleep. And its an epic battle getting her back to sleep. Crying and screaming. Frustration from my dh and i.

Each night we initially go in to soothe her and make sure everything is ok. We will give her some water or rock her or both. And nothing works. I know some people will say thats the first mistake but we have always responded to her cries to make sure everything is ok. It seems like she falls back to sleep but not a deep sleep and as soon as we put her down shes up crying.

We attempted to cio because we were at our wits end and she just screams at the top of her lungs. She cries hysterically and stands in her crib. And i admit we messed up because we went in after 10-15 of hearing her screaming at the top of her lungs over and over and as soon as you pick her up she stops... shes babbling and puts her head down on my shoulder. Shes yawning. Shes clearly tired. But restless. Cannot seem to get comfortable.

I dont know what to do! Do i just do cio? Shes exhausted and were exhausted.

She went from sleeping 11 hours to only sleeping 7 and its broken sleep. Shes still waking at the same time. Only 1 day did she sleep an hour later than usual. She wakes up and shes yawning still. She has bags under her eyes. She looks tired. Some days she also fights her naps and takes them so late it throws off her bedtime by an hour or 2.

Nothing is wrong when we go in. Nothing. She slept better when she was sick last week! Her room is comfortable temp. Her diaper isnt anymore wet than usual. Shes not congested or sick anymore. AT ALL. Her appetite is fine during the day. No gas or tummy aches. Not hungry.

Is this a sleep regression??? I need serious help. Any advice is welcome.

Thanks for taking the time to read my novel!

Message edited 1/5/2014 12:02:06 PM.

Re: 18 month old sleep issues! help!

I think you have to do CIO. You can't go in after 10 minutes. She knows if she screams that you or your husband go in, so that's what she's doing. Eventually she'll get tired and go back down to sleep.

Re: 18 month old sleep issues! help!

It's hard, but I think CIO will work. My DS is 2.5 now, and there have been random periods over the years where we had to re-sleep train him. We started CIO at 5 months and it worked perfect in 3 nights. The first night is always the hardest. My DH had to hold me in bed. But I am sooooooo glad we did it. Mommy and Daddy need a good night's sleep too. If there's no medical reason for her getting up, let her CIO. We have to do this again every time we come back from vacation because he is used to sleeping in a room with us during vacation. 1 night and it's back to normal. Be strong!

Re: 18 month old sleep issues! help!

Naps? As in plural?
Maybe it's time for one nap.
After that, I'd be sure she was warm enough, but not too hot.

Re: 18 month old sleep issues! help!

Sounds like a regression to me. It will pass. I would def try CIO again. It's so hard but worth it. I heard the 18 month regression is the worst of all. Hang in there!

Re: 18 month old sleep issues! help!

It's a phase, I went through the same thing! Lasted two weeks here. I think it's an emotional growth spurt. They're starting to learn/retain so much their brains get overloaded. I soothed and didn't do CIO even though I'm a CIO momma. She went back to STTN on her own.

18 month old sleep issues! help!

Ooo its good to know im not alone. Ughh its so tough...i understand shes a baby and it will go in phases but this one is a tough one. I did some reading up on the 18 month regression and it is a tough one.

No i said naps cause i meant days. She only takes 1 nap.

Thank you so much ladies.

Re: 18 month old sleep issues! help!

dd did something similar... not at the same age, but still, sounds very similar. she would get herself in such hysterics, that I did wind up going in and rocking her to calm her because the sounds coming out of her were just awful. but I could definitely tell that NOTHING was wrong... she'd calm and put her head on my shoulder and fall into a sleep, then when I'd put her down, hysterics again. the restless nights for her and I started to effect our days and after about a week or two, I said enough was enough and I made her CIO. it was a phase and she got over it. good luck!

Re: 18 month old sleep issues! help!

Went through this around the same age & it was a phase like other posters have said. Lasted about a week. We're going through it again now, I'm pretty sure bc of our new baby. It's funny that our 11 week old STTN & the 2 year old who was usually such a great sleeper is keeping us from sleep. Hopefully this passes, too - going on 3 weeks this time.

Message edited 1/5/2014 9:14:40 PM.