Need Advice - 2 Year old and sleep

Hi Everyone,

I need some advice and wondering if anyone went through something similar. This will be long...

My son has never been a good sleeper...from day one. Eventually when he reached 8/9 months, we decided to do the ferber method. It worked great and he had no issues with sleeping for a while. I could just put him in the crib and he would fall asleep on his own and not wake until 630 in the morning. It felt like a miracle. There were hiccups here and there with teething spurts...but all n all...he would go back to sleeping well.

Then I would say 6 months ago (when he was about 1.5, everything changed. When I would go to put him in the crib he would scream bloody murder! Throw himself around, hit his head on the rails...just crazy. Now by this time I didnt feel comfortable letting him cry it out because of the above. I certainly dont want him to hurt himself! He would settle down if my husband or I stay in the room so this is what we have been doing until he falls alseep which is fine.

YET, now he will sleep in the crib until around 11 but then suddenly awake screaming again. In the beginning we would go in, settle him down and wait in there until he fell asleep...but then this started happening like EVERY.HOUR. My husband and I both work and need to get some sleep...SO as to no fault but our own...we started bringing him in the bed. It seemed like the only way so we could ALL sleep...this is how it has been for the past 6 months. We wait in the room until he falls alseep which is around 8...he then wakes around 11 and we bring him in the bed.

I also had to start using a sleep sack, because otherwise he started climbing out of the crib whenever he woke.

When he is in the bed...he sleeps no problem. If I were to keep him in the crib...he will wake every hour.

SO...I assume he likes the bed because we are in it and he feels safe. BUT I also think he may like the bed because it is soft and warm and the crib is hard and not as comfy and maybe feels confined???

He is going to be 2 next month...I figure it really cant get any worse than it is now...the crib converts to the toddler bed...but i dont think that would make a difference because its essentially the same with just one side down. It also converts to a full size bed...has anyone ever just converted to the full size and added the safety side rails??

I feel like just maybe he would be super comfy in the full size bed and wont feel trapped and just MAYBE would sleep through the night....

This is just a theory though...i really have no idea what to do at the point..but like i said before, it cant get much worse! So if I convert and he still wakes...well then he ends up in the bed again...at least until he's old enough and understands more.

PLEASE HELP! lol I really dont know what to do.

Thank you all in advance!

Re: Need Advice - 2 Year old and sleep

My daughter was never a good sleeper either. The only time she slept well was from 11 months to 2 years old. Then she started climbing out of her crib and sleeping became an issue again! It was awful!
We ended up getting her a small toddler bed (not what the crib converted to) and let her pick out the sheets she wanted. She loved that. We also got her a new night light. She still would fall asleep, wake up and run out of her room to ours but we just kept walking her back to her room. Eventually if she stopped waking up and got more comfortable in her room.
I don't know if this helps but I do understand your pain I feel like it was another phase that eventually passed.

Need Advice - 2 Year old and sleep

I would say convert to a full size bed. My dd's bed does the same converts to toddler bed and full size bed. Im converting straight and not doing the toddler bed at all. For me, my personal opinion is its pointless. Its the same mattress. She loves the bed because its big and softer, warmer, everything you said.
We plan to make the conversion very soon.

Good luck! I hope he sleeps better!

Re: Need Advice - 2 Year old and sleep

My son (DS1) started sleeping in our bed when he was just a little over 2. Prior to that he had been an AMAZING sleeper. STTN at 4 months and fell asleep on his own for naps and bedtime with no real sleep training. He would fall asleep on his own at bedtime but would wake around 11ish and eventually we just started bringing him into bed with us bc he'd wake repeatedly. It was horrible. In bed with us we all slept great. We did what we had to to get some sleep. He slept in our bed until he was 4.5. Eventually he just started out there. When the transition finally happened we'd stay outside his bedroom door while he fell asleep. Then we phased that part out. But, he'd still come to our bed sometime in the middle of the night. This stopped when he was 5. He made the decision to stop sleeping in our bed on his own. We even moved OOS and he had a new room much further from our bedroom and still he chose to sleep there from day 1. We believe that for whatever reason he needed that security at night and so we gave it to him. Around the time he started sleeping in his own room and also again when he stopped coming to our bed in the middle of the night he started really coming out of his shell socially. Lots of developmental gains so we think we gave him what he needed until he was ready.

Just sharing our story in case it helps. Sometimes you do what you have to even if you never thought you'd let your child sleep in your bed. I learned to never say never.

Need Advice - 2 Year old and sleep

We switched my DS to a twin bed at 2. Best thing we ever did. If he had a bad night sleeping we would go in and sleep with him.

DS also went through a few periods of time where he wouldn't sleep.....we left the light on cause it was the dark once, I would sleep with him one time cause it was separation anxiety.

Re: Need Advice - 2 Year old and sleep

Thank you everyone for sharing your stories and experiences. It helps to know others have gone through the same or something similar.