# 2.5 year old not sleeping through the night



## julie128 (Jan 9, 2003)

I am so tired. Our 2.5 year old is still not sleeping through the night. She wakes up once, twice, occasionally thrice. She is in a side-car crib, and I do not nurse her in the middle of the night. We have a nearly 5 y.o. in the other bedroom, and we'd like to put the girls together, but we can't yet until dd2 will sleep through and not bother her sister. Suggestions?


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## 2Late2BCreative (Jul 3, 2002)

I don't really have suggestions for you but just wanted to offer some support. I have a 5 yo DD and 19 month DS. My DD was an "awful" sleeper and woke often. She did not sleep through the night as an all night nurser, when we night weaned, when we completely weaned (around her third bday), when she was in bed with us full time, part time or no time. What I am trying to say is that no matter what we did or did not do, she always woke up often. Now at five, she still has her moments. Looking back I can see a relation to her dreaming and her need to pee. I think she was always a big dreamer and that caused alot of her waking...then later it seemed as though she was very restless when she needed to go potty. Regarding having your new babe sleep in same room with her sister.....I have noticed that my kids don't always wake each other up when we all cosleep. DS can be crying and waking and DD won't budge and the opposite is true too. You could always give it a try and see how it goes. If your oldest DD is being disturbed by the little one's waking, then go back to where you are now. Good luck to you. I know how frustrating it can be to have sleep "issues"...but I try to remind myself that this too shall pass. Hang in there!


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## TiredX2 (Jan 7, 2002)

We night-weaned DD for 4-5 hours at 25 months. So, at 2.5 she was still consistently nursing to sleep, waking 2-3 times and then nursing at morning. She slept through all the way closer to 3.5.

DS is now often sleeping through the night. He is almost 4.5.

No real suggestions, just saying it is pretty normal.

What happens during the night? Everyone wakes up, that's totally normal, but what do you have to do to get her back to sleep?


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## travelinmom (Feb 19, 2006)

I know what you mean. Ds1 is still not sleeping through the night and he's 3 and half, he always wakes up and climbs in bed with us. But he goes to sleep with his sister some nights and his waking up in the middle of the night doesn't seem to be a problem for her. She sleeps through it. It wasn't too hard to transition them sleeping together. They take longer to fall asleep together, stay up talking.


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## cinnamonamon (May 2, 2003)

My ds1 is 3 now, & he still wakes up around 2am. He comes into our room, crawls up the bed & cuddles up to me. No biggie. I found that talking to him about what he should do when he wakes helped a lot. "Remember, no nursies til morning;" "if (when) you wake up you can go back to sleep, or come in & sleep by mama, but me quiet so you don't wake brother;" "there is a cup right here if you wake up & are thirsty..." etc. He really seems to absorb this stuff. When he was almost 2 we taught him to come into our room when he woke, instead of crying/calling for us -- this was great as then he could come straight to me as dh always ticked him off at night.


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## rgarlough (Jul 18, 2002)

Our 2 1/2 yo still doesn't sleep 8 solid hours without nursing at least twice.







I'm not ready to nightwean and I don't think that would 'solve' anything for us though. We cosleep which is our sanity saver especially since I work FT outside the home


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## julie128 (Jan 9, 2003)

I didn't have enough time to post that OP, and when I tried to clarify some things, I got interrupted and had to abort. *sigh*

She might be waking up when she has to pee. I have thought of that, but there isn't really anything I can do about it. She will wake up around midnight and then again between 4 and 6:30. Until late January, DH slept on her side of the bed and would deal with her at night. I didn't know how often she awoke. Then, he injured his shoulder and slept on the couch, sitting up, until about a week ago. He's been in physical therapy. Now, he is back in bed, but we have switched sides. Anyway, the way DD falls asleep at night is by lying on top of me. Oy. I got fed up with that and wouldn't let her do it. She cried for about an hour and a half until she fell asleep--for 2 nights, and then she figured out that it was okay with me if she slept next to me (on my bed), and the next night she just asked to sleep next to me. I really need her back in her crib (side car--open side to our bed). I can't sleep well with her pressed on one side and DH asking me to move over on the other (He gets half the bed, and DD and I share the other half. Is this fair, I ask you.). Maybe it's just a matter of small steps. Step one: sleeps next to me and then I move her. Step two: she learns to fall asleep by herself in the crib. Step three: she sleeps with sister and does not bother her in the mornings (She will crawl over her or otherwise bother her.). Step four: we can TTC w/o worrying about sibling suffocation.


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## TiredX2 (Jan 7, 2002)

Do you have a twin mattress available?

Instead of trying to transition her to a crib type thing, you could instead put your mattress down on the floor next to the twin and transition her to that. Even if she was slow going at least you would have more space. Perhaps you could have your 5 year old come in your bed so your 2.5 year old got used to sleeping next to her? Or cuddling her to sleep in the other room?


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## cinnamonamon (May 2, 2003)

ITA with trying to make the bed bigger -- if she falls asleep pressed up against you, then you can roll over/away from her after. Or try putting her in bed in her sister's room (with a nice big bed so they don't _have_ to touch). Then you can tell her she can come in your room if she needs you. You may be pleasantly surprised... I would put a baby monitor in there so you can hear what's going on if she wakes. Then you can always hop up if necessary.

I also think the transitioning her slowly like you said (on top of you, beside you, off to the side, different room...) might work well. I don't think you need to worry about sibling suffication -- I sleep with one on each side of me every night. I definitely noticed the few times Ian tried to crawl onto the other side onto his brother -- you're aware of that same as you're aware enough not to sufficate him/her yourself. Just think...by the time #3 is there, your little toddler will be a full fledged, talking in long sentences, (probably, maybe) peeing on the potty, going to playdates without you (maybe







) preschooler!


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## CB73 (Apr 16, 2005)

Our 2.5YO son has slept "until morning" once in his entire life. ONCE. He sleeps on a futon in the room next to mine -most nights, he sleeps with DH. (I sleep with our 6MO son in our bed)
DS1 simply wakes up....sits up, wobbles and calls for one of us (if DH is not right there) and on rare occasion, fall asleep again on his own. I had an "ah ha!" moment reading a PP...it may have to do with peeing since his diaper is typically soaked in the morning. Could it be readying for the potty with your DD?

I suspect that there is little we can DO as parents to make our children fall asleep, or sleep longer...it is no different from being able to make my DH fall asleep, (or wake up) on command!









You are not alone in having a non-sleeping 30 month old - but what a great opportunity to have them share a big bed and bond even more! You may be surprised at how well they do, or perhaps that being together helps the younger one sleep more solidly!


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## julie128 (Jan 9, 2003)

Making the bed bigger isn't really possible, unless we get rid of the bed (where would we put it?) and put the mattress on the floor. We have a queen next to a crib, and DD1 sleeps on the bottom full-sized bunk of a bunk bed. We're not comfortable with her sleeping on top yet. We got the full/twin bunk so that the kids could share. The problem with them sharing is not suffocation but the fact that they bother each other. The bunk was a mistake. We should have just planned on them sleeping separately, but I got caught up in a cool Dr. Sears suggestion w/o considering my kids. Now, we're kind of stuck. Don't know what we'd do with that darn bunk bed, otherwise. The night after I posted that last post, DD2 slept until 6. Now, she's sick and not sleeping. Oh, well.


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