# 16 month old NOT SLEEPING--- PLEASE HELP!!!



## cracklepop4 (Jun 14, 2008)

My 16 month old DD is not sleeping, AT ALL! I'm about to go insane. From the time she was born, she has been an EXCELLENT sleeper! She never had any interest in sleeping me me or DH, so she has been in a bassinet or crib her whole life. Until now, it was typical for her to sleep 12-16 hours at night and take 2, 2 hour naps every day. Seriously, I have always been SO impressed with her sleeping habits. She lays down awake, and always has.

NOW: She screams like crazy when I try to put her down for a nap or bedtime. We do not CIO, so I get her up, and start all over. For the past week, I have been lucky to get her to take one nap, and they usually only last 30-45 min. Yesterday, she took NO nap and would not go to sleep. We finally got her down a little after 10 and she was right back up at 1:30, WIDE AWAKE! She stayed up until 3:50 and then finally went back down.

I haven't ever had to deal with her not wanting to go to sleep, so I have NO IDEA what to do. I read to her, rock her, sing to her, etc. We have tried putting her in our bed but she totally doesn't understand what we are doing. She thinks it is time to play. Most nights, I end up rocking/singing for close to an hour until she finally falls asleep, then I get to lay her down. But, if she wakes up in the middle of the night (which most nights here lately she has) she doesn't want to go back down for 1-3 hours.

WHAT DO I DO? Are there any books that cover sleep habits at this age and how to get them to sleep without using CIO. She knows that if she yells out when I lay her down, I will come right back, so she does. I know she is too young to be malipulative, but I can't help but feel defeated! HELP PLEASE!!! Seriously, I'll try anything (other than CIO).


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## MeepyCat (Oct 11, 2006)

Oh mama! I'm sorry! I'm envious, but also sorry.

Is it possible she's starting to cut molars? If so, some kind of teething medicine might help her go down better.

Is she hungry? Can you make sure she gets a snack right before bedtime? Is she getting to run around enough during the day to get tired?

Reading your post though, I wonder if she's just outgrowing the need for that much sleep. From your numbers, she's sleeping between 16 and 20 hours every day, which is a lot for a 16 month old. Most kids don't sleep that much past the newborn stage. If that's the case, the answer to is to cut out a nap, and shift bedtime later. (My 16 month old sleeps about ten hours on a good night, and naps 2.5 hours max during the day. This is not always enough for me, but seems to be enough for him. If he goes to sleep too early, I am guaranteed a 2-3 hours stretch in the middle of the night with a kidlet who wants to play.)

I would make a point of being dull in the middle of the night. No stories, no singing. I try not to even talk. I don't turn on the light. We sit in the big comfy chair in the nursery, and rock back and forth in the dark. It's comforting, but it's also boring.

There is a toddler version of The No Cry Sleep Solution, which I found to be a decent source of ideas. Her stuff on shifting bedtime, building bedtime routines, and recognizing a sleepy child was very helpful to us. Some of her other advice didn't work at all for us, but I felt like she was on the right wavelength, philosophically, and you could do a lot worse than have a collection of things to try.

Good luck! Those long night wakings are the worst - I hope you find a way to get a decent stretch of sleep for everyone soon.


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## cracklepop4 (Jun 14, 2008)

Molars are a possibility, I'd hadn't thought much about that because she didn't have any trouble with all of her other teeth (she has everything up, but not including, her 2 year molars).

A snack is a great idea. I dont think that is the culprit of the problem, but maybe it would help.

I have stopped attempting to get in 2 naps, we only shoot for 1. I agree, she is moving out of a need for 16 plus hours of sleep. I hate it though, I so enjoyed the free time!!









Is the toddler version by the same author? Same title? Or different all together?

THANK YOU!


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## MeepyCat (Oct 11, 2006)

The toddler version of NCSS is the same title and the same author (Elizabeth Pantley, I believe).

Good luck! I hope you can get it worked out and get some rest yourself soon.


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## Jenine (Dec 6, 2007)

I second the teething question.

I had a similar situation with DS when he was teething. He would be difficult to get to sleep and then wake frequently. He wouldn't necessarily be upset or seem to be in pain, just awake. His sleeping would go back to normal after the teeth came in. The molars and canines were the worst.

If you're willing, give DD a dose of motrin before bed to see if it helps.

Good luck!


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## savvybabygrace (Feb 15, 2007)

Hyland's teething tablets works wonders for my dd (13 months). She's cutting molars and canines and they seem to take the edge off and calm her greatly at night.


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## srs (Nov 8, 2007)

Are you sure she's not sick? Just a thought, given that it's so out of the blue. My 16 month old DD had a virus last week that kept her up like that, even wanting to play at 2am, but it passed after 4-5 very trying days and nights. Good luck!


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