What do I do???

About a week ago DD decided to tell herself she's afraid of the dark. Okay, fine... hall light stays on at night. Went great the first few nights. The last 2-3 night are crazy! Actually, the last 2-3 days, because this includes naps. She fights to her end to go to sleep. Screams, cries, makes herself throw up.... anything for attention, to get out of the room, to not go to sleep. At night, she wakes up at least 6 times a night crying. It's frustrating. She's NOT a newborn so I see no reason to wake up that often. And when she finally does take a nap or go to sleep for the night, I dread the time she wakes up because no matter how little or how much sleep she gets, she wakes up cranky as ever. She's completely unpleasant to be around and cries if you just look at her.

Tell me it's normal, that it's just a stage. I've been sick as ever lately and don't have the energy for this. I'm tired, I want to sleep. I want MY daughter back, not this monster that has replaced her.

By Tink on Friday, November 26, 2004 - 11:14 pm:

In my experience, this kinda goes along with the terrible two's and the boundary testing that they do now. I tend to be the tough mommy type and I just walk them back to bed and tell them to go to sleep night after night. None of mine have gone the throwing up route, though. That would throw me for a loop. Have you made sure she doesn't have an ear infection? That is the only time my youngest acts like this and it makes her super cranky and clingy during the day.

A night light and the firm "time for bed" attitude I have usually takes care of the scared of the dark issues but I hear of a lot of parents using "monster repellant" or making a big issue of checking that all the scary things are out of the room. Being afraid of the dark usually goes along with developing an imagination. Have you noticed that she is playing pretend more lately? I also explained that there are good monsters like Elmo, Grover and Cookie Monster, which seemed to make a difference to my ds. I hope you feel better and Kaitlyn starts sleeping better soon!

BTW, I saw that you got her a play kitchen. How does she like it?

By Dawnk777 on Friday, November 26, 2004 - 11:22 pm:

I'm sorry that she's giving you so much trouble! I remember one time being exasperated with my older one crying and not going to sleep. We tried to ignore the crying for a while, figuring she would just go to sleep, but finally go in and check on her. She had thrown up and had a mess in her bed. I felt so bad! Although, I recall her sleeping without a problem, once she was cleaned up and her bed was changed. She only did that once, though.

If she is that crabby, I would think ear infection, too. They usually made Sarah pretty cranky, too.

By Colette on Saturday, November 27, 2004 - 07:49 am:

I hope last night went better for you. If this is really unusual behavior for her, she may be either coming down with something or having a growth spurt. At any rate, when this started with my dks, I pulled out the "magic dream blanket" and if needed the "magic dream cream" - the blanket was a special baby blanket that I had put away and the "dream cream" is lavender oil. I would put a tiny dab on their temples - I was desperate and this worked. I hope you both get some sleep and feel better soon!

By Marcia on Saturday, November 27, 2004 - 09:17 am:

I was thinking ear infection, too. It was the only time my kids acted like that. Being flat increases the pressure and pain. If that's what it is, as horrible as it is for her, it's an easy fix.

By Debbie on Saturday, November 27, 2004 - 11:28 am:

My first thought was ear infection. My youngest ds used to get them all the time. It was impossible for him to sleep with them. He would also cry and scream until he threw up. My oldest ds was afraid of the dark for awhile, but it wasn't until he was around 3. He had a magic sword that he slept with and we kept the lights on. However, I would definitely have her ears checked. When my ds was afraid of the dark, he only had problems going to sleep. He did not wake up several times a night. That fact makes me think it is not just about being afraid of the dark. {{{{hugs}}}} I know how draining it can be when everyone is not sleeping.

By Boxzgrl on Saturday, November 27, 2004 - 11:36 am:

She was just at the Dr. on Tuesday for a check up and her ears looked good so I dont think its that. She did a little better last night, I only had to put her back in bed twice. DH has been great lately and has been getting up with her the past 2 morning when she wakes up at 5 so I can sleep a bit more. I guess i'll see how she does today with her nap.

Cori, she likes the kitchen play set but still doesnt play with it as much as I thought she would. She likes playing in our kitchen sink organizing dirty dishes. The things toddlers find amazing. Or maybe shes trying to tell me to wash dishes? lol!

By Amecmom on Saturday, November 27, 2004 - 09:34 pm:

My son, who had reflux as an infant, did the same thing at just about 1 and a half. He would wake every couple of hours screaming. Nothing I could do helped. I left the overhead light on, but even that didn't help. It turned out his reflux had returned. I heard gurgley noises, and gave him Zantac befor he went to bed. He slept like and angel and we've had no trouble since.

I'm not suggesting that she has reflux, but any sudden behavioral change could have an underlying medical cause that the doctor is just not getting to the bottom of. I'd taken Randy to the doc and he could find nothing wrong ... go figure.
Hope things go better for you!
Ame

By Imamommyx4 on Saturday, November 27, 2004 - 10:29 pm:

The two things that seem to upset dd's nighttime or daytime routine for that matter are illness and growth spurts. Even if she were in the dr's office Tuesday, it doesn't mean she doesn't have an ear infection now. Fluid build up behind the drum can turn into an infection pretty quickly. With mine I'll try Dimetapp. That is my drug of choice-has a little antihistamine to take the edge off of the pseudoephedrine. Plus dd will take the grape taste.

DD is usually pretty good about going to bed. So when she goes threw little spells of not wanting to and she is not sick, she and I will lay down (no playing) together on the couch, lights out and tv on. Usually a couple of nights of that and she is back to her regular routine. I guess I am kind of sympathetic to the insomnia thing because I have bouts of it myself. And there were lots of times when I was a kid that I absolutely could not go to sleep and my parents made me stay in the bed. I hated it. After I got old enough, I would stay up in the dark watching tv until I fell asleep. It worked for me so I thought it might work for dd and it does.

By Fraggle on Monday, November 29, 2004 - 11:11 am:

I went through somehting like this with my youngest. I was almost pulling my hair out for a couple of weeks and then she just stopped fussing and went to bed one night. This happened a couple more times for about a year. Now I have no problems getting her to go to sleep. I guess it was just a phase she went through.

By Tink on Monday, November 29, 2004 - 12:20 pm:

How have the last couple of nights gone, Melissa?

By Rayanne on Tuesday, November 30, 2004 - 11:38 am:

How are things going Melissa? I hope things are going better for you two.

By Shellyg on Tuesday, November 30, 2004 - 01:03 pm:

OH my gosh, same thing happened to my little girl at about the same age. After trying to figure out what the cause was for many months we found out she was having night terrors. I guess that is a nice name for babies that have nightmares. Needless to say, the only thing that helped was for her to sleep with us for the next TWO years. Does she wake up scared? Poor baby! We did buy a "barbie bed tent" to put on her bed, that did seem to help a bit. Good luck!

By Boxzgrl on Tuesday, November 30, 2004 - 01:27 pm:

She's actually been fine the last few days. I've been reading a book about how to deal with terrible 2's along with the developmental stages shes going through and this exact thing is explained fairly well in there. Its much to difficult for me to explain in a few words on here though. I'm glad shes back to normal. Some naps she still wakes up quite cranky so I let her lay in bed and whine until all the "bad bed bugs" are out of her and she can be nice. Its not really a punishment, I think she just needs to lay there and get the cobwebs out of her head before she gets up and explores. ITs worked quite well!

Thanks for asking!

And Rayanne- I saw your post about how Rylee likes to push the back of the shopping cart and how she throws a tantrum when your pick her up. Kaitlyn does the same exact thing. She loves pushing the shopping cart. What has helped me to keep her busy is to use one of the carts for toddlers that is a car and has a steering wheel (If they have them where you shop) just like the ones you can rent at the mall. She will sit in that thing the whole time I shop without a peep. Its just like pre-baby shopping days! Good luck and how is she doing?