2.5 year old suddenly NW waking and taking 2 hours to return to sleep!

[Mommy in Moose Jaw]

Hello,
wondering if anyone can offer an explanation or suggestion for help.  Our dd is completely sleep trained with BW techniques since age 4 months.  In the past couple of weeks she has begun waking at night and taking nearly 2 hours to go back to sleep.  Sometimes it begins with needing to pee (potty trained for about 10 months) or a drink but then she will cry for me off and on for almost 2 hours!  What is going on???  And how do I get her back to her good sleep patterns?  The first time we address all the 'needs' -- potty, water, wipe tears, etc. Admittedly, with subsequent summons I have been interacting with her rather than just wi/wo.  tonight, I will try only wi/wo with subsequent summons and see how that works.  At first this only happened if her waking occurred beyond about 3:30 am, but has progressed to be a problem whenever she wakes up.   Amazing how fast AP can snowball....
Any thoughts?

[Layla]

Is she napping? What does her daytime schedule look like?

Layla

[Mommy in Moose Jaw]

She doesn't nap anymore.  Hasn't napped for several months.  When things are going smoothly she goes to bed around 7:45pm and wakes anytime between 7-8am.  Occasionally wakes up to pee.  During the day, her eating schedule is very consistent with 3 meals and 3 snacks at predictable times.  She does seem to be going through a growth spurt right now -- evidenced in appetite and with higher marks on the measuring wall   As I am writing this I am thinking that maybe she would benefit from a little nap in the afternoon as she has also been exceptionally cranky and more 'two' these past few days.  Maybe all pointing to OT?

[Layla]

Yeah, I would either try a nap or you could try an earlier bedtime for a few days to let her catch up.

In regards to the "demands", my Isabella did the same. What I ended up doing was talk to her about night time and that if she wakes she can call and I will help her with what it is she needs the 1st time but she needs to try and get back to sleep on her own thereafter. We had calls for water/potty/wipe tears/cover me with blanket/put my socks on as well. For water, I put a sippy cup of water by her bed as well as a box of tissues. I also put a potty into her room (sounds yuck!) but it actually stopped the never ending request to want to do "one more pee" and she's only used it in the morning a few times for a wee before I come and get her. For blanket, I ask her to show me (so we practice) how to cover up during the day... this way I know she can do it by herself at night as well. For socks, I also practiced with her during the day how to put her socks on at night.

She has a nightlight so that she can see what it is she is doing/she can find her blanket/her teddy (we have about 3 in her bed at the moment)/see her water/see the tissue box, etc...

I have one more nightlight which is on a timer and I tell her that its not time to call me/wake up until that nightlight comes on.

So with nightwakings, I would go to her and see what she wants. Help her and leave. If she calls you back go to her and tell her its night time and leave. Then do the wi/wo (so start counting to 5 or 10 or 15 and then go back to her for a quick comfort if she's still crying at the end of your count). From then on no talking (so with the 1st call you do what she wants & tell her its night time; the 2nd call you tell her its night time & from then on no talking other than repeating "its night time, go to sleep"). Repeat and in time she will absolutely get the idea that its sleepy time, and that even if mummy comes to me, she will not give me attention so there really won't be a need to call her!

Is she still in a cot or is she in a big bed?

Layla

[Mommy in Moose Jaw]

She's in a little of both :-)  We attempted a transition The Baby Whisperer way and it went horribly so we went back to the crib, but cut the legs off so it is like a crib on the floor.  She didn't seem to do well without borders.

I have basically been doing what you suggested and it is working well.  After she didn't get much attention from me she invited me to leave :-)

Thanks for your help!

[Layla]

Thats good to hear... I hope things imrpove from here on!

[Elphyrafire]

My 2 year old DS had the same thing around his 2 year birthday- I believe it was his 2 year molars coming in. It lasted about a month and then he started sleeping again whne they all cracked through his gums.
 GL!