My 20 month old daughter will NOT go to sleep at night.?

Question

She refuses and screams. She stays up (I swear!!) until 6 AM. We'll start preparing her for bed around 9pm (bath, snack w/e) and she just refuses to lay down and sleep. HELP!!!! We hold her, rock her, sing, read, lights off, lights on. We try not to give her naps but by 6-7pm she is such a screaming whiner that we either HAVE to give her one or she goes off and falls asleep by her self and wakes up 2 hours later reduvinized and ready to stay up until six all over again! Nothing will help. And *then* we *all* end up sleeping until early afternoon due to lack of sleep the night before. Can anyone help me? I am begging, Please!!!

If she gets a nap in the day time she stays up LONGER! And yes I *am* pulling my hair out. If I do *not* give her a nap she actually only stays up until 3am But Still sleeps until 2pm! I am freakin' goin' nuts!

Ok first off "toomanycommercials" your mean and should never answer any ones questions again.

For the person who recommended carnation good start...r u a mom? I don't think so. My daughter is 20 months old. She hasn't drank formula in 9 months
3rd for the peron who said something about drugs, please never have children.

Listen I am very thankful to all of you. But she is not ill, she has been doing this for weeks. And then it hasn't helped that 2 nights ago we put her in a "big girl" bed.

I have tried waking up early even if she stayed up until 6am. I'll even wake her up at 8am. She becomes lithargic by 2 and WILL NOT wake up. Sh wakes up on her own....no noise, in complete darkness 3 hours later.
Please....only Parents replys, please!

Answer 1

I feel so bad for you.
1)As the other readers said, my toddler took 2 naps at 20 months old on most days. 1 at 11am until 1pm. And one at 4pm until 4:45 or 5pm.
2)You may need to change your entire schedule around. Maybe try putting her down later-around 11ish. Run her ragged until then (11) and then put her to sleep???
3)You said by 6 or 7 she is sleepy, give her the bath then. The water will wake her up a little.
4)Evaluate her activities during the day. Maybe she is not occupied enough during the day and is not exerting as much energy as she should for her to be tired. Sounds like she is getting too much rest during the day.
5) Evaluate whether something happens each night around 9ish to wake her up from her 'nap'. It is possible she would be down for the night but something (TV,phone, doorbell, garage door opener) is waking her up and then she has no desire or ability to go back to sleep
I hope one of the 5 thoughts help. Good luck and don't worry, it can't last forever, right? =)

Answer 2

First, you are asking for help. Don't knock any method until you have tried it yourself. My son had problems sleeping at night. He is four years old now. Have you tried the family bed? We ended up doing that because my husband could not stand letting him cry to sleep, although I was up to trying anything at that point. My son slept with us every night until he was two years old. My advice as a mother is to set a routine. Try putting her to bed at 8:00 instead of 9. Have you read any books on the subject? Routine, routine, routine. It is the most important thing that you can do for your child. What I had to keep remembering is that they don't do this just to make parents miserable. If a family bed doesn't suit you, and if you won't hear of letting her cry to sleep, then try stuffed animals...but no matter what, you have to be firm. Parents are parents for a reason. If nothing you can think of works, ask your family doctor. There might be a medical reason that she is not sleeping. Maybe she has an ear infection or something. I had experience in that too. Well, I guess that's about all I can give you for now. I hope everything turns out for the best.

Answer 3

i think that you should stop with all the books, rocking etc. Now she knows that th elonger she flips out, the more attention she gets. At this age, she really should be able to go to sleep by herself. I know it will be hard, but start getting on a new schedule. She should be in bed around 8. she 'should' sleep until at least 7. then maybe a nap around 12 or 1.
This is what I do with my 22 month old. He has always been really good at bedtime until recently. He started doing the same thing, flipping out at nap time and bed time. First I gave in and let him lay with me or skip his nap all together. But I realized that it was probably just his age and learning to manipulate. I let him cry and he was asleep within 20 minutes.
I know it hurts to hear them cry, but it will be worth the sleep and calmness in the end.

Answer 4

OK, this will not be easy but it can't be any harder than what you're already going through, and it WILL work. YOu have to let her cry it out. You decide the bedtime, say 8pm. YOu put her in bed after a brief bedtime routine (no more than 15 minutes. You leave the room after saying goodnight and you DON'T GO BACK TILL MORNING. If she cries till 6am and finally goes to sleep, you still GET HER UP at the usual time, say 7am, and start the day. If you a)stick to a schedule that YOU set (don't let her, she does NOT know best) and b)let her cry when she's not wanting to follow your schedule, she WILL eventually adjust. You must not give in, even once, though. If you don't have the guts to do it, I have no sympathy left for you and you deserve to be miserable. You are the parent, she is the child, it won't be easy but you CAN make her conform to the schedule YOU want her to have.

Answer 5

I have been having the same problem with my 22 month old. Lately I have her on a good routine where she is up at 8, nap at 1, and around 4 I take her out to run around (We live where it's warm..i know..i'm very fortunate). After an hour of playing outside, she's already worn herself out. Dinner at 7, bathing at 7:30, and by 8:30 we are battling to put her to sleep. Most of the time she falls asleep by 10. I have been going a little nuts myself, but now I think I have it good after hearing your story.
Good luck...and hang in there!

Answer 6

Can relate to a sprint bit what you assert with infants and drowsing. If she is an purely new child at this degree you have an benefit. there will be no one to disturb as you start to ascertain some new sleep types. Have set circumstances and exercises for going to mattress no remember if or no longer that's an afternoon sleep or nighttime sleep. Do an excellent sort of activity- strolling, mountaineering, swinging in the time of the morning to purpose to tire her out. Insist she sleep in her very own room and advantages her whilst she does. Get no longer hassle-free. good drowsing types now set them up for existence and advise sanity for you. wish you have suitable fulfillment and which you're the two drowsing properly quickly. Alll the final.

Answer 7

Geesh...what a freaking nightmere!

From what I understand, more rest during the day means deep sleep at night. Maybe instead of keeping her up, you give her a nice long restful nap in the middle of the day and you might be surprised by a peaceful slumber at night. I know this theory probably goes against everything you know about sleep, but it's supposed to work like a charm.

Try to keep your cool...If I were you, I'd be tearing my hair out LOL! Best of luck!

Answer 8

My little brother does the same thing!
what my mom does is ****DOES NOT**** give him a nap whatsoever and wakes him up if he nods of. Dont give your daughter a snack as it wont digest properly and may keep her up. Use Lavender batho oil in the batho on her body, as lavender is supposed to help you sleep. If nothing else works, you could consider taking her to a sleep therapy center, which she will be put to bed for 20 minits and be monitred bye surveilnce camera, then the Dr will review the tape, ask questions and make a program just for her. Drugs for this type of thing, ask a doctor for some if absouluteley necesary. Is she in any pain that she might not be telling you about? talk to her calmly and quietly and reward her the next morning if she goes to sleep.


Hope this helps, i wish you and your family all the best!

*+-+* Luf Alexandra *+-+*

Answer 9

kids need a lot of sleep. The only time my daughter sleeps at 9pm every night, is if I give her a 3-4 hour nap around 12 or 1.
Kids are opposite from us, to sleep well at night, they need a nap during the day. 20 months?? I say she needs 2 naps a day. try that.
and while she sleeps, you guys should sleep too.

Answer 10

I have a 23 month old daughter with the same problem but she stays up and plays.I was told by my nurse to eliminate her day time nap, put her to bed at 7:30pm and wake her up at 6am. For the first couple days it really sucks for you, you are so tired,I did it for 2 weeks and then she wanted to go to bed. Now she goes to bed at 8pm and get up at 7:30am and i have just started giving her an hour nap at 1pm. It seemed to work for me. Good luck