Any Advice for a Mom of a Terrible Sleeper?

Do you have a rocking chair in her room? If not you may want to put one there. Explain to her you will rock her while you read her a bedtime story. Once you have her ready for bed pick out a book, let her snuggle in your lap and rock her while you read the story, or the chapter of a story in a chapter book, then tuck her in, give her a kiss, turn on the night light and some soft music (they have some wonderful lullaby tapes), and leave the room with the door slightly ajar. It may take a few nights but she will get the routine down and snuggle with her favorite toy while she drifts off.
It is tough but maybe you won't start this same process with the new baby.

Hyland's makes a homeopathic remedy called Calms Forte 4 Kids. It has no side effects and might help her fall asleep more quickly. There is also a liquid herbal combination for kids called Valerian Super Calm. You can get both from Vitacost online. Otherwise, try to be patient. Changing routines is difficult for young children, and a new sibling taking away a lot of your attention is a big transition. My Beatrix was a terrible sleeper too, due to GERD, sensitivity to teething, and her "high needs" temperament. Motion always helped with Beatrix. You could just continue the rocking, but maybe shorten the duration a little each night. Dim the lights an hour before bedtime, put away toys, turn off the TV, and do quiet activities such as a bath and reading books, singing lullabies, rubbing her back while she lays down. The back rubbing was always effective for naptime when I was a preschool teacher. Beatrix co-sleeps in her own bed next to ours. She still takes a long time to fall asleep at age 4. Some kids are just like that. Good luck, and be patient!

I know that crying it out is a controversial topic, but our pediatrician recommended the book "Solve Your Child's Sleep Problems" by Dr. Richard Ferber. I do not believe in letting a child scream unattended for long stretches of time. However, this book shows you how to sleep train your child in a loving way in which you go into their room in increments to assure them that they are safe and that you are nearby. This worked for us when our two year old went through a bad sleeping phase. Good luck!

The book, Healthy Sleep Habits, Happy Child, for both her and your new baby

I would rock mine girl at that age as well she is NOW 4. NOW she is in a full sz bed and I have a radio on in her room. I turn it on country music HER CHOICE lol. I tell her I will lay with her for 1 song and I will get up and come back and check on her. I will rub her back or head as I lay there to relax her. It usually works. I have a 16 mo old who hates to sleep period so I hope he is going to change THIS YR lol....Good Luck

I second the recommendation to buy and read "Healthy Sleep Habits, Happy Child" by Dr. Marc Weissbluth. He is a nationally known pediatrician who specializes in infant/child sleep issues. Read the book to understand what she needs and what you need to achieve it. Not only will it help with your two year old, it will also help with your 6 month old.

It takes a few nights, but this is what we did to "wean" our daughter from being rocked to sleep.
We still held her at bedtime while singing/reading story, etc. But we would sit on her bed and hold her.
After we held her for a few minutes, we put her under her covers and sat down on the floor next to her bed. Every 10 mintues or so, we slowly and quietly would scoot closer to the door.
We would do the "scooting" thing until we were completely in the hall and out of sight. She was usually alseep by this point.
If she wasn't, and she started crying, we would come in- without saying a word- and sit in the middle of the room and start the slow scooting toward the door again.

We did this for a few nights, and she eventually got used to falling asleep in her "big girl bed" by herself without being rocked.

Best of luck to you!
Forgot to mention, it helps if, while you are sitting and "scooting", you remind yourself that your little girl will be grown up int he blink of an eye and that these are precious years. Seriously- I have to do this alot around this age!

OMG does this sound familiar! Our girls are 15.5 months apart and our oldest was always rocked to sleep. I kept the routine for a long time after our second was born, I would be sitting there rocking two of them at once! Once the oldest got too big to rock we started laying with her in her room (she was in a toddler bed at around 22mo) until she fell asleep. This was great at first (for quite awhile) she went to sleep so quick we were in and out, she rarely woke during the night so everything was great. But she started realizing that we were going to leave her room once she was asleep and she started doing anything and everything to prolong falling asleep and it got worse and worse. It was sooo frustrating and we would end up falling asleep on her floor and wake up in the middle of the night cold and stiff from laying there so long and have to get up and go to bed. So we started doing what we were told to do from the start, we started a bedtime routine for both of them (we didn't want to make the same mistake with the younger one) and put them to bed awake and let them go to sleep on their own. It worked great with the younger one but it still took HOURS with the older one only this time we were listening to her scream and cry and were more stressed than before and we would do what ever we had to to get her to sleep. After awhile we ended up purchasing a twin bed for her (about a year and a half ago) and changed her room up a little. We told her she was a big girl now, this was her big girl room and bed and she was going to have to start going to bed by herself. We warned her before we changed her room up that we were going to do this but she was so excited about the new bed and stuff she agreed. Of course it didnt work instantly but we had a plan and forced ourselves to stick to it. We had a bedtime routine (teeth story etc) and then we kissed her goodnight and left the room. She started screaming of course but we waited 15min before going back, we went in fixed her up, hugged her and kissed her told her she was alright and to get to sleep etc. We increased the time by 5min before going back in and repeated the same things each time. It took a couple of weeks of doing this every night, after the first few nights it got a little easier and less trips in. We still have a fairly long bedtime routine (almost 30min) to this day and occasionaly have to make a few trips back in before she falls asleep but it is so much better and less stressful. Oh and our younger daughter never had any trouble doing this since we started her out early she never knew any different. I think the youngest was around 18mo when we put her in a twin bed, she was in our room in a crib until 6mo and then we moved the crib to her room. We would feed her (rocking) when she was done she was normally asleep and we would just put her to bed. If she woke up we just gave her a paci and let her lay, she always went back to sleep. After she was off the bottle we just took her to bed when it was time just like the older one and never had any trouble. The older one just turned 4 a few months ago and the younger will be 3 in just over a month. We should have started our routine as early as you are and it probably wouldn't have taken us as long as it did. So just choose your routine and stick to it NO MATTER WHAT because if your revert back it will take you twice as long to get it done. It doesnt matter what routine you choose as long as you stick to it and follow it to a "T". And the reminding yourself they will be grown up before you know it and you need to enjoy these times before they are gone as the other mother said, I second that! Good Luck and hang in there! Also if your husband is anything like mine you will have to hold him back and make him stick to the routine, mine couldn't stand to hear her cry it upset him, he would have to go to bed so he didn't have to hear it (Big Softy.. LOL).

S., I know my kids love to be read to, try sitting on the side of the bed or pull a chair up beside the bed (for easy get away when she falls asleep) read until she is asleep, then escape. God bless and good luck

I had a terrible sleeper as well and after a year of NO SLEEP for me and her always needing to be rocked or nursed to sleep I found the solution. Buy Elizabeth Pantley's "No Cry Sleep Solution". You can get it cheap on amazon. Her techniques really work and will make the transition much smoother for your daughter. It's great that you both take turns staying with her rather than suddenly changing the rules on her and leaving her alone, especially when she's probably still learning how to compete for your attention which she didn't have to do before baby brother! Pantley's book helped me tremendously and after less than two weeks our nightmarish and lengthy bedtime routine was down to a bath, a few books, a few minutes of cuddling, putting her in bed, a kiss and walking out the door. I hope this helps and good luck!!!

It sounds like attention seeking behavior. My daughter did the same thing when my son was born and boy I can tell you she did everything to stay up late or get my attention. I think that most toddlers are jealous of the new baby and feel like they are being ignored. They don't understand that mommy and daddy are not ignoring them, but at 2 years old if they do not have your complete attention man it can get ugly. I started to curb check this behavior by involving my daughter in the care of my son. I began a bedtime routine for both of them at the same time. This helped because she would help me put her brother to bed and tuck him in right beside me. I encouraged her to tell her brother a bedtime story and then kiss him goodnight when she was done. Then I would go with her to put on her p.j.'s and brush her teeth. Afterward's I would have her pick out a bedtime story for me to read to her and all the while tell her how big of a help she was with her brother and what a big girl she was becoming. I would tuck her into her bed and talk to her for a few minutes about her day and reassure her that she was my princess. I would then read her a story sitting in a "special chair" beside her bed. After her story I would kiss her and tell her how much I loved her. After awhile she no longer asked for another drink of water or told me that she couldn't sleep or any other excuse to be out of bed. During the time of getting used to this routine I did not let her stay out of bed. When she would get up I would escort her back to bed kiss her goodnight and explain to her that now is the time to sleep and that everything was ok then leave the room. It definately took some time but when she finally realized that she wasn't going to miss anything by going to sleep she was fine. I think that this is why most toddlers and babies for that matter fight their sleep, they are too afraid that they are going to miss something. Another thing that helped me was limiting mid-day naps. I did not let her sleep for more than an hour and a half and if she did not take her nap before 1 pm then I would not allow her to go to sleep. Morning routines are just as important as nightly routines. Getting her up at the same time everyday really helps with sleep regulation. This can put a damper on anyone who wants to sleep in on the weekends but it saves you every other day when going to bed is important. I can't stress enough how having a daily routine and strictly sticking to it helps tremedously. Hang in there and you will find what works for you.

We had to do this with our son who I had also rocked to sleep. It is a longer process but it worked well. I started sitting by his bed and then each night moved closer to the door very little. Once I got to the door I then sat in the door, the next night I actually layed down with my head and upper body in the hall way and the rest on my body in his room and I literaly kept inching out the door farther each night. Thank goodness for me you can see the tv from the doorway of my son's room so I was laying there I wasn't completely bored and struggling to stay awake and find myself at 3 in the moring waking up in the doorway:) i know it sounds kinda long but after rocking my son to sleep for 21 mo. he really wanted the security of someone with him when he went to sleep. This offered him the security yet gently broke him of the need as I inched a little father each night. By hte way after prayers and bedtime story there was no talking. Hope this might be something that works for you.
J.

You just need to put your foot down. At age two, punishment should be part of child-rearing. She is capable of sleeping without anyone in the room; she just knows all too well how to get her way. Try putting her in time-out the morning after she makes you sit in her room until she is asleep. Let her know in advance that this is the plan and stick to it.