Perfect Sleeper Now Changing Things up...any Insight?

You might try excusing yourself from her room for a few minutes at a time. Not every night at first, but then occasionally for longer periods, and more frequently. Always come back if you promise you will, and she'll gradually trust that you're there for her, even if you're in another room. While you're out of the room, avoid coming back while she's calling for you, if possible; wait until she's quiet for a few moments so you won't train her to keep calling.

While you're out of her room, tell her that her (teddy bear, doll, etc.) will keep her gentle company and cuddle with her. When you return, thank the toy for snuggling so sweetly with your daughter. Treat it 'almost' like a living entity. This will allow some children to gradually switch to the toy for comfort. Some kids prefer a blanket.

Be aware that sleep patterns can change for all sorts of reasons during the child's first few years, though many settle down pretty well by 2.5. Kids go through periods of separation anxiety, but the leaving and returning should help with that.

I remember needing a very long time to fall asleep as a young child, but my mother was strict about no comfort from Mommy. I remember crying myself to sleep on many occasions, or being afraid to say I was thirsty or cold. I simply could never do that to a child. But you can probably wean her from needing you with gentle steps. It might also help to move her bedtime up, 15 minutes at a time, to a somewhat earlier schedule so she'll get enough sleep, and you'll still have some evening to do other things. This can be more difficult when days are light for so long.

Be strong, Mama. Changes in their routine can really throw them. She'll bounce back.

When that happened to us, my DH and I took turns going in his room every time he'd cry for more than about 5 min. and comfort him. We let him know he was ok, Mom and Dad needed to go to sleep too, and that it was time for him to go to sleep. After a few times, we started adding another min. each time before going in.

I'm not going to lie. The 1st night sucked. But, each consecutive night was easier, and within a couple of days, he was going to sleep w/o fussing. I think what happens is, they need to know you're still there, and you'll come when they need you- although not right away. Eventually, it just gets to be too much "work" to get you in there, so they stop resisting, and go to sleep.

Hang in there!! It'll be more work in the long run, if you start sleeping in there. They wake up @ night and notice you're not there, and you just wind up having to get up and stay until they fall asleep again- hoping to spare you what I went through with my 1st ;)

Good luck!! =o)

Would you be willing to let her watch a bedtime movie? I found that when my daughter went through this phase (from vacation too) that if I laid her down in bed and told her "you can stay awake and watch the movie as long as you stay laying down in bed" and gave her her sippy cup it really helped. She seemed to respond to it quickly and would fall asleep fast (I would play movies that were kid friendly but would usually bore her so she'd fall asleep).

Does she have a lot of activity in the day? When my daughter goes through a restless phase I kick the physical activity up a notch, we play at the park longer or in the backyard kicking the soccer ball/bouncy ball around or go to bouncy houses and jump for a while and she's more exhausted and tired to fall asleep.

We had a bedtime ritual and then it was TIME! If ours got up, we turned them around and put them back into bed. Crying or not, they had to go to bed and stay in bed w/o me there! It took a few rough nights, but they eventually got the message. Children are natural-born manipulators and will manipulate a later bedtime if given the chance---regardless of age. I wasn't mean, just firm.

First of all, do not use TV or movies to help her go to sleep. She will get in the habit of that and it will make it harder for her to learn to go to sleep on her on. When my daughter was about that age, we would do our bedtime routine. After story and prayers, I (or Dad) would lay down with her for 5 minutes. When we left the room, we told her we would check on her in 5 minutes, but our 5 minutes could REALLY stretch out. This seemed to get her through that rough patch.