Sudden Change in Sleeping Habits - 2 Year Old

This may be of no help to you, but I thought I'd share my experience since I have a 2 year old son. We put him in his big boy bed a few months ago, but will not stay there all night. He comes in our room during the night just like your daughter, but even earlier most of the time. We just chose not to fight it, but he can't sleep in our bed. He has a little pallet on the floor and he sleeps there if he chooses. It works for us and a few reletives and friends have assured us he won't still be on the floor of our bedroom when he's 16, so not to worry. I understand with a new baby your daughter can't be in your bed and might be awakened when the baby cries, but since she comes in your room in the early morning, that may not be an issue. All the crying from the baby may just keep her in her room anyway. Good luck and congratulations on the upcoming arrival of your new baby!

Read 25-year old book, "The Family Bed." You may choose to allow your child into your bed. After I read it - - I lived by the rule "Never offer. Never refuse." It worked. My kids are grown and living smart lives. Remember the orphans in Romania - - the ones discovered in overcrowded situations. They had been totally deprived of human touch. It stunted their brains! The skin is our biggest organ. Touch stimulates nerves. Nerves connect to the spinal cord, which connects to the brain. In 'primitive' cultures, baby sleeps next to momma. In our civilized culture, our grandparents showed off their new prosperity after World War II by buying bigger homes where kids had their own bedroom. We've lost memory of any other way.

We too recently changed to a toddler bed and so far have had great results. Our son is 2.5 years old and has been sleeping in his toddler bed for the 2-3 months. I have noticed in the past few months how he seems more aware and un-easy when it is dark. He has always been a great sleeper and so far has done well with the change to a bed. We start out putting him to bed and turning the bathroom light on (next to his room). We leave his door cracked 6-12 inches. We also have a baby gate on the outside of his door. After he falls asleep I turn off the bathroom light and shut his door. I also close the baby gate. He does wake up in the middle of the night on occasion (maybe a handful of times) and I go in to comfort him when he calls out for Mommy and seems scared of the dark. I will tuck him back in the covers and leave his door cracked with a nightlight on in the bathroom and his baby gate shut. This way he feels secure with the light on and door cracked however he cannot free roam the house or come crawl in bed with us. This has worked thus far and he is able to fall back asleep. Then in the morning when he wakes he comes and stands at the baby gate and calls for Mommy. I know every child can be different so hang in there and congratulations on your upcoming arrival!

I am looking for the same advice. We are due with baby #2 next month and moved our daughter (27 months) into her big girl bed over a month ago. Things seemed to be going well, but she wants me to lie down with her for every nap and bedtime time until she falls asleep. If I try to leave before she is asleep she melts down and then it takes even longer to get her calmed down and go to sleep. Then, she wakes up through-out the night and cries for me to come get her and put her in Mommy's bed (we keep her door closed). If I try to lie down with her in the middle of the night she gets really upset and last night ran to our room before I could lug my big belly off the bed to get her. She ended up sleeping in our bed for the last several hours of the night.

I look ahead (as I'm sure you do) and worry about making it a habit to have mama lie next to her or have her in our bed when we have a new babe coming (with breastfeeding a c-section recovery!!!).

The only suggestion I can think of is maybe to have her door closed or put a gate up. I have even allowed our daughter to have books handy if she would read those and fall asleep on her own.

Walking in your shoes and looking for similar advice!! Maybe this is typical sleep behavior for this age???

First of all this is completely normal and your's is not the only 2 year old going through this...including my own. Mine also used to be an excellent sleeper going down at 9:30 and not waking until 9:00am. Part of it has to do with their developement mentally and physically. They tend to be experiencing some pain from the 2 year molers emerging. This can keep them awake when normally they would just roll over and go back to sleep. Any comfort from you will help and "make it better" even if they can not express specifically what is bothering them. It is also human nature to want to be around other humans even at night. They awake to find that they are all alone in the dark and you are snug in bed with a buddy. Of course they will want to join in!
For us we decided not to fight this need because I feel it can also stem from adjustments/changes in life and they need the additional assurance (even at night) that you are the constant/stable element in there life as they are becoming more aware that life is not constant or stable. We place him to sleep in his own bed at night with our normal routine. For us it works better to leave his door open and promise to come back and check on him. This comforts him enough to fall asleep on his own. If he calls out then we say from the other room "I love you and will check on you in a little bit". Sometimes we go in and check on him if needed but mostly he falls asleep and then we go shut his door. He recently started the waking at night, partially because he is potty trained and he might need to pee. When we resisted his night waking it only increased his anxiety and night waking. When I started showing him that I would be there to meet his needs by going to him and bringing him into our bed for the last part of the night he started sleeping longer or all night in his bed. I think because he knew if he needed me he could count on me. Then he worried less. Hope that makes sense. As of now he may come in about 7:00am. This is not a bad thing! Enjoy those moments with your toddler while they are still babies adn actually want to be with and cuddle you! As you have heard, they will not be 16 and still in your bed.