Parents Struggling with Toddler Behavior

“My 12 month old has somewhat ok sleep for the most part. It’s been a struggle since he was born to get him to sleep at all. I got the huckleberry app and got him a decent routine. He’s transitioning from 2 naps to 1 because I cannot for the life of me get him down for a second nap. Every Sunday we go to my in laws for a family get together and when we get back (about 1 hour before his bedtime) and do his normal bedtime ritual, it takes him 2 hours of me trying everything to get him to go to slee”

“We are in desperate need of help! At the end of July, our 2.5 year old started getting out of his crib so we switched him to a floor bed. The first little while in the floor bed went fine, he'd wake up every now and then but usually get back to sleep. Now, everything feels impossible. For the last two months or so, it takes about 45mins to get him to sleep. He used to just go into his crib and he'd fall asleep on his own, now he just gets up and bangs on his door trying to leave his room”

“I know this is a touchy subject for some, so I want to start by saying: I don't have anything against babies using pacifiers, I would have kept using one if it hadn't interfered with their night sleep. Pacifier use is totally fine until around 2 years old (as far as I know). So, we are currently in the process of weaning our twins off the paci because we had to replace it every 40-60 minutes, leading to very bad sleep deprivation and mental health, plus the twins barely slept at night as”

“I’m conflicted about night weaning my 2.5yo .. she currently co-sleeps with me and nurses to sleep at night. She has never been a good sleeper, and still wakes up multiple times most nights. Most of the times she wakes up, she looks for boob and when found falls back asleep immediately, so it’s not that disruptive. But on the nights when she wakes up every hour and complains if I unlatch her (because it’s getting uncomfortable) it’s driving me nuts. I’m not sure how to go about it though.. i don”

“Help me please, somebody. I have a just-turned-7- month- old and for the past few weeks, bedtime has been an absolute headache. We have had the same routine since she was 3 months old. Book, Bath, Bottle, Bed. I feed her, burp her, and she falls asleep on my chest. Lately, she hasn’t been doing that. So, we’ve cut out the rocking to sleep and I’ve just held her for a few minutes so she doesn’t spit up, and put her in her crib to fall asleep independently. Doesn’t work. I’ve held her for longer a”

“Serious question. Is dinner, brushing teeth, and bedtime war in every household with toddlers or is that not the norm?? Like how do parents create an environment that allows for that process to be smooth and calm. Asking specifically about ages 3-5 submitted by /u/Ambitious_Trick5977 [link] [comments]”

“I have a 21 month old and am just feeling down. I want to get into a routine but not sure where to start. What works for you that can still apply with a babe this age? Specifics where possible (where does your partner step in, are you using screen time, doing an outing or errand, when do you get ready and look human). More details on us: I WFH and do daycare drop off at 9:30a (it’s late, my choice but I work nights to catch up). Day starts with babe between 5:30-7:30. Likes to have breakfast 2x”

“I feel horrible even writing this because I love my daughter more than anything, but I’m honestly so fed up with my 17 month olds sleep. It’s gotten to the point where I find it genuinely frustrating and sometimes just incredibly annoying. She has never been an easy sleeper. She was extremely colicky for roughly the first six months of her life. As a newborn she would sometimes stay awake for literally 12 HOURS(!) no matter what I did. I remember her being four weeks old and desperately trying e”

“Heyyy fellow parents! My daughter turned three a few months ago. She’s always been low sleep needs, but I’m kinda at the end of my rope. I cannot get her to sleep before 10 pm. She does not nap during the day (hasn’t since she turned two), and we do a full bedtime routine. I wake her up between 7:15-7:45. I’d wake her up earlier, but I don’t notice much of a difference between 7-8 wake up times (after 8 is a different story). Melatonin does knock her out, but I HATE to use it- plus it doesn’t he”

“Anyone else’s toddler start saying weird things? She started saying there’s a man in the room, there’s no one there. Tonight she said there was a girl in her bed and looked very sacred. She calmed down after I said I would stay with her until she fell asleep. Is this the creepy phase of having a kid? Is this just her imagination? It’s really creepy to hear her talk about these random ppl in the house. Anyone else’s kids so this, did it go away? submitted by /u/JDMM__00 [link] [”

“Ever since my daughter was born, she has seen both her parents at home and with her at all times. There were a few days here and there when Dad was on a trip but she sailed through that. She is now 20 months old and in daycare since she was 13mo. Just a few days back, I left her to meet a friend (usually do this while she is in daycare) and she reacted strangely. She didn’t acknowledge me for 10 or so minutes after I was back ( dad was babysitting and told me she was unusually quiet and didn’t a”

“Hi there. I am a mom to an almost 3 yo and a 12 week old. In May my toddler decided to leap out of the crib overnight and landed on her shoulder/neck so we transitioned her to the toddler bed and eventually a floor bed when it came. She has not done well. She will lay in the bed with us but as soon as we leave she cries and lays on the floor by the door. She wants us to sleep with her however while we lay with her she just talks and carries on trying to put off sleep. I can tell it’s a point of”

“I’m hoping other parents might have some insight because I’m really struggling with my 2-year-old’s sleep right now. Historically, she has been a pretty good sleeper. She’s always slept in her own room on a Montessori floor bed, and our normal routine is that we lie down with her until she falls asleep and then leave. She used to sleep through the night without much trouble. For about the past month, though, everything has changed. She takes 1–2 hours to fall asleep at bedtime. Bedtime is usuall”

“My lovely girl just turned 9 months on the 22. Ever since then her sleep has been a wreck. I work days (7-2) dad works nights (230-1030). I leave for work around 630. Some days she’s awake when I am and dad gives her a bottle and she’ll either go back to sleep for an hour or two or she’ll be up for the day. Today she woke for a bottle at 7 and then slept til 9. We cosleep in our bed (we are trying to transition to crib it’s just a process). Husband said she was showing sleep signs around 10:30 b”

“My baby’s been a pretty good sleeper up until point. He’s 3 months old and he woke up 6-7 times last night just for his pacifier. I feel like my husband and I are replacing it all night .I don’t know if I’m messing up by giving him his pacifier this much, but he also can’t nap without it during the day and cries when it falls out. I’m worried I’ve created a bad habit because honestly he was sleeping better before. But it does soothe him quickly so I don’t know what to do. submitted by &#32”

“My almost 2 1/2 year old has started waking up in the middle of the night and screams bloody murder. He will only fall back asleep if we sit with him holding his hand. Not sure if he’s having nightmares? On Thursday night my husband stayed with him but he woke up at 2 and didn’t go to sleep until 4. He’s been sleeping in his crib in his own room since he was 6 months old 🫩 he’s always had some sort of noise machine with a light (he has a hatch) any advice is appreciated. Some nights I almost wa”

“My 21 month old daughter is fighting sleep HARD. Shes always slept through the night since like 6 months with the slight exception that she’ll “wake” (false wakening) after 30 mins, cry for a few seconds and then go back down. She was only taking one nap a day as of 6 months ago. We transitioned her away from being rocked to sleep like 6-10ish months ago and she instead has gotten the bedtime routine of shutting the hallway light off, kisses and snuggles from me and mom, her two stuffies and the”

“😭 We are practicing sleeping on a foam quad mat before she starts MDO/daycare, since they use nap mats. She’s a contact sleeper and has a VERY strong sleep association with me standing/walking/bouncing her to sleep, so I’m trying to introduce a new sleep setup anyway until we can buy a floor bed. I put the new sleeping mat in her bedroom, gave her a pillow + blanket, and she actually laid down on it perfectly at first. Then a minute later she realized… oh, quad mat = jumping 😂 (we have a play”

“I’d really love some advice on how to wean my almost 1 year old off of his binky. He only uses it for naps and bedtime, but I’m noticing he will fuss if he doesn’t have it at those times. I really wanna get him off of it because he has 6 teeth now, and it’s bout time we stop relying on it! submitted by /u/Strange-Report-9249 [link] [comments]”

“We could use some help. My wife and I are dumbfounded on how to sleep train our soon to be one year old in our small 2 bedroom apartment. Our older kid has there own bed and the crib in the their room. We do not have space to move the crib into our room and also are worried about disrupting the sleep of our eldest. Any insight on how to make this easier? Do we just need to suck it up and wait until they both get used to it? submitted by /u/ArtichokeOk4788 [link] [comments]”

“We have tried everything to get our 3 (almost 4) year old to stop. She wouldn't take a pacifier as a baby and would always suck on her fingers. She has never stopped. On top of that every single toy she grabs she immediately puts in her mouth. We've spoken to her pediatrician multiple times which we are always told "It's normal" or "some kids are just like this" I feel like we've tried everything. We bought the gross tasting nail polish for her fingers and it”

“My daughter has been preoccupied with “monsters” in her room at night for a while now. The past couple weeks she will wake up screaming and crying a few times a week, for one of us to come lay with her in bed, she will turn on the light at 1-2am and struggle to fall back asleep for hours sometimes. One particularly bad night she kept me awake in there for 3 hours. Insisting on holding my hand the ENTIRE time and would pop up and freak out any time I tried to sneak away. What do I do? Cuddling an”

“My toddler is 21 months old and she’s always been an amazing sleeper since day 1. Just put her in the crib with a soother and she puts herself to sleep within minutes with no fuss. All of a sudden, she’s striking. She’s taking 2-3 hours each night of crying to eventually fall asleep. I don’t do cry it out but we’re starting to get to that point cause I’m getting so frustrated. She’s also waking up in the middle of the night wide awake ready to play. I’m exhausted and just have no patience left.”

“She’ll be fast asleep and if I remove my nipple she’ll wake up and cry. How do I stop this cycle submitted by /u/EconomicsReal545 [link] [comments]”

“When did y’all kick both? Currently dealing with my 2yo daughter struggling to let go. submitted by /u/salmonburger185 [link] [comments]”

“Anyone else have experience with a toddler who rubs their eyes all day long? Our poor 13mo girl is developing bags under her eyes that almost look scary now! I don’t think it’s associated with sleep because she sleeps through the night and is still on a 2 nap schedule (slight signs of needing only 1 nap now). Her teething is slow, she only has 4 teeth right now. Thank you for your advice! submitted by /u/No-Construction6202 [link] [comments]”

“In April, my daughter (3yrs, 9 months) started preschool. In May, she started having severe sleep issues that involved waking up in the night absolutely full of rage and screaming and she fully regressed with potty training. The episodes at night are AWFUL. She acts like a completely different kid- inconsolable, if you try to talk to her or touch her it gets worse, she becomes violent… she is truly unrecognizable and this can go on from anywhere between 20 min - an hour. We tried moving bedtimes”

“My daughter is 11 months, she turns one in about 3 weeks. She is fully sleep trained but she started walking about a week and a half ago so we are going through a regression right now. Hubby & I talked about potentially introducing a specific stuffed animal just for sleep to help her self soothing throughout the night since she’s waking more. We were at a local fair and there was this little crochet bee, my daughter was obsessed with it, kept pointing to it and screaming when my hubby held i”

“My daughter is almost 3. She has typically been a good sleeper. We do our evening bedtime routine, put her in the crib and walk out and she's good. Now the new issue is she moves around and the blanket rolls off of her. So then she calls out wanting it fixed. She doesn't demand anything else when we go in. She just curls up in a ball like "okay cover me" and then we leave again. But 15 minutes later she's done it again. In the past, this would happen like once or twice, but”

“Need help Thumb sucking (especially at night). At what age did you intervene? And how? Or do children stop naturally on their own? Tell me your stories, I don't know what to do with my 2-year-old who sucks their thumb mostly to fall asleep and during the night… Thank you submitted by /u/IAmVeronika8 [link] [comments]”

“Hey all. So we just had our 3rd baby about a month ago and it seems that since then our 3yo daughter (middle child) has been possibly sleep regressing. We've tried melatonin, we've tried magnesium, we even tried using like lavender sprays or similar in the bedroom to see if that'll help her calm down and relax long enough to fall asleep. To no one's surprise, nothing has worked. My wife is not in a good state to be fighting her every night and I unfortunately work 3rd shift so th”

“Hi, I need advice for my little one. From a baby he was a great sleeper, the transition into his own room and cot was quite easy but we weren’t expecting what came next. One night he managed to climb out of his cot (luckily my wife got to him before he could fall) so we obviously had to make the next step and we made up his cot bed with a gate across the doorway and the door open but this means he can get up and scream at the gate….this did not happen at first, he slept great and was getting 11-”

“My newly 3 year old has a paci addiction. We usually limit use to nap/bedtime. 6 months ago, we tried to poke holes in the tip, and eventually cutting the tip. She started sticking her finger through to regain suction. So that method failed. I’m worried about cold turkey. I just don’t have it in me to let her scream all night. We’ve been reading books about giving up the paci, and talking about the paci fairy for months. She even picked out her toy that the fairy gives her when she gives her pac”

“My 3 1/2 year old doesn’t usually do this. She’s done it twice now, once when she was 2, and now today. Today, she was over tired and I was trying to get her to nap. She was hitting me and kicking me, I was trying to hold her and soothe her, tell her I’m there for her etc. nothing was working. She started trying to bite me and I told her I had to leave the room to keep my body safe. When I left the room and looked on her camera, she was banging her head on the wall and screaming. I ran into her”

“Turned 2 in June and naps have been such a struggle. I try sound machines, sleepy classical music, no noise, books, talking about letting our bodies rest, etc. Kiddo is just bouncing off the walls and has a hard time winding down unless I physically hold him down. The thing is at daycare, they have absolutely no issues getting kiddo to nap from 12:30-2:230ish. I assume it's because its a whole group of toddlers going to bed on a routine so it's a bit of that herd mentality? Father and I”

“This message is for all new moms… I’m expecting my second and my first just turned 13 months. I see a lot of posts and hear a lot from friends that their baby won’t give up the pacifier and it’s incredibly hard to wean them off it, sometimes even into 2/3 years old. I just wanna say… your baby DOESNT need one. I never used one with my first and I don’t plan to with my second. They are fully able to be calmed down and soothed with picking up, singing, humming, etc. I never found a moment where I”

“We’ve tried cutting holes in it and he just throws a tantrum. My son is shy of 18 months in a week and we’ve decided to cut the paci cold turkey . Introducing a pacifier had to be one of the biggest parental mistakes we’ve ever made . Last night was PURE HELL. It felt like having a newborn again . He whined and cried most of the night . The only way we could get him to sleep is if we held him , but as soon as we put him down he was right back at it again . We were so close to just giving in . Pl”

“At this point it feels like she’s doing this to us on purpose. But I know she isn’t. I’m just irritated because I don’t understand why this keeps happening. Her split nights used to be 2 hours tops and now, for the last 3 times, they’ve been more like 5 hours with broken sleep. My husband and I take turns every hour otherwise no sleep would be had from either of us, but it doesn’t make it any less exhausting. It’s like it doesn’t even matter what her sleep schedule looks like. Because she slept”

“My 11 month old has jumped into her toddler era a little early and we’ve experienced lots of changes in the past month. The toughest have been seeing her so upset through teething pain, and the dreaded diaper change death roll. She’ll be happy and giggling while I’m holding her and the second I put her on the changing table she starts screaming like she’s being tortured. Do we have any calm diaper changes in our future or is this just life until she’s potty trained? submitted by /u/_”

“I’ll be away from my almost 2 year old for 2 nights on a bachelorette (yay me!) in almost 2 months. Problem is my toddler still wakes 1-4 x per night and feeds to sleep. She can occasionally be rocked or patted to sleep if tired enough. I experimented with this last night but it totally failed. Looking for tips to get my toddler to not need mom overnight while I’m away!! submitted by /u/kdonmon [link] [comments]”

“what are some things you swear by that help to get your toddler to fall asleep and STAY ASLEEP sincerely a tired mom 😊 submitted by /u/elenaaojeda [link] [comments]”

“My 16 month old still will not go to sleep unless she has a boob in her month. This wouldn’t be a problem if she stayed asleep but she doesn’t. She wakes up from naps if I’m not close. She wakes up ALL NIGHT LONG to nurse herself back to sleep. She flails if you pat or rub her back, loses her damn mind if you try to put music on or bounce or rock her. The only exception is her car seat. She will fall asleep in the car. So I know she’s capable. I am losing my mind not being able to sleep more tha”

“Since she was a baby, my daughter has had a bottle of milk to go to sleep at night. We just put her down, give her the bottle and she’s out. Sometimes she wakes in the middle of the night and we give her another one. We obviously want to ween her off of this but she is so dependent on them to fall asleep. We’ve been diluting the milk with water for the past week which she takes fine. It’s more the actual bottle that she finds comfort in, not the milk itself. Anybody been in the same boat or have”

“My 2.5yo has been fighting bedtime hard. Literally will not even attempt to fall asleep until 10pm at least. She’s only getting about 9 hours of sleep a day. I digress. I’ve always tried to keep my promises with her. Even the smallest ones. Sometimes I slip up, but for some reason I place a lot of importance on the value of keeping my word. The issue at hand is that after fighting my toddler for three hours to try and sleep, she was all cried out and said she wanted water. I said I would get her”

“Hello everyone! My little one is 23 months old and we are going on night 3 of no pacifier. I cut the tip on day one and offered it to her and she simply said no. She didnt want it at all. Her first nap that day without it was great. That night was a different story. It took us a good hour to get her to sleep. She woke up an hour later and wouldn't calm down. She was screaming and crying so much. She then didnt go back to sleep for a few hours. Yesterday her nap and bedtime were also pretty b”

“I am having a hard time with my almost 2 year old as we start the weaning process. I was the pacifier. Never really stuck past 3 months. That was fine while bf. Now, I don't know what to do. He would dream feed and I could get some sleep. Now, we cosleep and I try to limit it or cut off after a short period and it leads to chaos of crying, waking up ahead of schedule & long nights awake for multiple hours. I just can't! And the crying and wailing of another bottle of water rather tha”

“My baby is now 18 months old. I recently wean. I still have some milk but very little. My toddler will not settle at night unless he gets to touch my nipples. If I don’t get it, he won’t settle and will just keep screaming. I don’t know what to do anymore. We still co-sleep, so in the night he will search for my breast non stop. I consider sleeping in another room for few days, but I don’t know if that will help at all. I need all the tips and trick please. I’m still not ready to wean totally. W”

“I have two kids, a boy and a girl, ages 3 and 1 (20 months old). They don’t sleep through the entire night. It’s exhausting and I don’t know what to do anymore. They come running I my room around 2-3am almost every single night. I just want one good night of sleep. Hell, I’m lying… I want to sleep good every single night. I want to wake up at 6am and have my cute little morning routine before I have to be a mom and it just never works out that way because they come running in our room. I bring t”

“I want to start off by saying I don’t know if I’m mentally ready to stop this so try to offer different solutions if possible please. I currently sleep with my 2.5 year old son. He needs me to lay with him to fall asleep but then I can switch off with my partner or stay with him, however someone sleeps with him. I am able to sneak away and he sleeps alone until someone’s going to bed. We have a baby coming January and I’m just not sure how I’m suppose to put my toddler down to sleep on evenings”

“Hi all, I have a very determined 8 months old baby boy. I've been anti pacifier forever and have been trying our best to avoid them but we had to give in at 3 months old because he started having terrible gas and reflux issues that no amount of bicycle legs or holding upright could fix, he's also been on all the generic medication for reflux but it made his tummy troubles worse. It's gotten better with solids but it's not a complete fix. The only thing that would get him to sleep”

“What is your sleep schedule like with your 2 year olds? We try to put our girl down at 7/7:30 but the last few nights she has been playing up and taking 30-60 mins to go to sleep, sometimes longer (like tonight). She rolls around, clapping and singing / talking and keeps sitting up and I’m finding myself losing my patience with her and pulling her to lay back down and then I’m led there getting upset. She does sometimes nap in the day for an hour but we don’t let her nap past 1:30/2 and she’s up”

“My daughter is 16m and I left my job to be a sahm since her birth. She only says mama, dada, and recently started saying uh oh. Previously she had signed more, milk, and was slowly learning some other signs along with a handful of other vocab but in the past 2 months it seems like she’s regressed to only saying those 3 words. She doesn’t sign anymore at all. I feel like she’s behind for 16 months and I feel like I’m failing at teaching her enough. We don’t do tablets but do watch tv sometimes. I”

“i don't mean "one more book" type requests. i'm talking about that specific "pink cup that has to be filled 3/4 full of water and don't forget the blue spiral straw" type requests. kids have the most particular quirks, and my daughter's really come out at bedtime. anyone else's kids like this? submitted by /u/ellen_dreamjellie [link] [comments]”

“Our babysitter has been with us since my son was 6 months old. He is now 1.5 years old. I don’t know why he flipped a switch but he cries so badly when she arrives and she always tells me he’s pretty crabby during her care (we text often during her shifts because I like to check in). Is it an age thing? He has become way more attached to me at this age than he ever was before. I’m assuming he cries a lot when she walks in because he knows I’m about to leave him for 4-6 hours. But yeah idk why he”

“My 19.5 month old has been a pretty solid sleeper since the beginning, and we have been incredibly grateful for that! She uses a pacifier for sleep and loves it, she only gets it for naptime and bedtime, and we weren’t planning to try and fully wean her off of it until closer to two. Well, just over a week ago, she got a nasty case of hand foot mouth and I guess it made sucking on her pacifier uncomfortable, because she hasn’t wanted anything to do with them since. Her sleep was obviously awful”

“My first was EBF and never took a paci but I was lucky that he was a great sleeper and a chill baby so I didn’t really think I was missing anything. My second is now 3.5 weeks, also EBF but definitely not a chill baby. We had latch issues - sore and bruised nipples due to shallow latch, LC gave some tips on how to try to get a better latch but said he has a bit of a recessed chin so for a perfect latch he just needs to get a bit bigger. I am almost completely pain-free on one side, and have a re”

“Every few days my 20 month old will wake up at 11 PM and not go back to bed until one or 2 AM and she’s just screaming the whole time unless I’m nursing her. I’m fine still nursing her but I hate when I don’t have any milk because she’s been nursing and she just wants to keep nursing it drives me crazy. She doesn’t wanna cuddle or be rocked. She doesn’t want her dad she just wants to nurse so then I end up just putting her in her crib and letting her cry because there’s nothing else I can do. Th”

“I’m dad and I’m hoping for some help or insights into our current situation. About 6 weeks ago our 3 year old began a very obvious preference for me over mom. It’s more intense at night - for both bed time and night wakings - but it still shows during the days. Mom will try to hold him or for a hug or kiss during the day and he will refuse and want me. At night, it’s gotten intense where he will yell at her to get out of his room or yelling he wants dada. I’ve tried to give her the space to be w”

“My 21 month old daughter only bf during nap and bedtime. The issue is that she’s basically STUCK doing that the whole time. For nap I have the first 30 minutes that I can unlatch then she’s latched for the remainder of nap. For bedtime she sleeps somewhere from 7-8 (depends on nap duration). I unlatch her and I have u til somewhere around 9:30-11:30 for me time until she’s rustling for boob. The issue is she never liked being rocked, being patted or any of that to sleep. I don’t think we’re read”