Parents Struggling with Toddler Behavior

“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]”

“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 nearly two and a half year old toddler has been refusing naps for about a week now and I feel like I am going crazy trying to figure out where to go from here. She used to be fairly easy to put down for a nap. We’d lay in bed together and read a few books until she’d fall asleep in my arms and I’d slide her off and go about my free time or nap with her. This typically would take us 30-40 minutes and then she’d nap for an hour or hour and a half. We’ve had the same nap schedule for over a year”

“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”

“We took our 25 MO pacifier away on Sunday. At first it seemed not too bad. Shes going down for naps great. Its going to bed for the night that is the issue. The first night was about an hour of soothing her and then fine. About the same with the second night with a little more crying. Third night she scream cried for 20 minutes, calmed down then fell asleep. Tonight she is inconsolable. Screaming, crying, whining. Not responding to us soothing her with back rubs and rubbing her head. She has a b”

“Our daughter only used a pacifier to nap and sleep. As of today we are quitting it cold turkey - we prepared her for this by telling her over and over the last month it was going away after our vacation. She seems to understand considering she told us over and over her pacifier was going bye bye lol She is currently in her crib screaming for it. Did any of you take the cold turkey approach? Any advice? submitted by /u/ckouf96 [link] [comments]”

“My 18 month d wakes up a few times a night if she looses her binky. Sometimes she’ll find it but if not, she’ll cry until we go in there and give it to her. My husband and I are fed up of waking up and having to go give it to her lol. We just want a full night of rest and I feel like she’d rest better if she didn’t have this attachment. Should I get rid of her binky cold turkey or should we start waiting 3 min, 5 min, etc before going into the room at night and giving a binky to see if she’ll st”

“My son will be 2 September the 1st and I’m expecting. My husband wants to put his bed in our room, but my concern is that he won’t sleep in his bed if it’s in our room. But I’m uncomfortable with him being in his own room, but I know eventually I’ll have to get over that. How do I get him to independently sleep in his own bed and also to fall asleep by himself? He literally won’t go to sleep unless we are both in the room and I’m feeling a little overwhelmed at the thought of having to put down”

“Hi fellow working moms! I have an almost-three year old who just transitioned to a toddler bed. The little bugger has never fallen asleep on his own without my help--usually, I have to lie by his side and hold his hand. He also heavily resists being in the crib at all. The last couple of nights have been almost mythically difficult. He has had some nightmares in the last few months and is very terrified of loud noises at night. He doesn't like nightlights at all. The thing is, I am hitting a”

“Hello Daddit! My wife and I could really use some help because we are at a loss. Last week, our 2 year old boy decided he didn't want to sleep in his crib anymore. He kept telling us he wanted the other parent to put him to bed and then would tell us to get the other parent as soon as the one parent put him down. This was the first time he actually jumped out of the crib. Eventually he did fall asleep in the time out pen (it's a playpen with no toys) downstairs. Over this past week there”

“My daughter is 3.3 and we took away her binkies almost 3 weeks ago. Since then, her sleep and ability to regulate have been a complete mess, and I’m starting to wonder if we took away her main self-soothing tool before she had another way to regulate. Before this, she was a pretty good sleeper and definitely did not have this level of aggression or prolonged crying. Now naps are basically every other day. She’ll nap completely normally one day, then the next day she’ll fight it hard. When she’s”

“Hey everyone I know bedtime is kinda crazy and it depends on the child and how the day went and age but has anyone have tips to make it easier? I mostly read books, play lullabies also recently I came a cross an app for bedtime stories its kinda fun and works, but anyone has any other tips that worked with them? submitted by /u/thisiscanaria [link] [comments]”

“For context my daughter is almost 3 she’ll be 3 in November. We just finally got her off her pacifier 2 weeks ago. She’s been doing great without it at nap and bedtime. We have a new baby, she is 10 weeks old. This week my daughter has been fighting her nap like her life depends on it, I take her up, she goes voluntarily and wants to snuggle. Today I snuggled her for 10 minutes and said mommy has to go now. She flings herself at me wants to be held, wants to snuggle, cries, tries to prevent me f”

“Our 3.5 year old has always been a great sleeper. Up until about a month ago, I could count on one hand the number of times he had woken up in the night or had trouble getting him to sleep. Cue 4-weeks ago. He started waking up in the night and either leaving his room to find us or calling me over the monitor. Up until a month ago he NEVER left his bed or room by himself. But now, it's always "My body isn't tired" or "I don't need anymore sleep" at 2 or 3am. He wa”

“My daughter is almost 7 months old and until recently she was an exclusive contact napper, which has never been a huge problem because we love cuddling her. In the last month or two though, I’ve noticed that when my wife (who is a SAHM) is away, she will be more susceptible to napping by herself, sometimes completely on her own without any soothing. If she is aware of her mom being in the house, though, she’s back to being an exclusive contact nap baby and will wake up if you put her down. The i”

“We’re about to put our 9 month old into full time day care. She uses me as a paci but will utilize paci’s whenever she feels like it and I’m not there. Is her using me as a pacifier normal? submitted by /u/saintsooka [link] [comments]”

“I need help. My daughter is 2.5 and it feels impossible to stop nursing. I’m a SAHM and I spend every literal second with her. We also cosleep, so when I say every second, I mean every second. There’s really no natural separation where she just forgets about it. She’s also not the best sleeper and wakes up pretty often throughout the night. Every time she wakes up, she immediately demands to nurse. And I give in because… it puts her back to sleep basically instantly and I’m exhausted. I genuinel”

“Hey all. As the title suggests, our 4yo daughter is refusing to sleep in her room. She is now sleeping in our bed, but she refuses to go to sleep by herself. The tears when we try to get her to sleep in either situation really are genuine - the thought of sleeping alone seems to really panic her. I'm sure this is just a phase, but does anyone have thoughts on how to successfully get her to start sleeping in her own room again? submitted by /u/TheLittleWinstonBaby [link] [co”

“Good morning mamas and daddies! My two year old son has officially began climbing out of his crib every single night, multiple times. His bed is lowered to the lowest level. I am at my wits end! He comes into my room or wakes his sister multiple times a night. He used to be a decent sleeper but, ever since he figured out how to climb out, he isn't sleeping as well at all. Have any of your kiddos done this? If so, what was your solution? I finally ordered a baby proofing handle latch for the”

“I will try to keep this as short as possible. I am losing my mind. I have a 3 year old and 14 month old. My 3 year old was the easiest, chillest baby. He started sleeping through the night all on his own at 4 months, he was happy to play independently, he would watch a little bit of tv if I needed to do something really quickly. You get it. Anyways, my baby is the complete and total opposite and I’m on the verge. He cries CONSTANTLY if he’s not being held. He’s the definition of a barnacle baby”

“hi all! I‘ve come here for some advice about getting my toddler (3 yrs old) and my baby (10 month old) to sleep in the same room. we live in a 2 bdrm apartment and my 10 month old has been sleeping in her own room since she was 6 months. my toddler (who once used to sleep alone) ended up always coming into our bed & because we were dealing with the whole transition from 1-2, personal life situations and with my husband working a lot I just let him co-sleep with me because I was always so exh”

“Our almost-4 year old is high energy and knows an opportunity to take advantage of unsupervised time when he sees one. I’m at home alone with my kids during the day, and my 18 month old exclusively nurses to sleep right now for his nap (working on it 😬) and is especially hard to put down right now as he just popped a molar yesterday and has multiple other teeth coming in. I’ve been resorting to just letting him watch zaboomafoo while I lay down with the baby to get him out but I’d like to reduc”

“My 14 month old daughter only wants me, her mom. Anyone dealt with this and what helped? My husband is incredibly involved. He has daily 1-on-1 time with her as I get off work later. As soon as she sees me, she screams until I hold her. He wants to be able to help with bed and nap time as I’m the only one that can put her to sleep. If it’s not me, she’s screaming bloody murder and biting herself in anger. I’m not sure what else I can do so I can split duties with my partner! (Plus he is sad that”

“My baby absolutely REFUSES a pacifier of any kind. Im a FTM and was wondering how do I soothe a crying baby without one. With my limited past experience that is what I have done. Help! submitted by /u/Actual-Sprinkles-932 [link] [comments]”

“So my almost 3yo hit the dreaded no-nap stage (at least at home on the weekends, daycare hasn’t complained about him not napping). I accept it as inevitable. But my question is how do you deal with the 5pm crash and burn from being so tired? He has zero regulation of his energy, gets up at 5:30am, goes HARD (backyard, playground, splash pad, etc) all day, refuses to nap, and then turns into a veritable cranky MONSTER early in the evening. Like several hours before his bedtime. Any thoughts? And”

“My 10 week old will only fall asleep being aggressively rocked in a rocking chair or glider and with white noise (we also have a 2 year old running around). I’ve tried to do play dates for my toddler but if we go somewhere that doesn’t have a rocking chair, my baby will get tired and then just fuss and cry nonstop because I can’t get her to nap otherwise. Once she gets her 2 month shots next week, I would like to resume some of our normal activities but I’m worried about her napping and screamin”

“Within the past week and a half or so, our 2.5yo has seemingly become a different child. Much moodier, more stubborn, more aggressive, and in some ways seemingly manipulative. She was an amazing sleeper but suddenly needs me to physically pat her for over an hour to go to sleep. Attempting to leave begins a huge emotional cycle/power struggle where eventually she does fall asleep from exhaustion or I cave and pat her to sleep anyway. But the biggest thing is peeing. We potty trained 6 weeks ago”

“Ok I’m o child number 2. I was trying to go without a pacifier this time around because with my first child I had to have 7 pacifier’s around his head during the night and even then on a occasion he would lose all 7 off the edge of the bed. So goal was go no pacifier with my newborn. We are only 2 weeks old and grandparents of course and been giving him pacifier. I’ve read around on here how they are great, prevent sids, help them soothe, etc The issue I’m having is this tool that is supposed to”

“When my daughter turned 3 we started a bad habit of sitting next to her bed until she fell asleep. Fast forward to when she was 4 1/2, we moved houses and got her a bunk bed. That broke that habit and we started doing check ins. We’ve landed ourselves back where we were though. She started sleeping on the floor in her room just for fun. Now she doesn’t want to go back to her bed and wants me to sit and rub her legs until she falls asleep, which can take anywhere from 10 minutes to 2 hours. I alr”

“Not sure what to tag this as. But since our daughter was born 2 weeks ago, my 2.5 year old son has been losing his mind at night before bed, to the point of pure screaming to read another book or not leave his room. Ive heard this is kind of normal or to be expected, but has anyone else dealt with this and have any advice? submitted by /u/bigtuuuna [link] [comments]”

“We have a 3 year old who is low sleep needs but also constantly tired these days. My husband’s been in charge of her bedtime since we have a 4 month old but he either cannot or will not get her in bed by 8. She’s sleeping by 930-10. the goal is to have her sleep at 830. I have to wake her up at 630. I do mornings alone bc of work schedules and she’s impossible to wake up right now. Basically I’m so sick of the continuous failure I want to take over bedtime, but it feels impossible with a 4 month”

“Lately the bedtime for my 2 year old daughter has been getting later and later. She used to get tired around 8pm but lately she hasn't been getting tired until nearly 9pm. Does this seem pretty late? We go through the same evening routine every night. We come home, play a bit, then dinner, a little more play, then bath time, then a calm activity like reading books. She sleeps through the night and wakes up around 7:30am. She gets one nap in the middle of the day but I'm wondering if it&#”

“My daughter (3y9m) used to go down without much fuss. In the last couple months bedtime has turned into 1-2 hours of resistance — refusing to lie down, calling out repeatedly, full meltdowns some nights that don’t respond to anything (holding, talking, ignoring, nothing). This week it’s escalated — she’s throwing her stuffie out of the crib over and over like a game, and last night she had a 40+ minute meltdown I couldn’t calm no matter what I tried. Has anyone been through this with a toddler t”

“We moved about 4 months ago. Prior to the move we had a great bedtime routine. Both kiddos in bed by 8-815, sleeping through the night, and staying in bed until their hatched turned green at 720. It took us a LONG time to get there. Sleep was really rough for both kids the first two years. About 4 months ago we moved to a new city and bedtime with our youngest (3) has turned into a nightmare. We stayed at an Airbnb and my in-laws for almost 3 months total. It’s a big change so we were expecting”

“Our 3 year old has always been a great sleeper and weve always had a decent bedtime routine \*however\* weve recently brought home our 2nd (6 weeks) and bedtime has gone essentially to shit. Whenever my 3yo had issues falling asleep, I could lay with her or be available to go back if needed but our 2nd has insane colic and pretty much screams from 3p-9p, on and off. My husband works evenings, so im really solo parenting dinner, bath and bedtime and I havent been able to do a proper bedtime routi”

“My son is 2yr 8m , and for the past two months he's straight up refused to nap. Definitely still need one because he loses his mind come 4pm if he hasn't. I can sometimes get him to nap in the car, but it's never good quality nap and hard to fit that into the day. Can't always drive around for nap time. I'm just at my wits end. He's so energetic, and mischievous. Gets into every cabinet, every drawer, anything that he shouldn't touch he tries to. As I'm cleaning u”

“My daughter has slept through the night and fell asleep independently until she was 2. Then the 2yo sleep regression hit hard and so did seperation anxiety. It took like 2 months to get her sleeping normal again but it only lasted a week or two and then back to crying everytime I put her to bed and I usually would end up rocking her to sleep out of mom guilt. So she’s 2.5 now and it’s just been this rollercoaster of, she does good, then weeks of not independently sleeping. I realize I prob creat”

“Hello, My 23 month old (21 adjusted) kiddo is suddenly freaking out at bedtime. He’s been good on a routine for nearly a year now. Bedtime is cuddles for about 20 minutes, then crib. A week ago he started waking up and panicking every night. We got him a nightlight and it helped. Now he’s having a total meltdown if you try to leave at all. It’s 130 in the morning and I’m still in here with him. He’s absolutely velcroed to me, and he wakes up from a dead sleep and starts screaming if I try to lea”

“When is it recommended to stop pacifier use? Looking for rec from the AAP (their paper was behind a paywall and I’ve lost journal access since my grad school days). I have seen some posts on here about it but they are 2+ years old so just looking to see if there is updated guidance. Would also be interested in guidance from pediatric dentists (ADA?) and I am curious what the NHS suggests compared to the AAP. Thanks submitted by /u/Jolly-Asparagus-5815 [link] [comments]”

“My daughter just turned 2 years old. We're looking to get rid of the pacifier. Should we just snip the end and let her see its broken? Just toss them and tell her that they're gone? We want to switch her crib into a toddler bed, should we wait to do that until after taking the pacifier? (Shes not attempting to crawl out of it or anything we just feel that its time) Would that be too much change at once? submitted by /u/d00dl3_ [link] [comments]”

“I’m not proud of it, but when my 2 year old won’t nap, it kinda ruins my mood for the day. I depend on that ~1 hour to get things done and/or recharge after playing/entertaining/changing diapers/etc all morning. I hate that I raise my voice, become impatient, and sometimes cry. I’m trying really hard to be an emotionally intelligent and regulated parent and honestly I do pretty well most of the time. This is like the one thing that grates on me. submitted by /u/Middle_Display6702 [li”

“Been having a nightmare with my 3yo boy on brushing his teeth, just anything in the morning or evening routines. My 5yo girl is great with it but he’s been a little monkey recently. Anyway, it’s been pinning him down to do his teeth now for a few days and decided enough was enough. Got the pens out, a piece of paper, a dice from a game and made our morning/bedtime game. All the different things they need to do with a number next to them, names across the top, take turns rolling dice to see which”

“Our son is 6 months old (almost 7 mo) and my husband and I are in a disagreement about when to nix the pacifier. Our son will not go down for a nap without one (he does not use one for night time sleep and sleeps great without it at night). But for naps, we need it. With it, he has great naps. My husband thinks we have created “a problem” and need to cold turkey quit the paci now. I am more of the thought that he is still a little young and maybe closer to 8 months is when we take it away as he”

“My (33F) 4 year old has a history of bad dreams. Typically when this happens, it’s big tears, high anxiety behaviour and hypervigilance, making sneaking back out when she’s fallen asleep difficult. Recently, she’s started calling me in when she wakes up in the morning, between 5:30 and 6:30 am. She will claim it’s a bad dream, but is calm, cool (no sweating as she usually does with bad dreams), and her tone is casual. There’s no tears. She will ask me to stay with her. Here’s where I’m strugglin”

“I've been in charge of bedtime for our 4.5yo daughter and have made it a habit to stay in her bed until she falls asleep for the night, rather than leaving the room after reading books for the evening. This was largely at her request, and while it's comforting to be her "safe person", we're basically locked in a 2-3 hour bedtime routine now and she's going to sleep later and later. Any attempt to leave her bed before she's asleep is met with an almost panic attack r”

“My 9 month old just learned to pull to stand and now anytime he’s in his crib all he does is stand. He used to fall asleep by himself super well, but now as soon as we leave he stands up then doesn’t know how/doesn’t want to get back down and starts screaming. He’s also teething…and wants to crawl and explore all day every day… submitted by /u/rlf923 [link] [comments]”

“What I didn’t realise when my toddler started self settling and sleeping through was - it doesn’t always last! I’m resting to think it’s a blip and the skill exists somewhere in the muscle memory, she (22m) just needs extra support at the minute. We’re into a 4 week ‘blip’ where she needs to be cuddled/ sometimes rocked to light sleep before going into cot and finishing settling in there. The start of this rough patch was awful and it was full blown melt downs and bedtime took an hour to two hou”

“My son hit 1 year old a couple weeks ago, and at his well child appointment, his pediatrician stressed that at this age, children should not need adult help to fall asleep, and that he shouldn't have any milk after his teeth have been brushed for the night. While I entirely understand the risk of cavities, I'm coming up with blanks on how to get him to sleep without some milk. I've tried rocking him to sleep, but he is 30 pounds and honestly quite strong. I can't physically hold”

“Our girl is almost 7 months old. She still wakes at least once a night crying because she's hungry and then once early morning and falling asleep for a couple more hours. She'll wake up seemingly around 5 hours after her last bottle each time so she'll wake up around 12/1am and then 5/6am. Is there a way to keep her fuller longer for nighttime? Rice cereal in the bottle? She drinks pumped breast milk, 5oz-6oz bottles around 6 times a day. We are doing purees but maybe not enough? It”

“Hi parents! My 2 year old has always been a rough sleeper, she won’t go to sleep without being breastfed to sleep even though I’ve tried to transition her out of this many times. For the past several months I’ve basically climbed into her cot during her night wakes to feed her back to sleep then sneaked out and gone back to bed. This happens between 2-5 times a night. I’ve got a disability that recently has lead to a lot of back pain. I feel it would be easier to change her cot into a bed for me”

“Hi all, first time posting here but I could use some advice on this. I'm a 37f and SAHM. My husband is 38m . We have 3 girls age 5, 4 and 2. The last couple of months our 4 yo comes into our bedroom at night to sleep with us in our bed. Every single night. I tried rewarding her for if she stays in her own bed for the night, I tried more lights in her room, door open and light on in the hallway, I tried about everyone I can think of to try and help her be more comfortable in her own bed/room.”

“Over the years, our daughter has gone back and forth with sleeping in her room, and co-sleeping with my husband and I. (Never as an infant, probably started around 2ish). She’ll go long stretches where she’s fine in her own room, and then something happens (sickness, storms, vacations, etc) and she starts getting reliant on being in bed with us. Now, for some context: - I had a ton of sleep anxiety as a kid myself and slept with (or attempted to) my parents till I was almost 9 - my husband alway”