Toddlers Suddenly Refuse to Sleep Alone

“6 month old here. For the last week has been having ++ sleep disruptions - waking up every 30 minutes scream crying, not able to settle him in his usual way. One night after going back and forth 4-5 times, I gave him Tylenol and he settled. This has been ongoing for the last few days now and he only settles with Tylenol. Therefore, I can only assume he’s in some kind of pain. Pediatrician checked - nothing is wrong, no ear infection etc. They also believe it’s teething. Tried camillia drops, col”

“We’re closing on our new house Thursday and moving in over the weekend, and I’m hoping to use the move as a fresh start with my 5 yo sleep. We have two boys, 5 and 2. Our 5 yo has never been a great sleeper. He coslept with us until around 2, and since then he’s always needed one of us to lay with him until he falls asleep. He also wakes up every night asking if one of us will sleep with him or if he can come into our bed. At this point my husband will often just go sleep in his room at the begi”

“My son (2.5) has struggled to fall asleep for naptimes or at night with me. He’s fidgety and talkative and wants to play, and he says “Mommy?” in the most heartbreaking little voice when I move. My husband is out of town for a few days and I’m afraid of my son being exhausted so I gave him children’s Benadryl in a half dose and I just feel like a monster. Am I? submitted by /u/Disastrous_Swan_8958 [link] [comments]”

“It’s a safe crib but the mattress is so low. How do I lay him down gently asleep without dropping him and waking him up? Should I ask about adjusting it (if it does) or since it’s just 3-4 days make-do and plop him in and cross my fingers? Any tips for that? Their youngest is 3 yrs and doesn’t use the crib anymore. My SIL can be a B (she knows this about herself lol) so I kind of walk on eggshells with her and already plan to stay at a hotel next time. So I’m hesitant to ask. Thanks. View Poll &”

“When the kid is a newborn or an infant, you lose sleep. When the kid is 4, 5, 6, you gain sleep but lose daytime. So a lot of the strategies at that age are about keeping a kid distracted with as little parental help as possible. Here are my lessons learned. Housing & location If you are still picking a new home, get close to a public park with good population density. Heck, even better: drive around on weekday evenings, maybe even in winter, and see which ones have kids. When he gets to 5,”

“He was sleeping with mom until a month ago. He would constantly wake up and she would nurse him back to sleep. I took over night duties so that he would hopefully not smell her and keep waking up. Here I am at 4am rocking him back to sleep for the 5th time tonight. It has been the same. He will wake up again in another hr or 2 and I will do it again. It was worse in the beginning for me as he wasn't used to me putting him to sleep at night. It is getting easier for him to fall back asleep wi”

“My 15-month-old has been doing this for a week and a half now and I genuinely don’t know what is going on anymore. Tonight she slept for maybe 3 hours and then woke up screaming bloody murder. The second I pick her up, she immediately calms down and passes TF back out in my arms. But the second I slooooowly try to transfer her back into the crib? Absolutely loses it. Screaming like I’ve never heard before. I’m literally sitting on the couch right now while she screams in her crib, crying myself.”

“My son turned 5 this summer. I always say he went through a 2 year sleep regression and it never left. Ever since then, he cannot go to sleep by himself, and as he’s gotten older he seems to have a ton of anxiety surrounding sleep in general. I lay with him to go to sleep, which I don’t mind so much (except on the nights it takes 45 mins), but every single night he comes into our bed, needs to be as close to me as physically possible, hand on my face, touching my face. It used to be on just an o”

“I’m curious to hear from parents whose first child was a particularly challenging sleeper (either they didn’t sleep very much overall, woke frequently at night, and/or continued having frequent wake-ups later than most of their peers). If you went on to have more children, what was their sleep like in comparison? Did your next child(ren) sleep significantly better, worse, or about the same? I’d especially love to hear from people whose first child’s sleep difficulties seemed to persist beyond th”

“hello. my 15 month old experienced something super weird and, honestly frightening to me tonight. she went to sleep around 8pm as usual, even though she did totally skip a nap today (i attempted to give her one but she never settled down and actually took one). about two hours later i hear her crying, go in instantly to check. she was still asleep, laying, eyes closed but totally panicking. she has never done this. at first i tried rubbing her back, talking and shushing to her and it did nothing”

“My 2 year old (25 months) was sleeping through the night, 11-12 hours ever since I weaned her (almost 14 months old when she weaned). The past week, it’s like we’re back to square one when she was a newborn. Waking every 2-3 hours. Needing to be patted/laid with to go back to sleep. We are currently trying for baby #2 and I’m feeling discouraged. We did switch to a floor bed because she decided she hated her crib/pack and play while we were on vacation, but she slept on a floor bed fine on vacat”

“My 4 month old slept through the night for like 2 weeks when he was 2 months old and has never done it again. I’m usually waking 5-8 times a night and my husband is out of town half the days so most nights it’s me by myself. My baby will wake anywhere from 10 minutes to two hours after I put him down but no matter what, it always seems to land 5 minutes after I finally try to close my eyes and get some sleep. It’s starting to keep me up because I’m just waiting for the crying to start so then I”

“After my first was born in 2022, immediately, I took hours to fall asleep. It was most likely PPA but soon after insomnia. He didn't sleep through until close to age 3.75 years (low ferritin, about 3 waking a night at age 3). He woke every 45 min to 1.5 hrs for months etc. Anyways, I had baby #2 a year ago. She sleeps beautifully. Awesome. Both kids reliably are asleep from 8:30pm-645am. I've suffered from sleep onset insomnia this entire time. I finally found a good combo of melatonin,”

“My little one had always been a good sleeper. Maybe waking up once per night since around 10-11 months. The last few weeks she has woken up like 3-4 times per night and will not go back to sleep unless she has milk. I’ve tried switching for water!! She does get enough to eat during the day, I don’t think that’s the problem. We still room share but she is in her own crib. We do not have the option to have separate rooms as we are 1bdr. submitted by /u/brendino26 [link] [comments”

“My 8 month old son absolutely will not sleep in his bed: my wife and I have tried getting him to sleep and then placing him in there. He's a very light sleeper and just ends up waking himself right up. He will scream and cry and sometimes bang his head to get our attention and have us pull him out of his crib. During the day he CAN nap in there but it's hit or miss whether or not he actually DOES and for how long. This has started to make him overtired and harder to get to sleep at night”

“Hi! My daughter is almost 8.5 months and separation anxiety has started, mostly at bedtime. We also learned a bunch of new motor skills since 7 months that has interrupted sleep - sitting, crawling and standing. Although now she has gotten better at knowing how to get from standing back to laying down. She’s always gone to sleep independently, but since separation anxiety, as soon as we leave the room, she cries. I’ve tried crib-side comfort, chair method, bringing her into the room and letting”

“I have no idea what's going on. We co-sleep. She's still wakes up throughout the night to feed (breastfeeding) but not really. She's basically still sleep when I feed her. Eyes are closed literally just sniffing for a boob, drinks a little and goes back to sleep. But whenever she wants boob in the middle of the night she SCREAMS. Not fussy screams like wake you up screams. It's like she's whining in her sleep very loudly or like having a mini tantrum (more tantrum than whinin”

“Hey group, I couldn't find an appropriate flair for this question. Since having my baby and breastfeeding for 2 years, I've been having massive sleep issues. It's been a year since I stopped breastfeeding but I continue to wake up often during the night and very early in the morning. I work full time in a high demand job and this is taking a massive toll on my mental and physical health. Do you guys have any suggestions on what I can do to improve my sleep? I am considering going to”

“I still nurse my 13 month old to sleep every night and for her nap during the day. She is my first baby so please no judgement 😭 I bedshare with her so anytime she wakes up in the night I usually can just feed her back to sleep. She wakes up maybe twice or three times in the night so she sleeps well! But I am just wondering does anyone else still nurse their toddlers to sleep? I’m worried I’m worrying her independence and also even her dental hygiene! Please share what you do! I have the bigges”

“Our 14 month old has been a crappy sleeper pretty much all his life. Wife doesn't believe in crying it out. We don't have a separate bedroom for the 14 month old but there is room in our 5 year old sons bedroom for his brother's crib. I and my wife need this baby out of our bedroom, he's driving us crazy. Absolutely crazy. But it's not fair to our other son to share a room with a crying baby/toddler. Obviously I'll grab the baby when he wakes up and bring him to the livin”

“My 10 month old is a big crier, has been from the beginning! For as long as I can remember, she has cried every single time she wakes from night sleep or any nap. Is it possible she’s afraid of the dark? The only time she didn’t sit up and cry was when we were on vacation and cosleeping, and the room wasn’t super dark in the morning. But we also coslept at home for a bit after that and she cried every time she woke up in the morning. She’s back in her crib and continues the crying- even when I p”

“2 under 2. Both are actively getting me fked up! 2.5 year old and 8 month old. One teething (baby) and toddler going through night terrors right now (previously good sleeper since 15 month old). Apparently it happens to some toddlers? Also normal for toddlers to go through a phase of waking up. Oh great. We can’t escape 🫠 please where are you light at the end of the tunnel? HELLOOOO Also I thought my first born was a horrible sleeper. The 8 month old said step aside- ILL SHOW YOU A BAD SLEEPER!”

“My (newly) 4 year old is STRUGGLING with sleep. He has been taking 1-2 hours to go to sleep at night. And within that time - he is screaming for someone. And then without fail, for the last 2 weeks, has been waking up around 12/1 screaming for someone yet again. Its been easier in the middle of the night for someone to just go and sleep with him but I don't want this to happen forever. We have dropped naps at our house for the most part. Daycare is required to offer naps by the state until t”

“I’m just so frustrated, anxious, depressed -all the words. My son will sleep like a tank all day or if he’s in his swing (not close to me or being comforted) but as soon as it’s bedtime and I NEED to sleep he.screams and screams and screams and it makes me start to panic like something is wrong with him. It goes like this: he’s asleep, move him to bassinet. He wakes up screaming, I feed him and change him but he won’t stop screaming so I pick him up and go to the living room where i cry with him”

“My son just turned six months old a few days ago and last night and the night before, he has not slept. I have a two year old too but I don't think I really ever had this issue with her. He is up all night though and I'm so tired I'm struggling to get up in the morning to take care of my other child and myself. I can hardly keep my eyes open. I'm getting like zero sleep. Also to answer before anyone potentially comes at him, yes my partner is helping me and he is also just as exh”

“My three year old had always been an amazing sleeper. Like, sleep 12 hours at six months old kind of amazing. Around the time he turned two, he started having nightmares and would wake up crying at night. These have slowly increased to where he’s having nightmares about every night. For the last 4-6 weeks, it’s been rare we have a night where he doesn’t wake crying from a nightmare. My husband and I always go in and comfort him. We’ve tried to be very careful about what he watches, gotten him st”

“I have a 1.5 year old boy and lately he’s been waking up in the middle of the night, crying like crazy. The minute I grab him. His body stiffens up and just stays like that for hours. He’ll voice get so raspy because of his crying and when he finally stops, he’s hiccuping and talking like breaths. Idk why he’s doing this. It happens at random and I hate it! He’ll be sleeping and two seconds later, he’s kicking my ribs and I’m struggling to calm him down. I put on his favorite shows like bluey or”

“My daughter has historically been a peaceful sleeper. Up 1-2 times per night but quickly settled with a diaper change. Last night my wife dealt with two hours of screaming and crying, a break, then another hour. It’s brutal. There’s tension in the house, no one is sleeping. Upper molars are coming in, it’s just brutal. When does it get better? We are trying for number two. submitted by /u/Alone-Exam6687 [link] [comments]”

“Hello, I have a 5 and a half months old son. He has been sleeping well recently only waking up maybe once or twice a night to eat and he falls back asleep. This past week he wakes up screaming at the top of his lungs every what seems to be hour what is going on? submitted by /u/Successful-Coffee-93 [link] [comments]”

“My 7 month old has been “waking up” screaming with his full chest about 3-4 hours after he goes to bed. This is new enough to be different but old enough for us to be totally exhausted and desperate- about a month. He seems to not be truly awake. Screeeeeaming crying with his eyes shut most of the time, like he’s on auto pilot. It reminds me of a sleep terror. The only thing that seems to stop it is fully waking him up, which of course means we are up for another 1-2 hours getting him back to sl”

“Can anyone give advice or tips on how to get past this sleep anxiety my kid has developed? It has been days and days of her developing a fear and inability to fall asleep. She will lay there, toss and turn, come down upset, etc etc At first my hubs and I got so frustrated we had a really rough night about it, which didn't help. Since then, we've been calm, talked to her about her fears or concerns, given her time and attention at bedtime, added some kids magnesium gummies, audiobook at b”

“My wife and I are deep in the midst of some sort of sleep regression where my son is taking forever to fall asleep, scream/cries if we're not in the room and often wakes up between 12-4 am scream/crying. This is BRAND new, we have an older son and have very set bedtime routines that have worked very well, we have never had to just stay in the room waiting for him to fall asleep before or experienced this type of sleep cycle. Anyone else been through this? Any tips/tricks? I'm tired boss.”

“So from almos 10 weeks until almost 12 weeks we had problems with the night sleep. She was waking every hour for 2 weeks. Now we started to have problems with the days. She seems sleepier than before, one minute she is fine playing, the next minute she starts to scream/cry. We need to hold her almost contantly, when she cries she wants to be rocked until she fells asleep and I need to hold her for the whole nap. Are these 2 sleep problems connected? submitted by /u/DiscountVirtual952”

“I just had my second child and forgot just how bad Sundown scaries could feel. Curious how long this lasted for other folks, especially those who’ve got other littles around. I feel sometimes my toddler helps distract me but other times her needs amplify the anxiety I have. As far as finding things to help, I’ve been taking a hot shower in the evening to refresh myself, and my husband and I are doing shifts where he takes on the first part of the night so I can sleep, and I am on from like 1am t”

“I’ve been trying to get my 14 month old back to sleep for over two hours and I’m about to lose it. It seems like everyone else I know has left me behind and their babies are now sleeping through the night and getting themselves to sleep, but misery loves company so please tell me I’m not alone in this! submitted by /u/regularsizedrudy_ [link] [comments]”

“I am at my absolute wits end. Sleep has been a struggle literally my daughter’s entire life, and I do not know what to do anymore. I’m going insane. She is four now, just started Pre-K and still will not sleep alone. She still wakes multiple times a night. Refuses to go to bed unless someone lays with her until she falls asleep. Then she wakes a few hours later and sneaks into our bed. If we take her back to her own bed, all heck breaks loose and the entire house is wide awake at 1am. We have tr”

“I have a 13m old and a 5 week old and my 13m old has started waking every 20/30 mins from 8pm till maybe 1-2AM. Initially I thought night terrors but it’s looking like separation anxiety because every time I pick her up (she scream cries and kicks her legs) she automatically calm and sleeping. I have to wait for her to fall back into a deep sleep to transfer into the cot. Her cot is next to our bed and newborn is in his bassinet with us too. We’ve realised we need to split (me with 13m old and d”

“Ok, am I overreacting here? My now 12M old has had 3 separate nights of repeated vomiting every 30-60 mins for ~3-8x each over 2-3 hrs. Once in June (a random weekday night), once in July & again today (both times after spending the day with Dad/family while I was at work). In between vomiting she can be consoled & comforted, no fever, but she gets fussy & cries again right before vomiting, then better after. In July we went to the ER cuz it's just weird & terrible seeing her”

“My daughter slept very well until she was 6 months old. When she started crawling everything went downhill, she starting waking up 10 times a night. Fast forward to today: she just turned 21 months and she has had some “good periods” where she woke 5 times a night. But weeks of 7-10 times. We both sleep with her because co sleeping has saved us from dying from exhaustion, and I’m still breastfeeding. We have tried night weaning her and it worked for a while but she’s the worst baby when it come”

“When did it get better? My baby turned 1 year old yesterday and it’s still waking up several times a night crying needing to be patted back to sleep or needing a bottle. The last few months he was down to several wakings up only 1 bottle. It’s now been a week that he will cry up to 20-30 minutes inconsolably push me away and look for his father but then doesn’t even stop crying with him until we give him a bottle. He’s now having 2-3 bottles a night. His wake up time is 5:30am so that’s exhausti”

“Hi all. FTM. My baby just turned 1 and it’s such a huge milestone for us. I’m wondering if anyone has ever experienced or dealt with sleep crying. For the past several months, our little girl has been crying in her sleep. To me they look like night terrors or some kind of nightmares. Our doctor said that she will grow out of it but they appear to get more frequent especially as we now try to take her to more places. I took her for her 12 month check up yesterday and she was hysterical there and”

“Hello My 11 month old son has NEVER slept through the night. He is 100% breastfed. His sleep was always terrible but lately, he literally wakes up every 1 to 2 hours nightly. From birth, he has never woke up less than 3-4 times nightly. It ranges from 3-8 times, every single night. The only thing that settles him is breastfeeding. The trouble is that because he had many difficulties latching, I never introduced a pacifier. Because of that he's highly dependent on breastfeeding for soothing.”

“I have a three week old and a high energy almost 3 year old. I am breastfeeding and pumping 2-3 times a day. I’m getting next to no sleep at night and cannot “sleep when baby sleeps” through the day because I have a toddler to keep alive and entertain as well. I am running on adrenaline but feel myself crashing. She does go to daycare 3 days per week but unfortunately tomorrow is not one of those days and I am running as solo parent while my husband works and I’ll have no backup. Newborn is in a”

“14 months old and he has been a terrible sleeper his whole life. He’s CONSTANTLY on the move. Constantly fidgeting as I’m putting him to bed and for naps. He never shows tired cues, never wants to calmly sit down for literally anything. Meal times he’s also trying to climb out his high chair. Then he wakes up every two hours at night (previously it was every 45 minutes, from 3-11 months). Not because he’s hungry or cold or lonely or whatever. Just… because. I adapt to his busyness most of the ti”

“I know I’m incredibly lucky with my second baby after my first baby didn’t sleep more than 2-4 hours at a time until he was 2 years old simply because he was a poor sleeper. My second baby that is currently 5 months old goes down as soon as I put him in our bed - no rocking required, and he sleeps really well until he has to pass gas. From maybe midnight on, he squirms and grunts until he either passes gas loudly (then continues sleeping), or, most of the time, until he starts crying inconsolabl”

“Let me just preface by saying that we live in Sweden and my partner is Swedish. Approach to baby sleep/upbringing in Sweden is quite relaxed (probably influenced by the 1,5-2 year paid parental leave split between both parents). Like whatever works best for the family and for the baby is what people usually focus on. Minimal sleep training. Co-sleeping is quite accepted. You get the idea. My baby has never been a good daytime sleeper. Always required lots of motion. Stroller walks would be her m”

“My LO is almost 9 months, and the last week or so has decided to spend 2 hours between 9-12 just screaming and kicking. Most of the time their eyes are closed, and they can only get to some part of sleep if I'm holding them and bouncing with them while standing. The screaming fits will come in periods of like five minutes then sometimes then can go back asleep. I'm not a CIO parent ( I can't emotionally handle it and my first born would throw up easily when they cried so I don't”

“My 3 y/o was an absolutely horrific sleeper for the first 2+ years of her life. It wasn’t the typical baby sleep deprivation. It was relentless. We spent over 2 years dealing with constant night wakings, hours awake overnight, and needing us to help her back to sleep. Then around 2 everything changed. For the past year, she has been an incredible sleeper (no naps). She’d go to bed around 7:30 pm and sleep until 8:30-9:00 am without a single night waking. This summer her wake up time naturally sh”

“I see all over the place to put your kids to sleep when they start showing first signs of tiredness like rubbing their eyes but when we try this, bedtime turns into an hour and a half long affair in which I need to summon every stitch of patience I can muster. Bubs is 10 months but it’s been like this for months. I pretty much let him start spiraling before putting him to bed to ensure it takes ~20 min and ends in him actually sleeping. I guess I’m just looking for solidarity? submitted by”

“My partner and I have to move from our 2BR and the rental Market where we are is really tough right now. We found a spacious 1BR we’re about to apply for and it would mean having baby sleeping in same room as us at least until she’s 2.5. Should we hold out for a 2BR? Will we be grateful if we do? submitted by /u/PurplePromotion4932 [link] [comments]”

“Hi everyone. First time mom here. My daughter just turned a year old end of June. Sleep has been a nightmare honestly. As of lately It takes me 2 hours to put her to sleep for naps , bedtime but the worst part is the night wakings. She seems to fall asleep in my arms and soon as I get up to place her in her crib she wakes up. She wakes up in the middle of the night I am up for 3+ hours trying to put her to sleep. I have recently let her stay in her crib before for a whole hour to see if she woul”

“My 4.5 year-old slept in his own room without issue until the age of 4. He then required us to rub his back until he fell asleep. Over the last couple of weeks he's started waking up in the night and is unable to fall back asleep unless a parent is in his room. In his ideal world we'd share a bed, which is not something I'm interested in. I read the book, "it's never too late to sleep train" and have decided to try to address bedtime first. I'm using the camping out”

“My two year old is a great sleeper (now) and sleeps 8:30-7:30 with a 1.5 nap at 1pm My 7 week old is obviously waking through the night which means I am getting little sleep and waking my two year old at 7:30 when sometimes I am only just falling back asleep (after for example a 4am wake up+feed+burp+diaper change) at 6am. Are we letting our toddler sleep in so we can sleep in and drop their nap entirely? submitted by /u/Sea_salt23 [link] [comments]”

“We have a solo 6 year old that doesn't sleep unless one of us is laying next to her, but these two hour tuck ins are killing me. What do your bedtime routines look like at this age? submitted by /u/DeltaGemini [link] [comments]”

“Hi All! My 5 mo old girl is a horrible daytime napper as of late. She is easily startled and has a loud toddler sister. I notice she generally prefers movement to help her fall asleep whereas my first I could just plop anywhere and she’d be fine. I am mimicking all the stuff we do at night (dark room, white noises etc) she also seems to freak out laying on her stomach despite having enough strength to keep her head up and roll to when she’s on her back. Any advice?! submitted by /u/B”

“My third baby will be 10 weeks old on Monday and she takes almost all her naps a day in the carrier or on the go in the car seat. I have a 5.5 year old and a 3.5 year old and I barely put either of them in the carrier when they were babies so I’m just worried that by all the carrier naps I’m doing with my third, that she’ll never nap independently. She sleeps at night in a bassinet by our bed. She’ll go to bed around 8p wake around 3-4a and then again at 6:30/7ish so she does pretty good overnig”

“PLEASE HELP ME! My daughter (18m) is suddenly just not sleeping. She has been awake from 11pm-2/3am for the past 10 days consistently and I’m losing my mind. 10 days ago it was like turning off a light switch. We’ve gone from happy babbling toddler who goes to sleep independently, to essentially split nights every night over night. I will add that she has just finished a 7 day course of antibiotics for a slight ear infection and she has 3 canines that are coming through at the same time so this”

“Our son is just over 12 months old. We generally get him to bed around 8:30 after he has had solids, a bath followed by a 5 oz bottle of cows milk. However despite the fact that he goes down fairly easily after being placed in the crib, he inevitably wakes up around midnight crying. I give him around a 4 oz bottle of formula and he is back asleep immediately. The entire process lasts about 5 min. And then he generally sleeps the remainder of the night. Just curious if anyone else has a similar e”

“My almost 5 week old little girl gives me the sundown scaries literally every night! I really don't remember nights being this hard with my son :( He's 1.5 years old and goes to bed around 7:30/8 and I swear as soon as he's down she has no chill! Maybe it's because the house is a lot quieter? I really don't know. She's such a good baby throughout the day, just eats, poops, sleeps repeat. As soon as her brother goes down for the night she wants to be held and rocked consta”