2 year old now afraid to sleep on her own

[elizabeths22]

So last week my daughter who will be 2 next month will no longer sleep on her own. She has always been a great sleeper. Since 2 months old she has slept at least 10-12 hours a night plus her nap. The only time we have ever had to get up with her in the middle of the night is if she were sick. Then last week we she woke up in the middle of the night. I brought her in my bed and she slept the rest of the night. The following day night she freaked out. Screamed in horror like I have never heard her cry. She refused to sleep on her own. Brought her in the living room and she fell asleep on the couch. Brought her to her bed when I knew she was fast asleep and woke up in the middle of the night hysterical. Now she is doing this a nap time which she has never done sick or not. She is not sick so we thought maybe she needs to be moved from her crib to a toddler bed. Did that and she plays and plays in her room but come bed time or nap it has become an ordeal. We changed her night light out to one that gives off more light and even added decals to her room to make it more appealing. Still not sleeping on her own. I let her cry herself to sleep last night which was 30 min and after 2 hours she woke up hysterical. I let her cry again for another 20 min and she wouldn't go back down. I couldn't get her to calmly sleep in her bed until I laid on the floor and made sure she was asleep. I am not sure if she had some sort of nightmare and now is afraid to sleep on her own. I just am looking for any tips so I don't end up with a child who cannot sleep on her own. Thanks for any tips!!!

[gspmamma]

I have three kids and only one did something like this. For him it started around age 3. He would be sound asleep in his room for hours then out of the blue would wake up screaming. After ruling out any health issues it was determined that he was having night terrors. This is when a person dreams and it is so life like it can be scary. What I had to do was slowly wake my son up then keep him awake for a bit and then once he was calm I would get him to go back to sleep again, but would stay in his room until he was asleep again. Most of the time it would only take half an hour or so until I could leave him. On a positive note he did out grow this after a bit of time.

[ninna]

Night terrors. My thoughts exactly!

My youngest had these. Oh my. They were horrible to deal with when they happened. Sometimes you couldn't even touch her or comfort her because any sound or touch made her flip out even more. Sometimes it was like she was still in them even though her eyes were open and she was staring at you. Well...hehe...the lights were on but no one was home, I guess. But when they happened, she was nearly inconsolable. Man...did that ever make me feel like a lousy mother--couldn't even console my own kid. Fortunately, DH seemed to have the magic touch with these.

Anyway, she did outgrow them as well. She is now 6 1/2 and hasn't had one in years. (thank goodness!)

[Bronwen]

So last week my daughter who will be 2 next month will no longer sleep on her own. She has always been a great sleeper. Since 2 months old she has slept at least 10-12 hours a night plus her nap. The only time we have ever had to get up with her in the middle of the night is if she were sick. Then last week we she woke up in the middle of the night. I brought her in my bed and she slept the rest of the night. The following day night she freaked out. Screamed in horror like I have never heard her cry. She refused to sleep on her own. Brought her in the living room and she fell asleep on the couch. Brought her to her bed when I knew she was fast asleep and woke up in the middle of the night hysterical. Now she is doing this a nap time which she has never done sick or not. She is not sick so we thought maybe she needs to be moved from her crib to a toddler bed. Did that and she plays and plays in her room but come bed time or nap it has become an ordeal. We changed her night light out to one that gives off more light and even added decals to her room to make it more appealing. Still not sleeping on her own. I let her cry herself to sleep last night which was 30 min and after 2 hours she woke up hysterical. I let her cry again for another 20 min and she wouldn't go back down. I couldn't get her to calmly sleep in her bed until I laid on the floor and made sure she was asleep. I am not sure if she had some sort of nightmare and now is afraid to sleep on her own. I just am looking for any tips so I don't end up with a child who cannot sleep on her own. Thanks for any tips!!!

I agree with the pps its likely night terrors. DH has them so bad I've been punched, pinched, squeezed, jumped on, scratched (that one made me bleed!) and this all happened while he was fast asleep. What happens is they sort of panic in their sleep and their subconscious tries to get them out of it any way it can. He has even sent our mini fridge flying in a panic to run to the kitchen all while sleeping!! My nephew does the same BUT I can never wake my nephew up. I believe since little ones sleep so soundly (much more so than adults) this is why even when they seem awake they still are just coming out of it. Best thing is to remain calm and not get upset or lose patience.

A Cpap does wonders but I doubt a 2 year old would keep that on. I'd try using a cool face cloth and carrying her to a room with dim lights on and just dab her face and neck and walk around with her or even Carry her outside for fresh air if she's not too hysterical (keep lights on but not blaring).I'm sure you already do but use a nightlight. Some aren't bright enough. Nothing worse than coming out of a might terror unable to see your surroundings.

My DD has always been a difficult sleeper and we had a futon in her room for a long time so that on nights where she did wake up hysterical or sucky or was sick, we could still snuggle and comfort her but keep boundaries about her not being in our bed and help her get used to the idea that her room is safe even if she has a rough night.

Good luck, and good job for getting rid of the crib!

[vibrantflame]

Agree with everyone else, it sounds like night terrors. I've been through that with both of my boys, and it's scary! It could be that it's scaring her so bad that she doesn't want to sleep at all, and that's why she's having a hard time with the naps as well. The most important thing I learned with night terrors is that you have to find a way to wake them up completely. Unfortunately, that is a lot easier said then done! With my oldest, it was enough to sit him up in bed and hold him and he would snap out of it. With my youngest, I tried everything and the only thing I could get to work was (a) give him to Daddy (for some reason my son hated it if I tried to console him) or (b) get him out of bed and put on his favourite show. It would take a few minutes but eventually it would grab his attention and snap him out of the terror.

[elizabeths22]

thanks for all the responses. I will do my research on it.

[elizabeths22]

Just wanted to thank everyone again and thankfully my daughter is back to sleeping peacefully on her own. Thankfully it only lasted 2 weeks

[spidey46x2]

Glad to hear that elizabeths22. My son had night terrors when he was 3-5 years old (few times a month maybe), but he's 6 and a half and it seems to have stopped altogether. He would wake up in a panic, sweaty and freak out if my DH or I went near him. He would just keep telling us to leave him alone. I would bring him back to his room and rub his back until he fell asleep. In the morning I would ask if he had a bad dream and he would say "yes, I was scared".