Question
We are having a serious problem with my toddler, my third child, 23 month old, who is a totally different character and personality than my other two. We were on a vacation /trip on July, we stayed there for 3 weeks, overseas, she shared the same room with us and most of the time I physically stay with her until she falls asleep. Before our trip, she was a very good sleeper, I used to put her down in her crib, she plays/sings then falls asleep on her own through the night. We came back on July 30, and since then we have been struggling with her sleeping habit, she is getting very poor sleep because every couple of hours she wakes up and cries until her Dad or I go there stay with her for an hour or two until she falls back asleep. At first, I thought she is having separation anxiety, so I took my time, lay down with her or sleep in the same room for the whole night, she wakes up multiple times make sure that I am there then falls back to sleep. After couple of days of sleeping with her, she wanted to get up at midnight, either hold hand or rub her back or read story, or ask me for anything, I felt like working for her, she really was using me. After that, we decided to let her cry, with interval check ups and reassurance, she cried for 1.5-2 hours, the first time, the second time is the same, the third time, she figured out how to jump out of her crib, although the mattress is on the lowest, and the crib reaches to her shoulder, but she did, I have never seen a strong insisting, willed, stubborn child like her. I removed the mattress completely, and left her with a thin layer pad and put her in a sleep sac to limit her legs activities, she tried her best too, of course meanwhile she screams and cries hysterically that makes me scared, she was able to push on her hand and get her body up, this way she was about to fall on her head, I caught her on time because I watch her from the camera standing right behind her door. so now I eliminated that crib, because it became dangerous. Now, I brought her a small toddler bed, she still wakes up every couple of hours comes to us to take her back and wait there until she falls a sleep. we are sleep deprived, sometimes I fall asleep on the floor next to her bed wake up with pain, sometimes she stays up for hours she just wants stories, plays, keeps calling me while am next to here. we are very tired of this problem or misery.
Also, sometimes in the evening when I put her in her bed, she leaves it and go to sleep in her older sisters twin bed, but of course at midnight she wakes up and restart the party, you name it. You can say everyone in the house is distracted and not getting enough sleep. I do not know how my older daughters are going to start school with that chaos, and this problem is making everyone tired.
the Last thing we did, we got a new twin bed and put it in my oldest daughter room, she does sleep better, but still wakes up at night and cries that she wants me, or wakes up in the very early morning to start the day.
This is becoming scary and uncontrollable, I feel like having a strange creature that I have never dealt with before. I really ran out of solutions and options. I am looking forward to your help and advise, I am very disappointed and frustrated , I feel I failed in raising and training my third child. my only hope now is your opinion and advise.
