My daughter is now 2 and a half and her sleep has progressivly gotton worse the older she gets. She gets up on average 6-7 times per night and we have to get her back to sleep. Any suggestions on tricks that may have worked on your children?

Whiskey works..... Oh wait, this is serious.

http://www.happynews.com/living/sleep/getting-toddlers-sleep.htm

I saw the headline and thought hubby posted this. I have a 6 1/2 month old that refuses to sleep through the night and hasn't since birth. However, 6 months certainly isn't 2 1/2 and I really do feel for you, I know how tiring/frusturating it is. It took our first child forever to sleep all night too. I'm dying to see the responses.

Our 18 month old didn't sleep through the night until he was 13 months when he had ventilation tubes put in his ears due to repeated ear infections. He has slept through the night since then. However, our 4 year old never seems to sleep. Today she said she has a problem with her brain, she keeps ending up in our bed and she says it is her brain doing it. We have contemplated whether she may be sleepwalking...maybe this is proof. There is a good book called something like "healthy sleep habits, happy baby". Their suggestions worked on our oldest child like a dream. Have you talked to their pediatrician? I don't have any answers, sorry, but will also be interested in the responses.

I guess in this area of parenting, I could be considered lucky. I have a kid that LOVES to sleep.

Hopefully this stage for you will pass. Is your daughter 2 and a half years or months?

For a little little one:
On the nights when she wouldn't sleep, there was always a reason, it just took me a while to "guess" what it was.
1. Gas - we ended up giving a little drop of the Gerber Gas Relief Drops every night before bed when we switched to formula (Disclaimer - I don't advocate this and I am not a doctor)
A switch to a new formula may be in order
2. Fever or infection - talk to your doctor
3. Teething - Orajel Teething relief and Hylands Teething Tablets work good

If she's a toddler, mine is also 2.5, but we've always bound by these rules.
1. I rock her, but never all the way to sleep.
2. I shut her door - I still have a monitor to listen in.
3. We always do the same bedtime routine, always, even when we're in the hospital. Brush teeth, change diaper (some day we'll get out of those), flush tube (OK, I think this is a specific transplant kid thing), read 2 books, sing our prayers, put lotion on the nose, drink water, kisses, bed.

4. She's not to get out of bed.

This may all sound strict, but for 2.5 years they have really really really worked. And she has had some nights of insomnia from medications, etc., but she reads to herself in bed until she falls asleep. I tried to play with her once, until she fell asleep, and we were up all night.

I have to agree with MOPNB, you have to be firm with the rules. If your child gets out of fbed, you firmly bring her back to her room. I told my son that I do not want to see him out of bed until morning. I hugged and kissed him and read him a bit of his book. Rubbed his back and tucked him in.

At the first light of dawn, he would wake me up... but at least he stopped getting up.

A few weeks of the same routine and she'll probably settle in. Also, what does she do during the day, is she home or at day care? My son was in day care, and let me tell you, even after a nap, he still went to bed early.

My daughter will be 3yrs on July and like MOPN we have a strict schedule that we adhere to. With that being said, she has woken the past 4 nights with bad dreams and has crawled in bed with us. I usually don't allow that, but I can tell she is really scared.

My nephew never slept thru the night. His mother read him the riot act every time he woke her that, eventually, he took to turning on the closet light and going in the closet with a book or toy. That way, he didn't wake mom and have to deal with her wrath. He figured this out all by himself at between three and four years old. Sometimes he would fall asleep in there, so mom added a pillow and blankets to the closet to make it cozy.

Nanwa, that is scary... I wonder what he told his friends when he had a sleepover party... LOL.

My oldest (around 2 years old) was lonely in her room by herself and wanted to sleep with us. I didn't want her in the bed with us because I was pregnant at the time. We put a bean bag chair next to the bed and if she woke up she would come into the room let me know she was there and go to sleep in the chair. We left a pillow and blanket there. After her sister was born and in the same room with her she slept in her own bed.

My daughter bribes her 5 year old. If he stays in bed all night he gets a nickel. The same for his brother who's 3. The two boys share a room. Generally, if one stays in bed then the other one will too.

Maybe she is sleeping too much during the day. We were having lots of trouble getting our 2yr-old to bed at a decent hour on the week-days. We found out that she was laying-down or sleeping 2 1/2 to 3 hours a day at daycare. We 'requested' that she lay-down for no more than 1 hour per day, whether she sleeps or not. We have totally cut-out her nap on weekends. She sleeps much better now.

Our son also had sleeping problems due to multiple ear infections/teething. By the time he got those straightened out, I feel he was just in the habit of getting up.

I agree with MOPNB - routine is very important. Go through the exact same motions each night before bed.

Also look at what's going on before bedtime - Make sure that at least an hour before bedtime you aren't rough-housing, watching stimulating tv, and with my son - absolutely no sugar or caffeine!

We would most always try to put our son back in his bed and lay down with him for a few minutes, but I admit there were plenty of nights I just let him climb on in bed with us. Eventually he just grew out of the problem.

Remember 2.5 is still very young, and the world at night alone is a scary place. IMO comfort/love is what is needed, not punishment or banishment to a closet!

Sorry I wasn't more clear. My daughter is 2.5 years old. She use to sleep through the night, but now I guess because her schedule is off, we are building a house, it is terrible. My wife and I are so tired from working on the house and how we don't get to sleep either. I also think part of it is she just doesn't want to sleep, afraid she will miss something. Thanks for all the input!

We had big problems with our daughter around this age. There were lots of tears, and I am not talking about the ones from her! Eventually we found shutting the tv off early (or not turning it on at all) and establishing a routine got her into bed. We also set up some rules we went through every night - no talking, no toys, no getting up. We have since built a home and her sleeping habits improved with the excitment of the new room, furniture & etc. She is four now & still repeats the bedtime rules (her choice) and asks if she can get up if she knows we are not yet up. Sometimes, she asks about three a.m. and we kindly tell her "no".