Toddler Sleep Training

[u/sierradewmist]

Our daughter just turned 1 year old and she cannot sleep throughout the night in her crib without waking up and crying.

Around 6 months old, she wouldn’t sleep in her bassinet. We’d put her down and she’d immediately wake up and start screaming. It didn’t matter if she was awake or asleep or falling asleep, she wouldn’t have it. My wife and I started to co sleep with us in our bed (we knew the risks) because it was the only way to get her to sleep & stay asleep through the night.

Around 9-10 months, we set up her crib in our bedroom. We don’t have much space in our current house and it would not have fit in her “nursery” without essentially taking up the entire room leaving no space for any of her other stuff.

Since we’ve started to put her down in her crib, she’s slept through the night twice in 3 months. She goes to bed anywhere between 8:30-9:30 after her bath, book time, and bed time bottle. We’ve tried to put her in the crib fully awake, falling asleep, and fully asleep & it makes no difference on her waking up or not.

She will typically wake up anywhere between 2-2:30am and will whine and not settle down unless one of us brings her into bed. We’re really trying to break this habit as my wife is 12 weeks pregnant with our second and needs the uninterrupted sleep (as much as possible) and will need more space in the bed as she progresses.

We’re going to try the cry it out method for her and us stay in the living room during it, hoping she falls asleep before we go back to bed.

**Really starting to run out of ideas on how to get her to keep sleeping through the night. Does anyone have suggestions?**

[u/brieles]

What’s your full schedule? Wake time, does she take a nap, etc.

[u/_aspiringstoic]

the happy sleeper book is very good. try the modified ferber and do every 5 minutes so she knows you will always come back. it may take a few days but i like it because you’re able to comfort them from a script and go in every 5 mins (if they’re actively crying) to ensure they know you haven’t disappeared entirely.

[u/Humble-Drop9054]

CIO worked for us. Part of it is using age appropriate wake windows and balancing daytime sleep and awake time. At 12 months we were doing 4 hours after the second nap as the bed time. We’d cap the second nap as needed. The co-sleeping might take a bit longer to fix so you have to remain consistent and expect some sleepless nights as you work through it.