Alexandra is going to drive me crazy

ok, let me start out by saying my girls are great sleepers. They started sleeping through the night at around 4 months old and still do. They also seem to sleep more than most toddlers their age too at about 12 hours overnight and 3 hour naps. They also are and always have been put to sleep while awake so that they could learn to fall asleep on their own and there have never been many problems that I couldn't figure out. Till now.

Within the past few weeks Alexandra has taken to screaming after I leave the room at naptime and bedtime. Now she lays down when asked and gets covered with her blanket. I now tell her I am still in the house and mommy or mommy and daddy are downstairs and it is night night time. This is the same routine that we have had for months. If I leave her scream for about five minutes and then finally go back upstairs and actually yell at her to goto sleep and I am still here there is not another peep from her. As I said this has been going on for a while now. Also, when she wakes up she is very clingy both from a nap and in the morning.

When she screams it sounds like she is scared because she doesn't normally scream like this. The room is not totally dark for naps but is for bedtime. I have left the hall light on but it doesn't work she still screams till I go yell at her to stop. So I don't think it is an afraid of the dark thing. The last straw I am grasping at now is that for some reason she is afraid that I am leaving but I don't know why or how to stop it. She was never the clungy one so why now? Could it just be a phase?

I don't like having to yell at her every naptime and bedtime. I think it is a terrible thing but I don't know what else to do right now. Any an all ideas are well appreciated.

Thanks!!!!

 

I am going through the same thing with one of mine! They are turning 2 next week. I was wondering if it was a phase as well. We have nick named him 'tick' because he is so clingy! I don't know what the deal is!! Sometimes he will even come in from playing outside crying because he wants me. They love to play outside, so that is not normal!

 

We've been through many clingy phases here, and they are phases. It usually happens as they move through a big change of some kind. It's not always clear what they are working on, but it seems like they need a bit more loving every once in a while. And just when I think of one as the "more independent one", he'll suddenly become my clingy monkey.

Can you ask her why she's screaming? "Use your words"/"I can't understand you when you are screaming. Do you want to try again in a regular voice?" kind of thing? Or, maybe instead of screaming back at her, try going up close to her and whispering to her to be quiet and go to sleep. I do that every once in a while when the volume in our house seems to be stuck on high. They'll actually stop and listen.

I wouldn't change your routine. Instead, give her extra love the rest of the day, and try and talk about it before you head in for naps/bedtime. Best of luck!!

 

Mikayla has been doing it too and you know what I found out??? She is EXTREMELY thirsty. I gave her a sippy cup of ice water one night and she sucked it down in a flash. Now when she screams we get her some water! It has worked for us. I don't know if that is Alexandra's problem or not, but try it!

It is good to be hydrated!



Bridget