Suddenly scared to sleep in own bed

We've had such good sleepers up until now and now things have all gone wrong!

About a week ago, Karina woke up screaming about two hours after going to bed. She seemed petrified of something and kept looking at the closet which has no door on it. We figured she had a bad dream and after holding her for a while, my husband was able to get her to go back to sleep. The next day, we left for a week long trip and sleep schedules were completely messed up. We figured she would forget about whatever was scaring her. We were wrong! She absolutely refuses to be put in her crib. She screams hysterically and tries to climb out (which she has never done before). I've never rocked the girls to sleep, but last night I had to rock Karina to sleep. Then she slept all night in her crib with no issues. I covered the closet thinking that might help, but when I took the girls to their room for nap they both got hysterical and wouldn't go in their cribs. They won't even go in their cribs if I agree to sit in the rocking chair between them. Now they are sleeping in their PNP plays in a room on the main floor. This started out badly too with screaming and hysteria and trying to climb out. They calmed down after about 5 minutes as long as I am sitting in the room next to them. Karina has finally fallen asleep and Annelise is at least lying there quietly. I just don't know what to do. I've tried talking with them. They are starting to speak fairly well (using 3-4 word sentences), but they can't seem to tell me why they don't want to sleep in their cribs. I get no response from Annelise when I ask her. Karina just says 'cause. I don't know what else to do. I'm at a complete loss. We've never encountered a problem like this. Does anyone have suggestions?

ETA: Karina used to be such a good sleeper that she would ask to go to bed when she was tired.

 

:grouphug: I have no idea- but we're dealing with something similar. For the past week or so J will wake up crying every 20-30 min and I'll end up bringing him to bed with me and he sleeps like an angel for the rest of the night. I was assuming he was scared of something--- he finally told me today that there was a giant making scary noises. ??? I reassured him there was no such thing, and I'll try to do so again tonight. Hopefully this is just a quick phase for the both of us!

 

I think its the age because we went thru something very similar last year. I rearranged their room and got them some new big girl blankets. They were excited for both of those things, but still wanted me to sit in their room until they fell asleep. I did this for awhile... a long while (falling asleep on their floor more times than I care to admit). Eventually I had to bite the bullet and do CIO with them. At age 2 1/2 its rough because they scream MOMMY MOMMMY MOOOOOMMMMMMMMYYYYYYYYY! But after 2 bedtimes of he!! they were back to being fine going to sleep. :hug: I hate sleeping/bedtime issues. It totally stresses me out.

 

I just wanted to update about Karina's sleep issues. We are making progress. For about a week I was having to rock her to sleep, she'd wake up when I put her down, we'd start over, repeat several times. It was taking hours to get her to bed. She really truly seemed scared and not like she was trying to manipulate. I finally convinced her one night to sleep on the crib mattress on the floor if I would lay on the floor next to her. We did that for two nights. For the past two nights, I've been sitting in the rocking chair instead of laying next to her. Today for nap I just told her that I was going downstairs to do dishes while she took her nap and she said, "Okay, Mommy." Woo hoo! And, she was asleep 10 minutes later. I can't believe it worked. I hope it goes as smoothly tonight.

 

Good news that you're making progress. I was going to tell you that a lot of kids go through some separation anxiety around 2.5. I know my DD did, and it really threw me for a loop as she had been very independent about falling asleep for well over a year. I basically did what you're doing. She's in a toddler bed, so I would lay down on the floor next to her bed and hold her hand until she fell asleep. After a few days or week of this, I told her that I'd be laying down and holding her hand for a few minutes and then I'd give her a hug and kiss and leave the room so she could fall asleep by herself like a big girl. And then that's what I started doing. I really think talking her through it beforehand was really helpful for her. Sometimes she'd get upset, and I'd have to go in and hold her hand again for awhile. But she got over whatever it was that was scaring her or making her anxious. Now we keep the same routine, lay down and hands for a bit, then kiss and hug and I leave. Then she falls asleep on her own.

 

Hmmmm...separation anxiety. That sort of makes sense. I was noticing that the girls were sort of going through this, but I was thinking it was related to me suddenly being home all the time (I'm a teacher and home for the summer). Maybe they are going through it because they are developmentally at that point. It hadn't occurred to me that Karina's sleep issues might be related to that. Thanks for bringing that to my attention. I don't think it would have changed how we handled things, but it does help me to know what might be causing it.