Toddler wakes every hour and only wants to sleep on me
Toddlers going through sleep regression can wake up almost every hour, refuse to sleep in their cots, and demand to be held or lap-settled by the mother in a standing position. This leaves parents entirely exhausted, forcing them to take turns sleeping over weekends, cancel plans, and abandon family time.
What people tried
Every workaround mentioned in the threads below. We haven’t tested any of them — and nobody here is claiming they worked.
- 1Dad tries to resettle the child
- 2Taking turns to sleep over the weekend
- 3Constantly cancelling weekend plans due to exhaustion
- 4Keeping the house completely dark at night without overhead lights or cell phones
- 5Exposing the baby to a lot of sunlight and outdoor walks during the day
- 6Waking the baby from daytime naps to adjust their schedule
- 7Using rocking or swinging machines, babywearing, or strollers to soothe the baby's need for movement
- 8Feeding smaller amounts during night wakes to help the baby settle back down
- 9Switching back to more frequent daytime feedings
- 10Increasing the volume of milk per feed
- 11Shifting nap time later
- 12Making it quiet wind-down time with books in dim lights
- 13Ensuring really active play during the morning
- 14Removing extra toys and stuffies from the bed
- 15Implementing quiet time where the child stays in their dark room to rest or play quietly by themselves whether they sleep or not
- 16Making bedtime slightly earlier if they miss their nap
In their words
Unedited, grouped by where they were said, most upvoted first within each place, each linked to the thread it came from.
“The last 2 months, she’s been up almost every hour and from 4am refuses to go back to sleep in her cot and only wants to sleep on me.”source ↗
“We are at breaking point, it’s starting to impact our daily life, we are constantly cancelling plans on weekends because we’re too tired to function after working all week and barely sleeping.”source ↗
“We literally take it in turns to sleep over the weekend which means we’re not spending much family time together.”source ↗
“Our baby girl does not sleep at night from 12 am to 5 am. She is wide awake and sleeps during the day time.”source ↗
“Sometimes, my wife starts crying in the middle of the night because the baby does not sleep and wants to be in her lap with her in standing position.”source ↗
“What what we thought of doing but she is more inclined towards my wife. She wants to be in her lap all the time. How to fix that?”source ↗
“Since making that change, his night sleep has gotten dramatically worse. He now wakes 4-6 times a night.”source ↗
“He used to sleep so well, and now I feel completely defeated trying to figure out what changed.”source ↗
“Our 2.5yo has been a great napper up till about 2 weeks ago. He would consistently nap from about 1pm to between 3&4pm. 2 weeks ago he suddenly had two days where he didn't ever fall asleep during his nap time.”source ↗
“Anyone have any tips that worked to help your kids keep their nap when they started fighting it?”source ↗
“Both of my kids stopped napping at 18m-2y.”source ↗
Where this came up
People with this problem also raised
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