Geico266

Babies are out of my legue now, my youngest is 24.

My advice? Start a college fund. Crying should be the least of your worries!

t-15 firefighter

College is already taken care of. She'll be able to go to whatever school she wants to. Now, what would suggest when you're child is running behind you with her arms raised crying for you to pick her up?

We have ruled out teathing since she has almost all of her teeth.

Britt

12PACK

How old is she now? The little guy in my avatar will be 3 in a few months and boy does your posts sound familiar.

From my wife: "If she's in daycare, she could have an ear infection. She could also be testing her limits." She didn't mention duct tape for some reason.

t-15 firefighter

She is 17 months old today. She doesn't have a ear infection and is healthy as can be right now. Man I hope that she doesn't do this until she is three. She did really good tonight. Only cried for about 30 seconds and then was out.

Britt

Clunk

From Hoss
"Ahhh...one last thing you might try that works well for us...every night when you tuck her in read her a short Bible story and help her say her prayers. "

That's how Mom trained us and how we trained ours.

waldersha

17 months is about the time that a lot of stuff changes. She is probably very frustrated that she wants to talk to you but can't quite get all the words out yet. She is also transitioning from being a baby to being a toddler. Maybe she is upset about wanting to eat all by herself and not being able to control the implements yet.

Experts say that everytime they are getting ready to go through a new stage they will take a step back on something else. Our little girl (2 1/2 now) went through the sleep thing, now she is on baths. She either wants to take one right before bed, or doesn't. Yesterday she wanted to take one at 3:30 in the afternoon.

I guess maybe I am learning something from all the "parenting" stuff that my wife reads and a class that we are attending.

Your little girl is old enough now that she can understand what you want her to do, so your challenge is to understand what she needs/wants. It's tough, but it can be done.

One suggestion, that was mentioned above, is to develop a routine every night at the end of which is going to bed. They get used to the routine, makes things easier until the next stage comes up, then you get to start over again.


Have fun, it goes fast.

newriverSpecon

Two words, "SWEAT SHOP". If you work her hard enough she'll be tuckered out.

Really though, Growing up where I did, I spent a lot of time outside running and playing. Even fell asleep under my tri-cycle in the driveway once after I tipped over. We had a long driveway. I would try less nap and more activity. But don't give in.

Randy

GreyTD

if you think you got problems now wait till she's older my kids 11 14 17 won't go to bed on time won't wake up on time and are screaming all the time (at each other mostly) you are doing fine stick to your routine and she will come around. different stages of growth different problems take it one day at a time

t-15 firefighter

waldersha,
You're post makes a lot of sense. A lot of what you said is exactly what she is doing. This week she has done a lot better (hope I didn't just jinx myself). She went right to sleep tonight without any fuss. Granted we wore her out today. We took her to the park this evening and she ran herself ragged.

We are sticking to our night time routine and it seems like she is starting to realize that she isn't going to win at night. She is also starting to do a little better with not wanting to be held all of the time. One thing that I have learned is that you have to be pretty creative when it comes to children. They will keep you on your toes at all times. Just when you think you've got them figured out they will throw you a curve and it's time to adjust accordingly.

Thanks for all of your replies. I need all the help I can get.

Britt

TN Redneck

Britt,

My son hit that stage at almost the same age but was a little different. He would fall asleep fine but wake up in the middle of the night crying. We talked to various people we knew (much as you are doing) and they thought that Zach was waking up and realizing he was alone. The way we handled it was we would let him cry for 5 minutes then go let him know we were still in the house by talking to him in a calming voice then back to bed. Crying would start shortly there after. Let him cry for 10 minutes and repeat adding 5 minutes of "cry time" to each cycle. It was a tough two weeks but he eventually learned that we were out of sight but not gone and was able to calm himself back to sleep.

Sounds like you are doing fine but what do I know. I'm new to this as well and we just had a baby girl to add to the fun. (No joke there...Rachel is a great addition to our family and we are blessed to have her.)

Hang in there.

DC