2.5yo not sleeping

[atarianna]

We have been reading lots of books recently, and about a week ago I read her Snow White. Immediately afterwards she told me she was scared and was shaking. It took a while to figure out why she was scared, but eventually she said "Queen come get you" and I realized that was what she was scared of.

I told her the queen was gone and she saw me bring the book outside the house. That was a week ago and now every nap and night she tells me she is scared and she is beginning to wake overnight too.

I am not against CIO but I want her to feel safe and loved and it's really hard now that I know she is scared. My H wants her to just figure it out, but I want to be there for her. I don't know why this feels different than typical 9month CIO, maybe because she is saying "mommy" and "I am scared".

So for older kids, how did you deal with and manage wake ups and difficulty going down? I wonder if the "I'm scared" is just her newest stall technique.

[gibbinator]

We got ds1 a night light and a bedside lamp. He started having nightmares around 2.75 and being able to see his room was just his room was helpful. He'd turn his lamp on occasionally but mostly just the night light was fine.

Another poster recently mentioned she got her daughter (?) a stuffed animal to keep her safe. Maybe someone can tag her or link the thread?

[snshne322]

If it were me, I'd be hesitant to CIO if she's scared. I like PP idea of getting a safety item that might make her feel more comfortable at least until your positive on whether or not it's a stall tactic.

[luckyno7]

I also would not CIO because she is scared. There was a really good article I'll see if I can find. It basically said to talk about their fear and explain that's it's just a story and she's not real. Similar to monsters...where people make monster spray to get rid of monsters. The article said this was not a good idea because it reaffirms to them there could be monsters. Maybe putting the book outside reaffirms there is a queen

[drloretta]

DD started getting scared of things around that age, and still invents things to get scared of at age 5. She had a dream that a dog tried to eat her, so all stuffed dogs had to go out of her room for about a month. They're back now.

I'm mother of the year, I totally cave. She's terrified of the dark, so there's a light on in her room. I just don't have the energy to fight it right now.

You may want to find a toy or lovey to keep her safe. That's worked with a couple of DD's fears along the way.

[atarianna]

She does have a lovey that is her safety item but maybe I will consider doing another animal. It's been hard on all of us.