Help with EVERYTHING about my 18month old girl?

Question

i just feel lost.

if you can help with or refer a good source of info for any of the following it would be greatly appreciated.

SLEEP: she sleeps in my bed with me always (except her daytime naps) - my husband has been sleeping on a fold out bed for months! she needs me to lay with her until she falls asleep.
her regular sleep is 9pm till anywhere between 4.45am and 7.00am - if im lucky!
i think this is quite a short sleep, but she doesnt seem to compensate through the day.

here naps through the day are not consistant at all. anywhere between 1 hour to 3 and a half hours... normally just waking up on dinner time.. but sometimes before lunch.

she normally seems tired and cranky a lot of the day...

EATING: Breakfast is pretty much as soon as she gets up. give her a choice of weetbix and cheerios. (does she need more variety apart from cereal?)

she rarely lets me help feeding her. (i guess this is good?)

shes becoming a bit of a fussy eater.. and anything she doesnt eat she throws on the floor.

i give her snacks (often healthy) throughout the day alot, just to keep her happy. (i think its the lack of sleep?)

me and my husband have very unstructured eating habits, i feel like its such a big effort to prepare/clean up meals because all my energy is on her.

SHES SO BOSY!!: she always screams at me if i try and use the computer. if im doing the dishes. if im doing anything on my own other than sitting watching or playing with her - i guess this is the main thing i need help with.. it makes everything i do an effort and i can never seem to get a chance to do alot of the housework from either her not "letting me" or me being anxious about what she will do (and the thought of doing housework isnt particularly inviting at the best of times.)

TV: kids under 2 arnt ment to watch any tv apparently... but i hav it on for hours a day (often just in the background) and i really dont want her watching it but it often seems like the only way to get her away from screaming at me when im trying to do things..

SOCIAL: im a stay at home mum. im happy with that. i do think its a good thing. however, i do worry she doesnt get enough interaction. shes got a similar aged cousin she sees at least once and up to 5 times a week. and i try taking her to the park, but probably infrequently. she has alot of adults around often. but am i doing the wrong thing by at least not taking her to playgroups and such??

LIVING ENVIRONMENT: the place we r living in is currently tiny. one bedroom (with no door). we are moving soon to a 2 bedroom apartment. do you think she is just bored and needs a bigger space?

MYSELF: i just have little energy to do anything. and she is a really active type kid, and alot of the time just stuck inside with me cuz i feel i just cant do anything else.

Answer 1

Hi there,

I am mother of a 2 year old girl and have few suggestions to make your life better and easy:

1) Sleep - Small kids have lot of energy and they need to take it out. At 18 months old, they need to play a lot. During daytime, take her to playgrounds. Let her play, play and play until she gets tired. Let her walk and run in safe places. Once she is tired, she will be able to sleep for long hours without disturbance. Keep some milk near her so that she is not hungry and can rest well.



2) Food - You can give the food once and if she throws, no need to give her again. The strategy that works for me is that I eat food in front of her and she comes running for food. She feels that food is precious and I give her little by little. If she eats one piece, I give her more.



3) Bosy - Yes, it can feel that way sometimes. The strategy that you can use is not to give in to her crying and tantrums. If you think her demand is wrong, let her cry for a while. She will soon understand that crying does not work.



4) TV - I would suggest to put some light music instead of TV. Kids enjoy music. I don't watch TV as it is not good for children. So, let us do what we want our kids to do. That works better than speaking again and again.



5) Living environment - If you frequently take her to outdoors, then living environment is your personal choice. Just keep some block games to keep her engaged when she is at home.



6) Myself - Yes, mothers need lot of rest. When your daughter sleeps, stop your work and have a cup of coffee and watch TV.



I hope my answer helps you and give you some relief. For more information, you can read the below links:

Answer 2

aww hun its sounds as you may be a little depressed as all these problems you have written are easily solved its just having the patience and clear head to solve them. At the moment it seems as if you are very overwhelmed by everything. If you are acting axious around your child then picks up on that and will play you up more. Take some time to write a plan to sort each problem at a time starting with the sleeping in mummys bed. at her age she needs to be getting 12 hours sleep in her own bed, if she is well rested then her behaviour during the day will improve. Be calm and consistant and make sure hubby backs you up



good luck

Answer 3

a million. Hide and search is constantly a favorite infant sport. Hide at the back of the furnishings or drape chairs with rugs, however avoid doorways wherein little palms can without problems get trapped. two. Grouping items. Put 8 items at the ground-4 crimson blocks and 4 crimson balls, or 4 picket spoons and 4 picket pegs. Let your infant play with the models and watch what she does. Join in and transfer the items into 2 organizations, speaking approximately what you're doing as you cross alongside. Take one of the most crimson blocks and placed it to 1 aspect pronouncing "Can you uncover me one other crimson block?" She won't get the grasp of it the primary time-or for a while. Just allow her play till she is worn out of the items - letting her lead the play. three. Tunnels. You can use small packing containers, similar to shoe packing containers, or gigantic packing containers from the grocery store. Cut a tunnel in each and every finish. Cars, small toys and dolls force, roll and stroll via the small tunnels and babies can wriggle via bigger packing containers! You too can make a tunnel through draping a rug among 2 chairs. Turn it right into a sport that you'll be able to all play. four. Where's the toy? Sit down along with your infant, a small field, a hand towel and a toy. Show him the toy, then placed it beneath the field. Now placed the towel on most sensible. Under the towel flip the field over and convey it out from beneath the towel, leaving the toy at the back of. Ask youngster wherein the toy is. Then ask him to uncover it. You will have got to do it once more-and once more, and once more!. five. Build block towers along with your infant. Sort the blocks into colors, speaking approximately what you're doing. Line them up aspect through aspect after which watch what your infant does. Use phrases that describe the constructing recreation, like "beside", "beneath", "subsequent to", "on most sensible". 6. Don't disregard to learn a ebook every day. Books with gigantic shiny photographs and practical reviews are ultimate. If you do not know easy methods to pick, ask at your regional library.

Answer 4

I'm sorry all this is going on for you. I understand how frustrating it is. I have been through lots of it with our daughter (15 months) and I'll just write out what we do now that works for her.



She is the same with sleep... she needs to be touching me to fall asleep. What I did was I took our guest bed, which is a full size, and put the mattress on the floor in her room. I lay with her while she falls asleep and since the mattress is on the floor, I can get up and let her sleep on her own. Before that I was doing what you do, going to bed with her. I would suggest giving her an earlier bedtime, like trying out 8pm and go from there. My daughter wakes up throughout the night, and often wakes up around 4-5am, and she either goes right back to sleep, or is up for an hour and falls back asleep... but she always does fall back asleep, it just might take awhile.



Do you put her down for her nap the same time every day? Our daughter takes her nap at noon, and sleeps anywhere for 45 minutes to almost 3 hours. Whatever she does, I just try to keep her bedtime and nap time consistent, and leave the rest up to her.



I would try more breakfast variety. Eggs, pancakes, toast, etc. To save your frustration, just make something for yourself and share your meal with her. That way if she doesn't eat it you won't be frustrated that you made it all for her. (I've learned that one through experience. lol!) Sometimes though I make our daughter Annie's Mac & Cheese for breakfast just so she eats something. Or I give her cheese and grapes with her cereal.



Hopefully if she gets caught up on sleep she will be less bossy! :(



I put on the TV in the morning while I make her breakfast and the afternoon while I make dinner. I just put on sesame street. If I have it on all day it distracts her from playing too much.



Try out some playgroups if there are any around you. We go to one once a week, and she loves it. I love getting out of the house and having to not occupy her for 2 hours. :)



I hope some of this might help you. Try to get outside and play with her. That helps our daughter. We make trips to parks and she loves it and it tires her out. She is old enough to go down small slides on her down and climb on some playgrounds.