Immediate Help Needed

Could be a combination of overstimulation and sleep deprivation, which often results in difficult sleep, and fear of the fireworks, if she was exposed to that. She might, particularly in a more-nervous-than-usual state, sort of expect her room to explode with light and noise at any moment.

I don't think it's going to set a precedent if you give her the comfort she needs while she's still running behind on sleep. Consider the alternative, which would be NOT comforting her, and how that can go on keeping her from relaxing into satisfying sleep that will calm her nervous system.

I doubt that she's waking because she realizes you're not there. She's waking because she's tense and anxious and not really sleeping well, and THEN she realizes you're not there. She could also be having nightmares that wake her. Would it be possible to make up a bed for you or daddy on her floor, and spend a few nights there? The more relaxed she is, the better her sleep, and the easier time she'll have sleeping.

It may take a couple of weeks to get her sleep schedule straightened out, but if she was a good sleeper before this weekend, she will probably become a good sleeper again.

my guess is that she is way overstimulated. make sure she has her favorite toys, maybe let her take a few extra to bed, and help soothe her to sleep as much as you need to, in a quiet, dark room. That's the only thing that would help my dd when she was that tired/overstimulated.

You have two choices. Either keep her up later for a couple of days, putting her to bed a little earlier each night and let her cry a little, or leave her in bed now and let her cry.

Our daughter is like this, always has been. We put her to bed at 8pm and she wakes before 6am (every single day!!!). We put her to bed at 10pm and she wakes up at 430am...its a constant struggle. NOONE understood what we were going through. our family would complain cause we just had to get her to bed...until my sister in law kept her overnight and realized the dreaded truth by letting her stay up till 1:30 (she was only 3 1/2 at the time) and she woke up again at 5am!!!

She is older now (6 1/2) and does a little better, we were up past 10 three nights this weekend and she slept till 6:30, 6:20, then 7:10 this morning...it does catch up with her after a few days...and she is older so she does lounge a little more if she is tired.

I don't have any advice as we have always just worked around it, but I am definitely paddling the same boat as you here.

My daughter goes through this when she gets off schedule. Just be persistant and make her go to bed at her regular time. She will get back on schedule soon. It may take a few days to a couple of weeks. Just be strong. :) Good luck!!

It only takes once to form a bad habit with a little kid. Shes had a taste of late night partying and now youll need to work hard to break it. She now knows you stay up and have fun and shes missing it all. She will throw a fit for a while. You will just have to work to get her to go back to bed several times over the next few nights until she realizes she just isnt cut out to be a party girl! Parents who generally dont let their kids sleep with them will find this happens that one night when you let them cuddle, and then they think its a grand ol party time in moms bed and its hard to get them out. It takes 1 time to make the habit, and about 10 times to break it.

Who was with her at these parties? Were yall watching her every minute of the party? Could be from being tired or could be that someone "hurt" her. Not trying to scare you, but it could have happened so I would check by asking her, teaching her "bad touch", and physically checking. Her bed time can't just go back to normal after being up so late at these parties. I know it stinks, but you two decided to keep her up so like they say "reap what you sow". Her bed time will have to gradually go back to normal and in the meantime, make sure nothing traumatic happened to her. Just because you (general you) think you can trust people you around does not mean they deserve that trust.

I wouldn't let her just cry it out. That could set her up for some issues in the future if she's scared of the dark or has some underlying fear and is just left to cry by herself.

2 1/2 is about when nightmares develop.
I think it starting up when you had a few nights of parties was a coincidence and it would have happened sooner or later no matter what.
It can last a long time.
Ultimately our son figured out how to tuck himself into the foot of our bed without waking us up.
It got cramped, but we all got a lot more sleep that way instead of taking him back to his room 3 and 4 times in a single night.
Set up a sleeping bag or cot at the foot of your bed.
If she wakes up and needs to be near you in the night, then she can sleep there.

Around 2.5-3.5 years, kids develop a fear at night. I put them to bed in their bed first. I just sit in there until they fall asleep (we have a laptop, so it's easy computer time) - about 20 minutes. Then when she wakes up in the night, I let her climb in bed with us. My son did the same thing at that age. He's now back in his bed all night and shares the bed with his older sister. He sleeps, so I'm good! :-)

My LO has to be in bed on time. End of story. he's still really little though, but it's not going to change, it's just him. If he is up past 8 he screams for hours, then gets up several dozen times at night and is still up at 630 in the morning. Took us awhile to figure out that keeping him up made sleeping worse and not better, and he's my 4th.

You guys had a big weekend and things will settle back down. Just give her some time and remember for next year. For the first time I can remember we didn't go see any fireworks this year, simply because the baby needed to be in bed, but it was worth it for the peaceful night.

She had fireworks for the first time she remembers. That is a lot of stimulation for a little one.

I am sleeping with our 4 year old tonight, he kind of freaked out at the park. I have no issues with the getting a child to sleep and keeping them that way. If I have to sleep in there to get them to sleep I do it, or hubby does.